Medical Assisting is a rip-off! I work at a school that trains them!

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Specializes in EC, IMU, LTAC.

I'm working in a school that teaches medical assistants, and I would just like to warn some of you deciding between LPN and MA about this career.

1) If you're not bilingual, you're not going to get a job. Here in Texas, MA is an almost completely Hispanic job because the demographics demand Spanish-speakers. Almost all of the people who don't speak Spanish had a horrible time finding MA jobs, or even had to come back and get a nursing assistant license.

2) Schools can charge as much as they darn please, as it's a relatively new job with a high demand (at least here in Texas) and a big hype (Wear the scrubs in just 8 months, and you don't even have to wipe butts!). At my job, the full bill comes out to about $9000 for 8-9 months of schooling. This bill supplies tuition, scrubs, books, testing fees, etc, which slightly justifies the price tag. Also, financial aid is often available. However, I'm paying about $700/semester at a local community college for my ADN, which can yield so much more than an MA license.

3) If you decide to go back to school, the credits probably won't transfer. Most institutions that offer MA are private and the applied courses are taught by faculty who just happen to have a few years of experience in each subject. This doesn't mean that you won't learn, but it does mean that you're going to have to start from scratch if you decide to go back to school. A word of advice is to take the prereqs elsewhere, like a community college. It will take longer (at my school, courses are compacted into 1-month modules which makes the program lightning-fast), but the credits will actually be worth something. At my school, we'll take money off the tuition bill if you have credits to transfer.

4) Some of the places are sleazy or questionable. The school where I work is a nice place, state accredited and run by a shrewd businesswoman. However, on multiple occasions, we've gotten medical assistant transfer students who showed up at the old school one day, and it had closed down with no warning or anything.

5) It's harder to transfer from state to state, and some places might not even need MAs.

6) You're mostly limited to doctors' offices, which limits the field and you might not get benefits unless you're working for a big hospital or a chain of clinics or something.

Don't get me wrong; my school has had a lot of successful students that have found good careers. However, the reality is nothing like the hype. If your prospects look good in the area, go for it! However, I just want to warn people about the reality before they blow several thousands of dollars.

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Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.

Thanks for posting this. Someone was just asking about this recently. I hope that person comes back and sees the post.

I also live in Houson (The Woodlands) and I think I know the school you're talking about. But yeah, I go to Montgomery college and my entire tuiting for nursing school, including pre-regs, is cheaper than your school. Sure it takes longer, but I'll have a better salary and a better future. In my opinion, it's worth the sacrifice. I'd rather take more time and have something to show for it in the end.

Every time I go to the doctor, when I talk to MAs almost without exception they all say they wish they'd gone to nursing school. They say they like their jobs but they don't make enough money. The schools they went to promised them big money and it's just not there. I also know someone who graduated from MA school a year ago and still hasn't found a job - in Ohio - but that proves your point that opportunities vary based on where you live.

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PeachPie,

I moved the thread to the Nursing Career Advice Forum, where it will be most useful.

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Specializes in EC, IMU, LTAC.

Yeah, the salary thing is very true. I know many who are making $8-10/hour as an MA, with the rare $12/hr and up. With that kind of money, you might as well be a medication aide or nurse aide (school is shorter and costs less, more demand).

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Oh yeah...we have seen alot of people that actually paid those high fees and found out the job didn't pay the $50K that they thought it would when they graduated.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I completed a medical assisting program about 7 years ago and was sorely disappointed, not only in the quality of my educational experience, but by the fact that I could not land a job after graduation. In addition, the knowledge that I garnered in the MA program was not really helpful in the LVN program. The MA program was more skills-based, whereas the LVN program included more disease processes, A&P, pharmacology, and so forth.

The medical assistant school I attended was owned and operated by an LVN. Back then, the tuition was $4,600, and students were not guaranteed clinical practice or an externship. This was the biggest waste of money ever!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I'm paying about $700/semester at a local community college for my ADN, which can yield so much more than an MA license.
Unless I am mistaken, MAs are considered unlicensed personnel because they work under the license of the physician. MAs do not have licenses; they have certificates.
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I'm a CMA and actually would recommend it for those who have two-to-three year waits to get into nursing school. I'm doing a mid-life career change into nursing after my second down-sizing job loss. I completed my pre-reqs and was facing a two-to-three year wait to get into the local community college's ADN program. I was faced with a dilemma: do I try to find another job in my old field (PR/Marketing) for a couple of years in a horrible economy (I'm in Michigan) or just jump right into the medical field?

I decided to go through a one-year certificate MA program at the community college and got hired on at the large medical practice where I externed. I actually wanted to go through the surg tech program but it was full at the time I was applying. And watch out - you think men are underrepresented in nursing? I was the first guy to graduate from my college's program! At first everyone treated me like I was an alien from outerspace!

Is being a medical assistant my dream job? Absolutely not, but I enjoy what I do and it really confirmed my suspicion that the medical field is a good fit for me. I've always known it's more or less a place where I'm treading water until I get the letter saying I've got a seat in the ADN program.

I basically run the lab, which means I'm drawing lots of blood, dipping lots of urine, doing a lot of throat swabs for strep, running pregnancy tests, etc... I also do most of the EKG's, give lots of injections, remove sutures and assist with minor office surgeries.

I screen all the lab reports when they come back from the main lab, so I know all the critical values for various labs and through reading and talking with the docs I understand the physiological reason a patient's labs are off. Most people tell me I'm the smoothest blood draw they've ever had, so my IV skills should come easy. I've also learned how to approach docs, PA's, and NP's and communicate with them - I know it's different on a hospital floor, but I've learned to be concise and deal with facts.

I've also learned how to approach and communicate with patients who are in various states of disease...and how to LISTEN to them. Again, I understand it's much different than it ever will be on a hospital floor, but the pricnciples are somewhat similar.

So yeah, I'm VERY glad I took the CMA route while waiting for an open seat in the nursing program. Would I recommend it for a career? Probably not, unless you have a spouse who has a good income. If you need to support a family, then medical assisting is decidedly not the career path you should follow.

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

My next door neighbor just graduated about 5 months ago from a MA program and told me she was surprised and disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to afford the Escalade she thought she would be able to buy. She is making $8/hr. She is going to quit her job to go back to her home daycare where she actually was making $50K a year--she was lead to believe she would be making the same.

I just wonder who is out there telling people that your going to make big bucks as a MA?

Yes, I agree with the above poster, I think it's a great job for those who have to wait to start nursing school, you will learn some good skills.

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