Johnkc8rak

The RN in the office work at is the manager. Beside's all of the daily running of the office (A full time job in it's self). She also does all of the education training for the pt's. We have a lot of PT/INR's and diabetics. We take the vitals/blood,misc stuff and then she take's care of the education and medication change's. Then she talks to the MD so we know what medications to call into the pharmacy if a change is needed. She also take's all of the advice call's. John

Is your friend crazy? I have been a MA for the last year now in a awesome clinic. We have one RN and the 3 of us MA's. There is a major difference in what she does vs what we do. She does the education part of the pt work. We have a lot of people on insulin and pt/inr pts. Your friend make's the rest of us ma's look bad. Most of us never claim to be a nurse since are not. You are what you are and we are not nurse's. No matter what you do in life, be proud of what you are or do not do it. I used to be a EMT and i enjoy this job. We have great pt's and the 3 md's are great. Anyway. For a idea what we do.We bring the pt's back and take there vitals,room them. Ask them what meds they are on. If they need refills on there meds i check the computer records to make sure they are due for the refills/are on the meds and then write the script for the doc to sign or send it via oncall data to the pharmacy. If they need blood work or urine test i do it,ekg if they need it. If there in the need for a injection (B12's,flu,others) i give it when ordered. A of pt's needing there ears flushed lately. Plus all the other little things that are needed. Nothing too hard or major. But its needed. Scripts and refills and dealing with the insurance companys take up a lot of the day. It make's more sense to have a MA do this then a higher paid and skilled RN. Our RN manager is very smart and very busy doing her work. We work as a team all doing our part so the pt gets in and out asap. Its all about the pt and his care. We all have our part of the job to get it all done. Your friend really make's the rest of us MA's look bad. She give's fuel to those us do not like us ma's. There is plenty of work for RNs/lpns and MA's. We all have our place.The pay is good but not near what a LPN or RN make. Atleast in Ohio there isnt. There are a good amount of job openings if you try to find them. John

I work as a full time ma and i would never want to mess with a laser on a pt. You sure it's a laser like they use in surgery? There are different grade's of laser's also. Maybe a state allow's non md's to use low power one's like they sell for non medical trained like the other poster said. Myself. Not even a nurse would i trust. No md, no laser. John

The only scripts that we write out at the office i work at are the one's going to mail away pharmacy's like Medco (With the MD ok and him signing it) . Other wise we use a service called oncalldata. It has the pt's info on it. What pharmacys they have used,what meds we have refilled (maint drugs within a year) or given them per MD order. The site checks for drug interactions also.The pharmacys (even out of state ones) can send us request's this way also. That way your not writing rx's all day or calling the pharmacy's. At the end of the day we print out a audit and the md read's what we have done and signs that he is ok with what we MA's have done. John

You sould take a look at obesityhelp.com. It's not a easy out if you look at the site. Its not a quick fix. Its a life style change. I have not had it but from what i have read. I also have a close friend who has had it. Once people have this operation, a large amount of them have better all over health. They no longer have to take meds for HTN, Sugar and other stuff. The "Comorbids" go away for most. Spend sometime on that site and talk to people. Its what some need for better health. John

In my own doctor's office, there was a very uppity MA who insisted that she was my doctor's nurse. I asked my doctor about it, and she said, "No, that X is an MA." She no longer works at that office. Twice she wrote out prescriptions for medications I wasn't even taking!! Shame on the MA and the doctor for allowing this to happen. The MA for doing this and the MD for not checking.I write prescriptions all day at the office i work at as a MA. I get people all the time asking for stuff they are not on or wrong dosage. I check the pts med sheet first and also the previous office visits dictation from the doctor. We no longer have charts, it is all on computer now. I also check the oncalldata site that we use for electronic scripts to the local pharmacys. I check the whole file. And the MD should have caught this since he is the one who has to sign the script. Also if she is claiming to be a nurse. Then she need's a good talking too. She is making the rest of us MA's look bad. I have more then once corrected people who think i am a nurse. Not in a million year's would i claim to be something i am not. It make's the rest of us look bad. On the subject of "nurse visit". Your right. If it is a MA then it cant be a nurse visit. Our office has what is called a office visit charge. Not a nurse charge. I check the persons blood sugar or PT/INR and our nurse talks to the pt about the levels (after i check the persons BP/Pulse/Weight). If i give a B12 or flu shot or TB then its coded as just that. A charge for what's given. Not a office charge since the nurse didnt do it. John MA/EMT

