orangepancakes

I'm currently in school to be a Certified Medical Assistant. It's true, our instructors tell us that we are basically equivalent to LPN's, except we are also trained in Administrative. So, what I am saying is that LPN's shouldn't be offended if CMA's consider themselves to be similar..especially since we are told that! CMA's work hard and know A LOT of stuff, so you really shouldn't be insulted. We bust our butts in school just like LPN's do. My school is extremely fast paced and intense-it's not easy! I also have to extern for a few months. I think a lot of people on here are biased and it's upsetting and unsettling. These forums shouldn't be used as a tool to insult one another's profession, whether it be a CNA, LPN or CMA. Anyways, I don't know where you are located, but where I am there seems to be a pretty high demand for CMA's. I guess it really depends on where you live. Some areas want LPNs and CNA's, while others would rather CMA's.

I think some people on here may post lies to look more credible, and so they can bad mouth CMA's without looking biased. I think it's highly unlikely that someone would go from being a CMA to LPN to RN because that's a whole lot of schooling and a lot of wasted time and money. Wouldn't it make more sense to just go to school to be an RN, and skip the whole LPN thing completely, seeing as how you don't even have to start off as an LPN to be an RN? And if being a CMA is a totally different "monster" and scope of practice, then why ever start off as a CMA if you want to be a nurse in the first place? Doesn't make any sense to me. Seems to me that "you" are just a biased nurse, which is a shame.

There has been a lot of talk of LPN's being phased out for quite some time. Even if that is not true, you cannot deny that LPNs have less options. Less options means more competition, and a harder time finding work. It took my friend over a year to get hired as an LPN because the jobs are so scarce. (At least around here). Her starting pay was equivalent to what a CMA's starting pay is, so I don't know why people are saying LPN's make more. Also, I don't see many people hiring LPN's around here. I see people looking to hire CMA's, RN's and nurse practitioners.

There seems to be a lot of biased comments on here, mainly from people who are either LPN/RN's, or who are in school to be one or the other. I'm in school to be a CMA. The school I go to also has an LPN program. It used to take 2 years of schooling to be a CMA. My program is 9 months long, but it is very fast paced and intense. The LPN program is longer at about 13 months. But is it as intense and fast paced?-I don't know. What I do is that my instructors tell me that what we do is very similar to what an LPN does, only we are also trained to do administrate work. I have also been told they are phasing out LPNs (at least in my area). I can also tell you that the outlook for CMA's seems to be more promising. Where I am located, they are in high demand. Mainly because they can go in many directions. We can work for government agencies, insurance companies and obviously doctors offices and hospitals. We can even branch off and work for cardiologists, in labs, etc. Also, the potential to make good money is there. Obviously, it depends where you work and what exactly you are doing. I know the average starting pay around here is between $16-$18 an hour if you are Certified-Not bad starting pay for just 9 months of schooling.