crisscross

Oh boy, be prepared for the comments you're about to get. MA's are not well received on this site. On the other hand, I will tell you that my experience as an MA has been wonderful. I have never been made to feel inferior by any nurse that I have worked with. Honestly though, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I would go to nursing school instead. An MA doesn't have the same knowledge, experience, and most definitely not the pay!

Wow, I'm just an MA in TX and I make 14 dollars an hr, with benefits. I sure as heck better make more than 16.50 when I finish nursing school!

Just stop by the doctor's office before you have your blood drawn and tell them you'd like to add the test... should be no problem. If you add it on your own, when the results come back the doctor is going to think the people in the lab made a mistake. Also, you will have to pay for it if there is no diagnosis code to cover it. Your doctor should have no problem adding a blood test that you request.

I know EXACTLY what you're talking about! I have an 18 yo son, he's clean, I do his laundry, ( I know, I know) and still... there's THAT SMELL!

Ya know, pts don't know how good they've got it. My first child was born in a European hospital in the early 80's and after 10 hrs of labor during the hottest part of the year I was taken to a room where I was told to wash up in the sink, no shower, and given hot tea to drink! I had no tv, the other girl in the room didn't speak English, and after delivering an 8lb baby lady partslly with no complications the MD made me stay for FIVE DAYS! Ugh! I was miserable!!! I was also very young and didn't know anything or else I would probably have taken my healthy baby and my sweaty, unshowered self and left AMA!!! Believe me, after that experience I appreciate EVERYTHING anyone does for me while I'm a patient!

The character I miss the most is Dr Romano! He was great comic relief! He was a jerk, sure, but he had the best comments and every now and then they would show that he did have a heart.

I love when pts come to doctor and tell me " I have bronchitis. I need a shot and a prescription for antibiotics and cough medicine." sheesh, should I tell the doctor he can just skip this room and then open the sample closet up for the patient?? Here, help yourself, you don't need us!

Here we have a psych named Dr Looney and a proctologist named Dr Butz!

Do you remember the title of this documentary? I'm very curious to know what "it didn't end well" means. Are they serial killers? Sexual predators? What???

:rotfl: that has me LMAO!!!!:rotfl:

Phlebotomists are not "giving it a try"! And it doesn't matter what your title is, drawing blood requires a certain skill and a lot of practice. There are many nurses who would be completely lost and awkward drawing blood because they haven't done it in years. But the previous posters parents would rather have someone with "a title" do it, although she may not be proficient, rather than someone who does it day in and day out and is quite proficient. I'm baffled by this thinking!?!?

Interesting. So, a phlebotomist is not allowed to draw your parents blood? That's what they are trained to do.

Okay, I see MA bashing again. Believe it or not the MA's are not taking the lab results and just randomly stamping "WNL" on them. What a ridiculous statement to make! Honestly, I'm tired of reading on here what idiots you all think MA's are! We are here, we're not going anywhere and we do perform a service. Come on guys, the bottom line is that we are all here to help people. Believe it or not, some of us actually have some education! Now, about what happens with your lab results in the doctors office... when they are received they are put with the chart in a stack for the MD to review. He/She will do this either during the day between pts or at the end of the day after clinic. If I see something grossly abnormal I will bring it to his attention so sometimes the normal results do go to the bottom of the stack. I always tell pts to give us a few days and if they don't hear from us they should call the office. Doctors are famous for taking days off and results will sit in stacks for quite a while. I have pts get angry about this all the time and my response is that they should schedule an appt to come in and discuss their results when the doctor returns. We also have a PA who will discuss their results with them. Another thing that happens is that we never receive the results and we don't realize it until the pt calls. Someone may have had an xray and our office never received the result because mistakes do happen and we are a large clinic, so when the pt calls for his result is when I realize I never got it. So, I call radiology and request the report. Same thing with labs. Anyway, I know that when it comes to someones health they are anxious and impatient so I do my best to explain that it may take a few days to get the results. Of course, in the clinic most tests are not stat. So please, can we agree that it is not the MA's fault?? Nobody is "stamping WNL" on your results. MA's do not call the pt with results until the MD reviews them. period.

