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.
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:
OMG I have never heard of MA's writing scripts-NOW THAT IS SCARY!!!
Well, I did alot of reading on the Indiana SBON and on the NCSBN web sites.
Altho the sites did not specifically....that I could FIND....define a nurse for sake of licensure......both sites repeatedly talked about .....RN's, APN's, LPN's or LVN's. Nowhere did either site even mention MA's, that I could find.
I live in Arkansas and I know for a fact that the ASBON defines a nurse as an RN, LPN, or APN and I mean it specifically defines nurse..........and it goes on to say that it is ILLEGAL to use any one of these titles in such a way as to make someone think they are an RN, APN or LPN, if the person does not hold the license.
I have read that definition on Arkansas' web site...it's in the Adobe format, so I don't know how to copy and paste it here for your viewing, but it's there.
I just think it is very interesting that the OP is doing things such as seeing his/her "own" patients and writing RX's on a quarter of a year of pharmacology training....that IS 3 months isn't it?, doing physicals, lancing abcesses and that IS a surgical procedure......oh, boy, I was born in Indiana, but I don't think I want to move there. When I give a doctor my hard earned money I want HIS diagnosis/opinion/reccomended/prescribed treatment.
Just went to the doc today......he has an LPN working for him, but in NO WAY does she do more than what her license says she can do. She takes my b/p, temp, writes down my complaint and HE makes the diagnosis.
I am amazed......you are right up there next to the doctor, and look how long it took you vs the physician to study all that medical and pharmacology.
Amazing.
And in response to this post by Lorraine.......I was at Walmart Pharmacy today to pick up my RX of
Cephalexin.
While I was standing there I observed something very unusual. They have these little counters back there in the pharmacy...there was one on the end of each aisle. I saw one of the workers....and she was NOT a pharmacist.....I've been there many times and I recognize the Pharmacists from the other staff......anyway this staff person was at this little end of aisle counter........she poured a liquid medication out of one bottle into another bottle, slapped a label on it, and turned around and handed it to the Pharmacist.
I was amazed at this. As an LPN I cannot even pour liquid from one bottle into another bottle of the same med.....that is dispensing.
Now to the pharmacy's credit......I did not actually observe the beginning of this sequence of events. MAYBE the Pharmacist got the med off the shelf, computed out the label, and gave it to the staff member to do the actual pouring.
I was feeling too bad to question anyone about this procedure.
What is the scope of a pharmacy tech? Maybe they can do this....I don't know.
Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
We're getting hung up on the verbage a little, I think. I physically write prescriptions all the time, but it's under the provider's order. We're permitted to sign PVO (per verbal order) of whomever, with our name following, but I'm not making up the drugs/dosages/etc. It's strictly a division of labor thing (and I have decent handwriting, as one poster indicated.) I don't consider that I'm "prescribing" because I'm absolutely not; just transcribing.
If the poster is writing scripts independently without the provider's say-so, that's obviously prescribing without a license. I don't think that's what is actually happening in that case, although it was intially presented that way.
What is the scope of a pharmacy tech? Maybe they can do this....I don't know.
I don't know either. Like I said, I didn't observe the actual beginning of what was done that day just before the staff person poured the liquid into the other bottle.
I do know this......on my job, they have given us a new updated system, if they want to call it updated. Our meds have been outsourced to a local pharmacy in town, so now all our meds are in the new modern packaging "blister packs".
We find more errors than we ever did under the other system we had. We actually had an onsite pharmacist, who filled our medications. She was right there, available, 5 days per week, 8 hours a day and would come on her off hours if necessary, if we needed something.
So now, we have a new modern system, which is much more work for the nurses, we're responsible for all the checking in, all the reordering, all the notifying the pharmacy of changes, discharges, new admisssions, whatEVER comes up, it's the nurses responsibility, under this "new" modern system.
And with as much medicine as we have to have, and seeing as many errors that come in......I'd be willing to bet you a dollar to a do-nut, that not every single pill that is filled for us, is put in those blister packs by an actual licensed pharmacist. They can't be. There's too much, in addition to what other meds they have to fill in town.
We were finding stuff that the labels were written with totally different instructions than what was on the dr's orders, and meds were sent in differing dosages other than what was ordered. On some cards, there might should be 2 pills in each blister and some blisters might only have one pill or none at all.
It is a mess. I really think, having seen some of the errors I saw, that pharmacy techs are helping with it. Hence the large amount of mistakes we're seeing.
I hate to think what the general public may be getting sometimes.
Exactly. Just like calling in scripts, The doc writes exactly what he wants on the chart note and we call it in. I'm not assessing anyone or diagnosing anyone or "prescribing" anything.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
We're getting hung up on the verbage a little, I think. I physically write prescriptions all the time, but it's under the provider's order. We're permitted to sign PVO (per verbal order) of whomever, with our name following, but I'm not making up the drugs/dosages/etc. It's strictly a division of labor thing (and I have decent handwriting, as one poster indicated.) I don't consider that I'm "prescribing" because I'm absolutely not; just transcribing.
If the poster is writing scripts independently without the provider's say-so, that's obviously prescribing without a license. I don't think that's what is actually happening in that case, although it was intially presented that way.
Oh, I'm not referring to Medicare or Medicaide...but that'll open up a whole 'nother can of worms here so I'll just apologize for my lack of judgement on posting that.
Lorraine
CMA, CNA
Lorraine, did you know that people on Medicaid and Medicare ALSO most likely paid taxes at some point during their lifetime???
And even if they did not......what the heck difference does it make where the money comes from that pays for their care?
If it were not for the patient you and I neither one would have a job.
Oh, I'm not referring to Medicare or Medicaide...but that'll open up a whole 'nother can of worms here so I'll just apologize for my lack of judgement on posting that.
I am currently a Independent Duty Hospital Corpsman in the Coast Guard, and currently a nursing student. My Coast Guard duties allow me to perform many tasks which are non nursing such as suturing, performing minor surgery (toe nail removal, small cyst removal), diagnosing and treating (including prescribing medication) minor illness, and I ran a clinical pharmacy independent of a pharmacist for 2 years. That said upon my entry to nursing school (I am in my 3rd semester) I realized how different the medical model and nursing model are. I also found out that in the civilian world, my qualification allowed me to practice as a PCT (Patient Care Tech), CNA, or Medical Assistant. Before starting nursing school I thought my qualifications should allow me to challenge the Board and become a nurse, but after my first clinical I realized there was no way that I could function as a nurse with my pre nursing school knowledge. I think that we all serve a valuable role in the health care setting. But some roles require more education than others.
Who decided or made the diagnosis as to which illness the patient had?
Did the doctor do that?
Yes, the doctor made the diagnosis. When I was "writing" these scripts, I worked in an allergy/asthma office. The majority of the patients were follow-up. I didn't do any assesing aside from obtaining vital signs, and was not involved in the diagnosis process. I simply wrote the scripts for the physician to sign off on. And, as I stated before, it's simply because the doctor's handwriting was abysmal. I wasn't prescribing, simply "transcribing" as on poster stated.
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allthingsbright
1,569 Posts
OMG I have never heard of MA's writing scripts-NOW THAT IS SCARY!!!