Medical Assisting

Congratulations on finishing school. I'm sure you worked very hard. The reason that MA's are not included in the groupings here is MA's are not nurses in any form or fashion. The two are totally separate. MA's deal with mostly office work and may be allowed by some doctor's to give injections, but this in no way makes them nurses.

Hi DiAnne,

You need to check with the various colleges and universities to see if they accept any credits from the business school you attended for your MA. They'll be able to tell you if they do or don't. Sorry I can't be more help than that....

People who are looking to apply to nursing programs do frequently use this site, whether they are medical assistants or not. Check out the Pre-Nursing Student Forum as well as the nursing forum for your state and you are likely to get many of your questions answered. But Sis123 is right. Once you pick a program, you should contact them directly for information about transfer of credits.

If you're looking for a site that deals specifically with the issues that medical assistants face (just as this one deals specifically with the issues that nurses face), you might check out this one:

http://pub10.bravenet.com/forum/792761550

Good luck!

Dear Motorcyclemama

At the risk of sounding rude, which I don't mean to be, MA's are NOT necessarily office personnel. Some people to go to school to specifically become a Medical office assistant but this does not make them an MA it makes them a MOA.

I am not just trained to do a few injections. I am trained to do EKG's, assist on small surgeries, set up pt't for x-rays and then develop them, phlebotomy using all gauges of needles, EKG Tredmill stress testing. When I was working in a doctors office I was seeing my own patients and writing Rx's and then having the Dr. sign off on them. I check in patients into the exam rooms and depending on their ailments am able to suggest medications to the Dr. which I have also spent an entire quarter in school learing the differences of. I have also removed stitches, lanced abcesses, given complete physicals in addition to the paperwork of prior authorizations and worked with insurance companies.

You are very mistaken if you think that MA's are in no way shape or form a nurse. I feel that I am an incredible Medical Assistant and love what I do. With the amount of interraction I have with the patients I feel that I am far from office personnel.

DiAnne :balloons:

Dear Motorcyclemama

At the risk of sounding rude, which I don't mean to be, MA's are NOT necessarily office personnel. Some people to go to school to specifically become a Medical office assistant but this does not make them an MA it makes them a MOA.

I am not just trained to do a few injections. I am trained to do EKG's, assist on small surgeries, set up pt't for x-rays and then develop them, phlebotomy using all gauges of needles, EKG Tredmill stress testing. When I was working in a doctors office I was seeing my own patients and writing Rx's and then having the Dr. sign off on them. I check in patients into the exam rooms and depending on their ailments am able to suggest medications to the Dr. which I have also spent an entire quarter in school learing the differences of. I have also removed stitches, lanced abcesses, given complete physicals in addition to the paperwork of prior authorizations and worked with insurance companies.

You are very mistaken if you think that MA's are in no way shape or form a nurse. I feel that I am an incredible Medical Assistant and love what I do. With the amount of interraction I have with the patients I feel that I am far from office personnel.

DiAnne :balloons:

You write prescriptions?????? I am a medical assistant as well, and we don't fall under the category of nurses. we may be able to do many of the skills that nurses do, but we are not nurses.

In your post you say this:

" You are very mistaken if you think that MA's are in no way shape or form a nurse. "

I agree with Jess, in that you may share some duties of nurses, but you should know that you would be breaking state laws (at least in MY state) if you were to refer to yourself as a nurse, and represent yourself as one.

I find it interesting to say the least that you feel qualified to assess "your own patients" and then suggest prescriptions to the doctor after one quarter of pharmacology. Yes, very, very interesting.

Dear Motorcyclemama

At the risk of sounding rude, which I don't mean to be, MA's are NOT necessarily office personnel. Some people to go to school to specifically become a Medical office assistant but this does not make them an MA it makes them a MOA.

