I am new to allnurses.com and I was wondering how come you don't include Medical Assistants in any of your groupings?? I went to school for 18 months to get my honors degree and I have wanted to be a nurse all my life (eventually I will work my way up to RN). Your website was discovered by while trying to find a college in my area (Indianapolis) that has a LPN course that will accept my transferring credits (still haven't found one).
But if you could answer that question as to why MA's are not included it would be greatly appreciated. Also if anyone knows of a college in the Indianapolis area that accepts credit transfers from Indiana Business College--Medical that would also be appreciated.
I'm not sure if the issue has actually been addressed, but I thought I'd put my two cents in. I have been a medical assistant for a few years, had graduated with honors holding an associate degree, and was also frustrated by the fact that MAs were constantly being removed from the "nursing pool" of the medical community. Now that I'm a nursing student, I understand it a lot more. Though MAs are frequently trained to do procedures, they not trained to "think like a nurse." I had my eyes opened wide when I got into nursing school and had to learn to think an entirely different way. I too was writing prescriptions and having the doctor sign off on them, initiating IVs, wound care, and other things that have been talked about on this thread, but those things are not what makes a nurse a "nurse." It's the critical thinking and nursing theory that separate the two. Just a little input.
Well, you could ask the doc if it will be a nurse or a MA coming in. That would ease your mind and not put whoever comes in into an awkward position. If I were a LPN working the back office in a docs office, I wouldn't appreciate being asked if I were a RN as soon as I walked in the room either.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
Why would that bother you?
LPN's are not RN's. It's the patients money being put on the table.....not mine, and it wouldn't bother me in the least to go get the RN if there is one in the office.
If there is no RN then I will send the physician back in to talk to the patient.
Okay, will someone please explain to me WHY RN's and LPN's are so regulated, and taught to NOT do anything outside the scope of their practice, then along comes MA's and they can do everything......
As the OP says, sees her own patients, does physicals, diagnoses and makes decisions on what types of medications they need, and writes out the RX...and to her credit she DID say the doctor signs off on the RX's, and apparently she even does minor surgery......LANCING an abcess is minor surgery.....taking a knife to the skin IS surgery.
I read over on that web site someone posted about MA's and apparently they are even doing IV's and infusions.....some are. Other MA's did say that IV therapy was NOT taught in the schooling they went to.
What do we have RN's and LPN's for..............???
We can't even do the things she has described. I don't even know of an RN who has done suturing or stapling.....I know some who REMOVE it.
I, as an LPN, can Dermabond a laceration, but the patient has to see the physican at next clinic call.
My opinion is this.....Move over fellow nurses!!
The nursing shortage is not so short anymore.......we have a new group of people ready to move in and fill the spots formerly occupied by licensed NURSING personnel. Medical assistants and Certified Medication Aides can do it all, at a much cheaper pay rate, saving Medicare, hospitals, doctors offices, and nursing homes loads of money.
I don't necessarily mind if it's an MA, RN or LPN "working" on me, depending on what is being done of course, but YEAH, I DO want to know who they are and what their title is. It's my body/health or my child's body/health, and I have every right to know if someone is a radiologist or a rad tech or whatever.
I identify myself as a nursing assistant when I'm working, and as a student nurse when I'm at clinical. If some people don't care or want to be naive about who is taking care of them, that is their right. I don't think nametags help much. The print may be to small, I know mine flip over CONSTANTLY, or people don't know what all the initials mean.
If the situation is appropriate (ie, not an emergency), I think it is the responsibility of each healthcare worker to correctly identify themselves and their position. Not give credentials, but say, "I'm Jane and will be your nurse/nurse's aide/medical assistant/xray technician."
In the state of Minnesota (I don't know what it is other states), MA's cannot call themselves nurse. The training for a nurse and an MA are completely different. Yes you can administer shots and do various other office duties, but you are NOT a nurse. Check with your licensure and ask them and they will tell you exactly the same thing. I do think MA's do a great job in the medical field. But you are not a nurse. If you decide to go back to school for nursing, you will see a distinct difference! Good luck to you!
KN
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.
I guess part of my whole "confusion" here is why anyone would ask specifically "Are you a RN?" which in my mind implies that the poster (who said she asks that) won't accept anyone but a RN to get a hx or BP.
