orange89

RN Cardiac......Thank you for your answer. That seems to be exactly what is going on. I had never seen this before and it made me wonder if it was "normal". Just to let everyone know, I think SAM J said it, but yes my "issue" was that it concerned me, it doesn't make me mad she's doing it, I just want it to be okay that she is doing it. If that makes sense. And I honestly did not know if it was okay. I thought she was a nurse for almost a year (my child is a year old now) and I first came to this office when she was born. And over time with going to school, I realized she didn't really graduate and I asked her about it (nicely...more curious than anything) and her response was somewhere along the lines of..."yeah I failed a semester so decided to do Surg. Tech and I worked in the OR for 2 years before coming here." It only concerned me because there is no other nurse in the office like I said earlier, there's no MA either. The physician and the receptionist and then her. Also, someone mentioned certified med. assistants, at the urgent care near me, sometimes I am seen by a nurse or sometimes a CMA and she has given me shots so I have no issue with someone being a CMA or MA. Just trying to make that clear if anyone was confused. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble or get someone in trouble if they don't need to be, but she was basically saying she had no "nursing" skills until she started in that office, she said she's never had formal training, and she was talking about how she had to cath. a baby that morning and I was just thinking oh my, is this normal? She's really sweet and I don't think she's intentionally being "illegal", if she even is at all. Like I said, I was just wondering what you all thought.

Thank you Jadelpn that was useful. She's not a MA. Maybe she should go back to school and get that certification.

Thank you, nursel56. Yes they all call her nurse. Maybe that's true in my state I couldn't tell online. I was just curious because of how weird jt seemed. Thanks for your help

Thank you to those who were helpful and took from my post that I was simply asking a question not trying to be rude or mean or anything close to that. I had a strange feeling and thought that it would be interesting to ask some educated people who work in the field if they had ever heard of that. I was not bashing anyone or starting "beef". I think it's great MAs can do those things, I've had one give me a shot before. Too bad the person I'm asking about is not a medical assistant. I have been in need of a family doctor and the one I found that I'm interested in also sees babies so I believe I'm going to check that Dr. out. Thanks for your help.

My beef with her as you called it is that someone could be endangering children because she is not trained because she told me she was never trained. She isn't a MA.

I hope she's not doing anything illegal. It's not right first off and I also don't want to get anyone in trouble. But it seems weird there being no actual nurse, RN or LPN in the office at all.

She's the only employee though besides the doc and the receptionist. I live in SC I looked on the state licensing website but didn't see anything relating to what I'm looking for and thought I'd ask for opinions before I called. Also, speaking of referring to herself as a nurse, I called there one day because my child had an emergency and the receptionist also referred to her as a nurse. I also know before this job she was a regular ST in an operating room. No other nursing type duties.

Hello all. I am a nursing student here in SC and I love this website. It has been very helpful and even though I have never directly participated on here, I have learned a lot from you all. I have decided to finally make a post, but it is not about my studies.... I know someone who works at my child's doctor's office. She refers to herself as "head nurse" there. She claims to have graduated from the school I am attending. She actually went to HS with me, but was a few years older. I noticed she was not pictured in the nursing building for the year she said she graduated as a RN. (Our school displays the pictures of all the RN & LPN graduates in the halls). I asked her about this and she told me she failed out of the RN program early on (I don't think she ever got into the program but can't be for sure), but anyway, she graduated as a surg. tech. This I have verified. She does not refer to herself as a RN and doesn't sign her name that way, but she does give shots, and everything else a nurse would do in pediatrician's office. I have also heard her mention how she's started caths for patients in the office. Does this sound right to any of you? Can surgical techs do that? She told me the Dr. knows she is a ST. Is this legal? I don't mean to sound...picky, it just seems strange. Thanks