Our Hosptial phased out all Techs, CNAs and LPNs. The have onle RN,s and have hireed Paramedics that have the same job description as the Nurses. No more cheap labor for us the nurses and medics take there own assignments and have to do all the work yourself.
I think LPNs are great! I have a few friends who are LPNs ...one who is a wonderful nurse who works for three agencies...she loves working in nursing homes (and by the way made more money than I did last year)! There is no reason to replace LPNs.
This is why we have nursing unions!!!! To protect ourselves and our licenses that we worked so hard for! Think of the patient who will be recieving medication from an unlicensed aide! God help us all! I have worked very hard to get to where I am. I was an aide for years, then CNA and tech in hospital. You go to nursing school for a reason! There are state boards for a reason! I am an LPN and working towards my RN. As hospitals become more of a business than a health care facility you will see more and more of this! Nurses have to stand together against these actions! Most hospitals today have become part of a huge conglomerant! Doctors no longer work independently, istead they work for the hospital. One day that may very well be you recieving your medications from an under qualified medicine aide!!! Think about it!
I,m sorry, but I just wanted to set the record straight concerning CMA's. I am currently finishing a 2-year program for my Associates degree in Medical Assisting, and am going to enter a nursing program this winter. The reason that I would like training for both professions is that they are COMPLETLY different. CMA's are trained to work in a physicians office under the direct supervision of the physician. My training includes administrative and clinical duties, with an emphasis on the clinical. I have been trained in phlebotomy, injections (no IV), routine lab tests, assisting the physician in minor office surgery, and ECG's. For 5 years I worked as a veteranary assistant and my duties included phlebotomy, injections, running labs, and assisting the doctor in surgery. This experiance taught me alot, and I decided to take it into the human medical field. My point is that I think that alot of you don't understand what exactly a CMA does, and we should not be put in the same catagory as CNA's or med techs. CMA's DO NOT normally work in a hospital setting, and we are specifically trained for office clinical duties. My education consists of everything you all had to take (A&P, pathology, pharmacology, medical terminology, etc), but we do not learn nursing skills because that is a different profession and is not in our scope of practice! I know that it is common for employers to hire "anyone off the street", but please don't put all CMA's in that catagory. I have worked hard for this, as all of you have, and consider myself a part of the health care team, along with LPN's and RN's, and feel that anyone involved in health care has been trained for a specific job and we should respect that.
I think nurses wouldn't be so outraged if CMA's were not referred to as "NURSES" in the doctors offices. I cannot begin to tell you how many times my kids pediatrician office calls their MA a "NURSE" you are not nurses, do not have the assessment skills a nurse does, nor the experience with medications a nurse does. Yet your scope of practice, and what MA's end up doing is so very different. I have yet to have a MA referr to themselves as only a MA and not nurse. You talk about our egos... if MA's want the lable of nurse go to school and get it. I was actually expected to take coumadin dosing orders from a MA. Let me tell you it will be a cold day somewhere when I take an order from someone who a- isn't licensed to give orders. and b- has less experience and knowledge than me. If that makes me egotistical so be it, but patient care is at stake and patients are suffering for incompitent medical care.
Andi33, I could not agree with you more. The problem is with CMA's they are trained only for the doctor's office. Unfortunatley as the doctor's office gets busier and they get cheaper, the patients end up putting the extra load in an unlicensed, untrained professional. Nurses take the state boards for a reason. We are licensed for a reason. The jobs are totally different and CMA's should not be doing the job of the nurse. The asessment skill set it totally different and they should deffinetly not be dictating orders to licensed nurses! You will see this more and more as our hospitals and doctors offices get cheaper and cheaper. Ultimately I think it is misleading to call a CMA a nurse. This not only sends mixed signals to the patient and there family but it provides a dangerous work environment when a CMA practices beyond there abilities and without a licenses!
Miss Ludie
79 Posts
Boy this is a real hot topic. I bet every state that has these medication people has different rules don't they?