If I'm missing something here, please let me know. I'm the first one to say that if said "healthcare personel" is coming in the room to perform anything more than an injection or blooddraw, I'd be asking their title too. From the post that got part of this going, I didn't get that impression. I got the impression that when the personel walked in to probably go over hx, sx and BP, they had their credentials questioned. We have one RN in the office and she does not have time to be called into a room because a pt wants a RN to do their vitals.
As a side note, if you didn't trust a doc enough to assume that he hired competent personel why would you be there?
Also, I agree with one of the other posters about critical thinking skills and theory. However, since I'm never doing anything as a MA that is not directly instructed by my doc, I'm assuming he's done the critical thinking before giving me my orders. That is of course out of my scope of practice.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
Why would that bother you?
LPN's are not RN's. It's the patients money being put on the table.....not mine, and it wouldn't bother me in the least to go get the RN if there is one in the office.
If there is no RN then I will send the physician back in to talk to the patient.
I do agree with you for the most part. Like I said, I wear a name tag with my full name and title along with a very humiliating picture...hehe. Most of our pts are regulars (family practice) and they know us by name.
I guess MA's are just utilized so much here that when I go into a doc's office or take my kid to the pediatrician I just assume the person who comes in before we see the doc is a MA.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
I don't necessarily mind if it's an MA, RN or LPN "working" on me, depending on what is being done of course, but YEAH, I DO want to know who they are and what their title is. It's my body/health or my child's body/health, and I have every right to know if someone is a radiologist or a rad tech or whatever.
I identify myself as a nursing assistant when I'm working, and as a student nurse when I'm at clinical. If some people don't care or want to be naive about who is taking care of them, that is their right. I don't think nametags help much. The print may be to small, I know mine flip over CONSTANTLY, or people don't know what all the initials mean.
If the situation is appropriate (ie, not an emergency), I think it is the responsibility of each healthcare worker to correctly identify themselves and their position. Not give credentials, but say, "I'm Jane and will be your nurse/nurse's aide/medical assistant/xray technician."
You wouldn't mind that a pt sent you who is perfectly, probably OVERqualified to do said task (rooming, hx, bp, med list) to go get the RN? If I went and told the RN that she had to room a patient because the pt wanted a RN, she'd look at me as if my brains just fell out of my head. Don't get me wrong, if the patient has a specific concern and requests the nurse before the doc comes in, she'd be more than willing to oblige. She's a pretty awesome nurse btw.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
Oh, and I'd say 25% of the time, it's the government's (taxpayers) money being put on the table, not the pts.
Why would that bother you?
LPN's are not RN's. It's the patients money being put on the table.....not mine, and it wouldn't bother me in the least to go get the RN if there is one in the office.
If there is no RN then I will send the physician back in to talk to the patient.
You wouldn't mind that a pt sent you who is perfectly, probably OVERqualified to do said task (rooming, hx, bp, med list) to go get the RN? If I went and told the RN that she had to room a patient because the pt wanted a RN, she'd look at me as if my brains just fell out of my head. Don't get me wrong, if the patient has a specific concern and requests the nurse before the doc comes in, she'd be more than willing to oblige. She's a pretty awesome nurse btw.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
Oh, and I'd say 25% of the time, it's the government's (taxpayers) money being put on the table, not the pts.
Okay, I just wanted to know why it bothered you in the first place.
No it doesn't take an RN to get a b/p, put someone in a room....that's why I asked you why it would bother you. No big deal. But if a patient has a reasonable request to talk to the RN....still no big deal.
I defer things to my RN supervisors ALL the time.
Oh, and I'd say 25% of the time, it's the government's (taxpayers) money being put on the table, not the pts.
Call me silly....but I didn't realize that MAs could do injections!?!? I thought dispensing meds was a nursing and physician practice?
Apparently not anymore. Certified med Techs are giving meds in nursing homes now.
A med tech gave me a tetnaus injection a few months ago. This was at the doctor's office, that I went to under workmen's comp, for a small injury....so I guess she was an MA...Medical Assistant.
LorraineCNA
113 Posts
Oops, here's that link if anyone is interested:
http://www.aama-ntl.org/resources/library/Role-delineation-2003.pdf