I am not just trained to do a few injections. I am trained to do EKG's, assist on small surgeries, set up pt't for x-rays and then develop them, phlebotomy using all gauges of needles, EKG Tredmill stress testing. When I was working in a doctors office I was seeing my own patients and writing Rx's and then having the Dr. sign off on them. I check in patients into the exam rooms and depending on their ailments am able to suggest medications to the Dr. which I have also spent an entire quarter in school learing the differences of. I have also removed stitches, lanced abcesses, given complete physicals in addition to the paperwork of prior authorizations and worked with insurance companies.

You are very mistaken if you think that MA's are in no way shape or form a nurse. I feel that I am an incredible Medical Assistant and love what I do. With the amount of interraction I have with the patients I feel that I am far from office personnel.

DiAnne :balloons:

No offense, but it sounds like you may be working out of your scope of practice and you and the practice you are working for could get into big trouble! I am also a medical assistant. I agree that we are far more than office staff. I have found charting mistakes by doctors, found atrial fibs on patients while doing intakes ect... however...we are NOT aloud to write Rx's or even suggest them!!! (unless you count suggesting the doctor allows the patient to have a bunch of the exess free samples, of which medication he is already taking) I have written out RX for the doctor's to sign, only after the doctor told me to (like if a patient sends note asking for a written Rx for mail order...I copy what is in the patients chart on an RX pad and the doctor signs it)... but I do not prescribe them myself!!!! I am sure this is illegal in ALL states. Although Medical Assistants do a lot of the same things nurses do, they arn't in any form and shape a nurse, its illegal to say otherwise. Also, I should hope that you are not doing complete physicals....the patients are paying over $100 for the MD to do this, unless you meant that you take their weight, height, vision, vitals, hearing, write down their meds, chief complain ect....

Although I understand that you worked hard to become an MA (I have too, studied hard to become certified by the state) I know you could offend a lot of people here saying you so much like a nurse. I know that when I get my BSN and have been in school for four plus years (although it feels like its been that long already) I would also be offened if an MA compaired themselves to me. Like I said. We do a lot of the same things that nurses do, but that does not make us nurses, or even partial nurses.

oh boy. one semester of pharmacology, and you are suggesting meds? and writing prescriptions? SO out of your scope of duty. When you have a LICENSE you have to be worried about, you'll be more careful of doing things you shouldn't be doing.

there are many threads about this topic. Let me sum up my point of view, and that of others as well

MA'S ARE NOT NURSES. NO WAY, NOT AT ALL. NEVER. IF YOU THINK YOU ARE-ASK YOUR STATE'S BOARD OF NURSING. I'M SURE THEY'LL AGREE WITH ME, NOT YOU. IF YOU WANT TO BE A NURSE, GO TO SCHOOL.

Hi guys here are my take on it.

I was recently relocated to Nevada from Cali. I am an RN in California but I have to wait for my endorsement in the state of Nevada so I took a job as a MA. Everyone in the office knows that I'm an RN in California but I told them specifically at the beginning that I will only perform my duties as a MA. There is another MA in the office that is working along side with the RN and MD.

Here is what I noticed.

The MA draw blood, start IV, take VS, give SQ and IM injection and put pt into the exam room. I also noticed that the MA call Pharmacy for refills and inform pt with their NORMAL lab and test results. In my opinion, this MA is good at what she does because she has been there for over five years. She doesn't know why the pt is taking certain medications or why the pt is calling to c/o of the medication side effects.

It may be true that the MA in this particular office does similar tasks to an RN with one major distinction; there is no nursing process. In nursing school you learn that you can basically teach someone to do IV and give injection but you can't teach them to think like a nurse. By that I mean the ADPIE or assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation.

In conclusion, MA job description is more tasks oriented and RN involves critical thinking.

Dear Motorcyclemama

When I was working in a doctors office I was seeing my own patients and writing Rx's and then having the Dr. sign off on them. I check in patients into the exam rooms and depending on their ailments am able to suggest medications to the Dr. which I have also spent an entire quarter in school learing the differences of.

You are very mistaken if you think that MA's are in no way shape or form a nurse.

I should go to school for MA instead of Nursing. Why waste all that time on a Master's program when you can do the same thing as an MA in 8 months!!!

Who knew an MA could assess and diagnose?