I work at a 3 doc office and we have been giving them out for the last few week's. A whole lot of our pts are going to Flordia for the winter and are getting them here before heading South. Last Wed i did 22 flu shot's in 3 hour's. Busy morning. John

I have been told that it is highly recomended that you take the CMA or RMA test. I am studying right now for the CMA. Here in the Cleveland Ohio area. Most of the MA job's want you to be a CMA. CMA mean's you have gone to a school that is accredited and your serious about this. That your just not someone off the street. Since MA's do not have a Board's test by the state (I think we sould have to take a test and be responsible for what we do like any other medical person like my EMT cert). This gives you something to prove you have some training. You can do it. It is hard from what i hear but you can do it. Study your A&P & term's + go over everything else you learned in school. Dont forget to go over the "Office stuff" part's. I have been told that is a big part of it also. I much prefer the clinical stuff but office work is part of the job. Goto Border's or Barnes/Noble on line to look for the study guides. John :)

Hello nrollins vbmenu_register("postmenu_1082166", true); . I just got done with MA school and i have a interview at a Ortho office Thursday afternoon. Start pay is $13.00 (Not min wage ). If the LPN program's in your area have a long wait like they do here in the Cleveland area then i would take the MA program untill you can get into the LPN program (i am on a list for the fall). As many on here will tell you, you wont be a "Nurse". But you will learn a lot. For better or worse you will learn somethings in ma school that LPN's do not learn. MA's learn a lot of the office side of the work. We all (RN/LPN/MA) have our duties and places. It isnt a bad choice. A lot of office's and clinics around here are hiring ma's and not lpn's anymore. Some say it is fooling the public. Dont let the arguments with that thinking stop you. I agree with the post about name tag's. We all sould have one with our titles. Be proud of your title and what you know. John

I am a new MA. Thought i would come over here and see what i could learn on this site. What i find is what seems to be a bunch of people who are stuck on a ego trip. You sould go back and reread your posts. You sould be welcoming ma's.RN's you complain your over worked. But you complain about MAs who would love to help you out with the lesser duties so you can be freed up to due the harder stuff. You worked hard to become a RN. No one can replace you and what you due. Lord knows i dont want your duties. Your right we sould have a state test like LPNs. I worked hard that last 7 months. Since i have not taken a state test (We do have a cert test to become a CMA) does that mean i am a uneducated monkey? Only good enough to do vitals and empty urinals?? I learned a lot in class/lab. I darn well know enough to read the drug book before i give a med and know the effects/counter indication and all that. Why i am giving it. I take pride in what i do and i ask questions when i do not understand something so i will know it the next time.I have been a EMT for 5 yrs. I never claim to be a Medic. I have my duties and Medics have there duties. I help them and they help me. Not every call needs a medic and some do. We work well with each other. I have really enjoyed it. I love taking care of people. I worked hard for what i know and i keep up every month with con ed and taking other class's. I am always reading books and online reading sites like this. I have had 2 back injuries so i no longer want to do ems so i can save my back. I took the MA program (Untill i can take the LPN program which there is a wait). I worked hard the last 7 months. We all have our place and duties. We need to get along and work with each other. CMAs are not going away. LPNs sould not feel like we are trying to take their jobs. We sould have to take a boards like you guys/ladies. I have heard pn here about how MA's are a danger. I have seen some scary scary nurses in the nursing homes and doctors offices i have picked up at. One of my last pts on squad almost died because a nurse at a VA facility didnt do a simple blood sugar on a pt. I have taken way to many pts from nursing homes to the er for stuff that sould never have happened. I know this post was long but this is how i feel (Sorry for the grammer mistakes, i am dead tired from a long evening shift). John