WA-Educator

I am a CMA and an LPN and a CPC (Certified Professional Coder) and that comment would have upset me as well. I wish the public (and people writing movie scripts, politicians, popular book authors, etc) would care that there is a difference. We are not all 'nurses', nor do we all want to be. I think most states even have a law against saying you are a nurse if you aren't (check your state nursing practice acts). Offering yourself as a nurse denotes a certain level of care that is 'nursing'. Medical assisting has its own role delineation study and occupational analysis, and it certainly is not nursing. But, as a correction, there are registered medical assistants (RMA thru the AMT) as well as certified medical assistants CMA(AAMA). Check their websites for more info. Medical assistants fill a vital role in patient care in the ambulatory setting and are not nurses, nor are they nurse assistants. They assist the physician or midlevel provider in clinical areas or work in clerical and/or administrative areas. Many of the MA skills taught are not included in nursing education, even in the technical nursing areas and MAs are certainly not taught nursing skills. Anyway, that is my two cents worth to the conversation.

A man goes to the provider for his annual exam and he gets the entire exam, neuro, ophthalmic, etc. The woman goes for her annual exam and she is often scheduled for a pelvic and breast (usually includes the pap). We need to make sure our primary providers see our annual exam needs as more than just the pap/pelvic and breast exams. Usually a pap includes the full pelvic and the breast exam. Because of the timeline recommendations being so varied, some insurance carriers are covering them on different schedules. Dangerous because some paps and/or breast exams can be missed due to patient confusion and the medical assistant has a heck of a time keeping the tickler file (reminders) current with people moving, changing addresses, etc. The healthiest approach would be to do a pap/pelvic and breast exam all together once a year (on your birthday?) followed by the requisite mammogram or preferred imagining exam (in my not so humble opinion). The burden does seem to fall on the patient more and more. Remember, the insurance carrier is not necessarily in business to keep you healthy unless it is cost effective for them. Sad, but true. The name badge issue may have been an issolated incident, I find that most well trained/educated medical assistants are proud of themselves and their profession and wear identification. The clinic manager should also set and enforce the policy. Lighten up - Nurse make mistakes, too.

And any old "yeah who" off the street is not an CMA. Certified Medical Assistants are formally trained and are professionals. Many people may call themselves (or be referred to as) medical assistants (or nurses) for lack of a better title, but the true nurse has a license and has had nursing training/education. Likewise, the true medical assistant is certified and has had medical assisting training/education. Beware of the training and schools that are not accredited! Those grads may call themselves medical assistants, but unless the program in CAAHEP/ABHES accredited, the grads are not even eligible to sit for the national boards. In other words, the are not CMAs and can never be CMAs without going back to an accredited program. Be proud of the profession you chose, be the best you can be, and respect other members of the health care team. :)

Medical Assisting Programs don't include any nursing courses because there is no reason for CMAs to know basic nursing skills. Don't confuse medical assistants with nurse assistants. Certified Medical Assistants (CMAs) do need to learn basic medical assisting skills though. Any acredited medical assisting program includes pathology, psychology, patient education, symptom analysis, therapeutic relations, law and ethics, and all the technical skills such as minor surgery assisting, urinalysis, venipuncture, ECG, blood tests, etc. None of those technical skills are included in nursing and that is a major difference between the two professions. I have seen so many nurses botch ECGs and blood draws and lab test because they simply don't know how to do them. Those are the technical skills needed for the doctors offices which is why CMAs do them and nurses don't. As far as the assessment skills, RNs do learn a much higher level of patient assessment than the CMA or the LPN. This is because in the hospital setting the RN needs to be able to assess the patients and alert the physician if needed or making nursing decisions as indicated. It all make perfect sense if you think about the basic of the curriculum linked to the jobs performed. Great conversation!!

Good for you. Students have to learn to behave professionally for the patients, coworkers and supervisors. I bet the instructor will be sure to emphasize better communication skills in the future. I'm sure she (the instructor) is grateful that you took the time to let her know! Cheers!

I definitely think you should talk to the instructor and/or program director. It's really important that students learn professional behaviors while they are in school. Once the student has graduated, there isn't much the instructors can do, but you can help make the program better by serving on the advisory board and make sure the program knows how important professional behaviors are! BTW - You can call AAMA (1-800-228-2262) to check on the accreditation issue. Good luck!

She might not be the best person for that job, but don't paint the entire profession of medical assisting with one or two bad experiences. Surely you have met some nurses that you don't care for, I certainly have! There are many nurses who are lazy, incompetent, stupid and dishonest. But we still greatly respect nurses and the profession of nursing, don't we?? It also might be the school and the program in your area. Maybe it isn't the best. See if you can get involved with guest speaking or even teaching a class. Maybe serving on the advisory board. Maybe you could have a positive influence on the quality of their graduates. I assume the program is accredited with AAMA? If not, do not, I repeat, do not take any more of their grads. And make sure they know why. Mention the accreditation issue. You might also take a close look at your attitude, perhaps you decided early on that you weren't going to like this one since you didn't like the first one? In my position, I find that people will rise to the level of your expectations and when we treat people with respect and caring we are often rewarded with higher performances.

Medical Assistants should never call themselves nurses and neither should the rest of the staff or the physicians. Most clinic will stop that practice if we alert them to the fact that it is illegal (at least in WA State, and I suspect other places, too). I think most clinic do that because they are too impatient to keep them straight. Plus, because the medical assisting profession is not as well known as nursing is, the public is more comfortable with the "nurse" title. Regardless of the reason, it isn't right and it isn't legal. CMAs have their own credentials (hard earned!) and their own education and training. Many are one year graduates and many are two year, AAS degree graduates. They are the only allied health professional trained specifically for the ambulatory care setting and are extremely appropriate for the doctors offices and clinics. Only qualified medical assistants should use that title and only qualified nurses should use the "nurse" title.

Actually, in Washington State CMAs who are performing invasive procedures such as venipuncture and injections must registered under the Health Care Assistant Law (Chapter 18.135 RCW) In order to register under the HCA Law, they must prove college level education in A & P, Pathology, microbiology, asepsis, math & dosage calculations, pharmacology, administration of medications, and more. But, they are not licensed. They are then Certified Medical Assistants who are Registered with the Dept of Health under the HCA Law. I know its confusing, but what bureaucratic process isn't? They accept delegation only from their physician employers and their physician delegators must be in the building when injections are given. Remember, CMAs assist physicians, NAC/CNAs assist nurses. :) CMAMW is absolutely right, CMAs are very much encouraged to carry personal liability insurance. They are subject to the Uniform Disciplinary Act of Washington State - Regulations of Health Professions (Chapter 19-130 RCW) It sounds like some of you are running into generic medical type workers who are calling themselves "medical assistants" (or nurses) but who are neither. They actually are giving professional CMAs a tainted image. BTW, "nurse" is a title in Washington State that is protected by law. (I don't have the exact RCW, but its in the Nursing Law). The only people who may refer to themselves as nurses or allow others to believe they are nurses are those people who actually hold a license as an LPN, RN, or (interestingly enough) the Christian Science Nurse. Great discussion forum!!! :)

I manage a urology clinic and I have to say that our CMAs are terrific. They are conscientious, well trained, educated, professional and hard working. In fact, we try to hire CMAs for all our staffing needs now. And, no, its not that they are "cheaper". We pay the CMA/LPN/RN according to their experience and the position they fill rather than for their credentials. Our CMAs do very well with triaging and patient education and prescriptions, and never roam beyond their scope of practice. Guess I can't agree with some of your statements. Every profession has its share of poorly trained "non-thinkers" :)