Kidaroo102

I do have some experience on this subject. I was a 91C in the US Army during the 91W Conversion. You start out with "medic" emt training and you can go onto a specialty c, d, e and so on. "C" being termed Practical Nurse in the Army Nurse Corp....civilian would be lpn/lvn. Keep in mind the military did not license/certify at this time (it is now required in the transition). When I discharged I had legitimate RN training in a military hospital on surgical/ICU/OB units that I was unable to use because of lack of licensing, opportunities made available to me but like a dummy I didn't take advantage of civilian licensing. At the time I thought it was unnecessary thinking my life would not exist beyond the military. Generally speaking a medic depending on when they served can have nursing training, but NOT PA, physician assistant training. MEDDAC or Field medics work under LT's and above in the Army with LT's generally being PA's and Major's being MD's. Hope this info helps. Having the nursing training again, doesn't make them a nurse, but it is possible for the training to be there. On the AARTS transcript for 91WM6 (my job title was Practical Nurse) included nursing clinical credits as well as certification as NREMT-Basic (NREMT-B), with certifications in Advanced Provider Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (A-PHTLS), and Advanced Provider Basic Trauma Life Support (A-BTLS). If this helps great if not, sorry. Being from my background.....MA with nursing training plausible, PA, NO WAY by the way I am a NCMA, I am awaiting admittance into UAA's RN program and the NCMA lets me work 8-5 for my 2 kids. Great hours for finding daycare and going to school. Please don't flame me.

Well this website was written by a webdesigner and is not accurate for all 50 States. Before reponding, I did check the AK statutes and Administrative Code to verify....Under the direction of a physician we can insert urinary catheters, and start, apply tubing, and administer medication with physicians orders. It simply states that a LNP, RN, or an LPN, LVN, can not supervise or delegate such tasks to us. A physician however can. Alaska is different from many states....more than I realized. I would like to comment that with everything this conversation has brought to light...I do agree that a CMA is by no means an RN. CMA's and LVN, LPN's are similiar and their roles cross, but there are some differences as well. I also agree that Medical Assisting needs to be organized across the nation considering that we hold national certification if one is chosen to be persued. I can say for a fact that there are none of the three month $300 MA programs here in AK. Currently there are 3 programs for CMA's and they are run by ACIS accredidated Colleges. All three programs have certificates at the completion of the program and Certification for those programs is manditory through the NCCT. The three schools here are University of Alaska Anchorage, Career Academy, and Charter College. I respect all of you for your comments and your knowledge. It has forced me to take the knowledge I have been working under into action to verify for myself what I am allowed to do legally in my state and what I am not allowed to do. THANK YOU ALL FOR THAT! Information is always a benefit to those that seek it and I am sure that the forum owners had this in mind when they created this community. All of you in the health care field whatever medium your education provides you do what you do well.

Currently Alaska has no laws about "unliscensed" personel administering narcotics. It does how ever have rules about who can deligate the order. A nurse can not deligate this to us, but a physician can.

http://www.aama-ntl.org/resources/library/Role-delineation-2003.pdf This might help it is a study based on nation wide data.

There is a common misconception that MA's work under the nurses.....we do not......we work under the practioner....the actions of the CMA are those of the practioner written order so the legality is covered under their liscense when acting on the practioners wishes. Now if an MA does something without the direction of the practioner, then the MA is on their own so to speak. In the event the provider is a nurse practioner, then the sponser of the NP is the liscense in which we fall under....this is in Alaska. I am not sure about other states. There is malpractice insurance available to MA's as well.

MA training is not what it used to be. How long did you spend on pharmacology. 10 weeks of 8-5 M-f of dosage calculation, drug composition and chemistry, drug interaction, drug classification. I have been in the medical profession for the last 7 years, 5 as a military medic doing more than an RN civilian would ever do, and now as an MA for the last three. If you don't want a Nationally Certified Medical Assistant pushing your iv meds after they have been properly trained then don't come to Alaska. This is so stupid for LPN's to think they are so much better than CMA's just because some State board is there to tell you what you can and can't do. Physician's that we work under trust us, that is why we can do the things that we do. Has there ever been a situation where you have been trained in something by your RN counterparts but the nursing board says it is out of your scope so you can't do it. You have been trained, but someone who doesn't know you says no......sounds like a limitation that is holding you back. It's not a competition. LPN's are too restricted and Alaska is not using them.....there is one program for LPN's here and it's shutting it's doors in 2010 because the DOL says there is no longer a need for them.

It is interesting you should say that because if you look at the Dept. of Labor Occupational Statistics the training components are the same. Also HPSO- Health Professionals Service Organization that has been in business for over 25 years offers malpractice insurance to Certified Medical Assistants. The certification is treated just like the liscensure. It's a national third party test given for competency. CMA programs have clinical rotations just like LPN students do. If an Honest Objective look is taken at the two professions the only difference is the regulatory board. The state nursing board covers LPN's and the state medical board covers MA's. I don't know what the big pinch is in the nursing community about CMA's. In Alaska there is ONE nursing program for RN's one 2 yr and one 4 yr at the university. With the lack of nursing instructors they allow 30 students each program twice a year. This has created a greater need for medical professionals. MA's are filling the gap for the RN shortfall. I am not saying that one is better than the other I am simply stating that CMA's with a physician that trains them can do MORE than and LPN in some states, specifically Alaska. I have administered narcotics IV, per a doctors order and according to the state nursing board here a LPN can't do that. And we can administer medications as well as dispense them under the physicians order in Alaska. It does vary from state to state, but here we are allowed to by law.

I am not trying to convince anyone, but MA's are working on the floors in clinical positions, not just tech positions. If you compare an LPN program to an MA program up here there are almost NO differences. MA's here are trained in surgical procedures, IV therapy, pharmacology...ect. positions at hospitals are advertised LPN/MA. They are not at a loss for the liscensing issue because MA's fall under the physicains liscense and they are nationally certified just like an EMT would. In Alaska they fall under the State Medical Board.

"Actually, no. But I will let the LPNs cover that as they can explain it better than I." Not to be a devil's advocate but in reality MA's can do the same as an LPN and sometimes even more......Medical Assistant's work under a physicians liscense and are not regulated by the Nursing Board. If a physician is confident in a MA's skills and directs the MA to do a task then by law as long as they have been trained to do the task they can perform it. In Alaska this is the norm not the exception. Physicians and hospitals are hiring MA's because there is more flexability in the position as an MA, than an LPN. They are hiring Certified MA's that have taken national certification tests not just OJT MA's. They are also looking at the educational facility where the training was completed. CAAHEP and ABHES approved facilities are those that are having 88-95% placement for thier MA's here.