I just love when I tell a pt that I need to give the injection in their hip and they say "oh, you just wanna see my butt". I usually reply " yep, it's the highlight of my day!".:rotfl:

It's the November 2005 issue. The title of the article is "What Doctors Wish You Knew". As an MA in a clinic my personal fav was "befriend one of the assistants and get her direct telephone ext. It's the best way to ensure that your problems and questions will be taken care of quickly." Thanks a lot Good Housekeeping!! I hardly have time to check my vm for messages from the lab, radiology, and other offices as it is! That's all I need is for patients to start asking for my extension!!!

BTW, the inj was Toradol and Phenergan. Not something I want to be guessing at and giving without the doc available.

I agree. I don't mean to keep picking on the doctor I work with because it's not just him, but he likes to stand there as he's going through lab results and messages "telling" me what to do with them. I just tell him "write it down". The other day he said so and so is coming for this inj blah blah, I said write it on her chart, doc left for lunch, pt showed up, guess what, nothing written down... I refused to give the inj. until he showed back up at the clinic. He wasn't happy but I didn't care.

WOW! What MA's cannot do is actually more enlightening than what they can do. Does this mean I shouldn't be reading TB tests? How about UA's? I also administer mini-mental exams to the elderly, or anyone, suspected of early stages of dementia. I do think the MD should do this because often the pt's answers and/or their behavior during the test is much more telling than the score at the end. But, alas, my doc doesn't like to take the time.....

Thanks for the info. I may print that out and post it in our clinic. Forgive my ignorance but does it include catherization? We insert and remove urinary caths all the time. Regarding the PA, she wanted me to decide whether or not the pt needed an x-ray. Of course, I thought YES but again, I'm an MA you're a PA. I don't get paid to make that decision. BTW, I'm older, in my 40's, so a lot of people assume I'm an LVN or RN. Trust me, I always set them straight. Regarding the doc I work with, he's older and thinks all "the girls" are the same. He doesn't care what letters follow our names. He just wants done what he says done. The nurse (LVN) he had before me used to pick up his drycleaning! I laughed the first time he mentioned it to me and told him sure for time and a half!! No, I don't pick up his laundry.

DusktilDawn, I've read your reply and I completely agree and understand. Thank you for replying in a calm and sensical manner which I think will help other MA's reading this to understand. Maybe I SHOULD bring it up with the hierachy in the clinic I work that they should refer to the nurses as nurses and the ma's as ma's. I KNOW the reason the docs hire MA's is because we're cheaper and also because we're willing to learn anything. At least I've always been. I work along side an LVN (performing the exact same duties) and she's more likely to balk at something because she doesn't want to risk losing her license. Whereas, I figure, I don't have a license, it's HIS (the MD's) license. Ultimately he's responsible for anything I do working under his supervision. But, I guess what you're saying is that really I am responsible for anything I do, period. Good point. So, what are the boundaries for MA's? Because I'm here to tell you that I do everything. I mean EVERYTHING. I know I would lose my job if I were to start questioning orders at this point. BTW, as an interesting anecdote, I once had a Phys Asst. ask me to look at this womans foot and tell her if I thought it was broken or not. I showed her my badge and said "are you kidding me?". Needless to say, she didn't last very long.

Okay, this is my first post on this site but I've "visited" for quite a while. I am a Certified Medical Asst. and have been working for the same clinic for the past 10 years. Everyone at the clinic, including my direct supervisor who is an RN, calls us nurses. I know "real" nurses take offense to this but I think it's more of a generalized term and not exactly a title. I know you've worked hard for your title and have gone to school for many years for your title and I respect that. As an MA I do telephone triage under the direction of the MD I work with. As a matter of fact, ya'll would come unglued if I told you half the things he expects me to do. But he and I have worked together a long time and he trusts me. Actually, I've told him about the discussions I've read on this site regarding the nurse v. ma controversy and his response is "you're a nurse". Well, I know I'm not a nurse and I don't pass myself off as a nurse but I can't help that the clinic does or that the MD does. My understanding is that an MA works under the MD's license and we can do anything he shows us to do. My doc called one time when he was away from the office and wanted me to sign his name to a triplicate prescription for a pt who was coming by to pick it up and I had to finally draw the line and say um, NO. I guess what I really want to say is that as an MA, I'm don't secretly covet your RN license. Well, actually I do, but I don't pass myself off as one and I don't feel we're in competition as I think you all do. I'm back in school working on my ADN and I'm having serious doubts regarding the nursing profession because of this very reason. Come on, we're all in this for the same cause, right? There is just so much nastiness and elitetism it's really depressing. I hope ya'll don't bash me and keep me from ever posting again!!! Open minds....