I had a curious encounter at the doctor's office today. When I went in for my physical, a woman in scrubs came in ahead of the doc. She was wearing scrubs but no name tag. We hadn't met before, so I asked if she was a nurse. Yes, she replied.
I then presented her with paperwork outlining the shots I needed for school. As she looked over the paperwork, she volunteered that she was not a nurse but, in fact, a medical assistant. Oh, really? I replied. Where do you go to school for that? (I was genuinely curious.)
Well, she replied, she didn't go to school. She wasn't a "certified medical assistant," in her words, but "had a lot of experience." In fact, she'd been a CNA for 16 years, but this particular medical practice, as she explained it, "isn't like a hospital and doesn't care if you're ceritified." Hmm. Later on, the doctor sent her back to draw blood.
What would your reaction be? Obviously, she called herself a nurse, and she isn't one. (I wonder if she would have volunteered that info had she not seen my paperwork.) She called herself a medical assistant, then volunteered that she wasn't credentialed. I know nothing about MAs. Is that kosher? And what level of license does someone have to hold to be allowed to draw blood? (For what it's worth, this is the only person I've dealt with in many years at this doctor's office who wasn't wearing a name tag with credentials. Is there any kind of identification requirement?)
I don't have to learn to give botox, but I do like the fact of doing back office and front office but that does not mean that I will do botox injections unless i get the proper training
I don't have to learn to give botox, but I do like the fact of doing back office and front office but that does not mean that I will do botox injections unless i get the proper training
That's just it. Almost anyone could learn to give an injection and botox is a clear liquid. How hard could it be?
But the education, knowledge and experience that would need to be in place for someone to give botox injections. Proper training would take years. As in medical school or nursing school with addition certifications in cosmetic procedures.
Not just how and where to poke the needle, but oh so much more. In depth knowledge and understading of the anatomy and physiology of the face. Precisely where to inject, how deep, how much botox at each site. What to do if an adverse reaction occurs.
I don't know a thing about botox injections and I imagine there is much much much more that goes into doing them safely and effectively.
Again, just my own conviction that I would NEVER have botox done by anyone other than a doctor or specially trained nurse.
I have a friend who is a legal nurse consultant. She worked on a case where a doc was trying to inject botox around a woman's eye to smooth her crow's feet. The doc inadvertantly injected the Botox into the woman's schlera, and she has permanent loss of vision in the eye.
I also personally know someone who was getting Botox injections in the neck to treat dystonia. The doc injected the wrong area, rendering the pt unable to swallow. He had to have an NG tube placed- for four whole months.
I have a friend who is a legal nurse consultant. She worked on a case where a doc was trying to inject botox around a woman's eye to smooth her crow's feet. The doc inadvertantly injected the Botox into the woman's schlera, and she has permanent loss of vision in the eye.
I also personally know someone who was getting Botox injections in the neck to treat dystonia. The doc injected the wrong area, rendering the pt unable to swallow. He had to have an NG tube placed- for four whole months.
Exactly. Any procedure is a potential mine-field, even if you've had the years of medical school, residency, and fellowship. Anything can go wrong, and anyone can make a mistake. We try to minimize these mistakes and learn how to handle complications by putting people through years (or in the case of physicians, decades) of education and training. When you watch botox injections, it seems something anyone could do after a day of training. What you don't see is the thought process going on, thinking about musculature, anatomic landmarks, the course of major neurovascular bundles, avoidance of major arteries, and on and on. When something goes wrong, you need to know what to do about it, and that could be anything from bleeding, to missing the target, to an allergic reaction.
You could also teach anyone to do an appendectomy in a couple hours. It doesn't mean you should.
Are there really places where non-physicians give botox? I know you can't get ahold of the medication without a physician's order, so whoever is writing that order is really playing Russian roulette with their license and livelihood.
all the medical assistants ive ever known were certified. Huge red flag when she said the words "this practice doesn't care if you are certified"-eek get out of there!
Are there really places where non-physicians give botox? I know you can't get ahold of the medication without a physician's order, so whoever is writing that order is really playing Russian roulette with their license and livelihood.
I am not an expert, but from what I understand, RN's do botox, after training. This is so way out of my field, but I know some nurses that have done this type of nursing, and they talk about doing the injections all the time.
Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.
IMO, nurses who inject Botox are just asking for trouble!!! Good Grief! I don't care how much "training" they've had! There can be MAJOR complications.
Ok, so I was interested enough that I looked up my states position statement regarding this. Seems like it is with in the scope of practice for a RN or a LPN! At least here. Not that I'm gonna go do it. Not unless OB/GYNs start offering that service to laboring pts, lol.
This is an addendum to my original post at the beginning of this thread. I'd just had blood drawn by an MA who initially identified herself as a nurse.
Today, roughly six months later, I went back to the same practice for a titer. About a month ago, the practice was taken over by a regional medical center. I was pleased to see that all employees now wear photo ID that includes their job title and, where appropriate, license or credential. I sat in the waiting room thinking that now patients would know the person who appears before them in scrubs is not necessarily a nurse. That's really what I wanted: up-front information for consumers.
When the time came for me to head back to the lab, I was called in by a woman wearing a badge that clearly identified her as a medical assistant. When I sat down, she went through my ever-growing list of shots and asked what I'd needed all these vaccinations for. "School," I replied. What are you studying? she asked. "Nursing."
"Oh, I could be a nurse. It's just a little bit more school for me," she said. "But what's the point? It's so expensive, and what I do now is nursing."
I bit my tongue. Look, if you're an MA, be proud to be an MA. Don't tell a patient that you can do something you're not educated or legally authorized to do. No, I don't presume that all MAs do this. But those who do harm the credibility of MAs who represent themselves appropriately, mislead patients and tarnish perceptions of nurses.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I think it is naive of this MA to believe that nursing school is more expensive than what she learned. Most of the schools for medical assisting charge a large sum of money for a job where they make a few dollars over minimum wage.
I would consider them to be working in the nursing field, in some way, though, more equivilant to a CNA, though. My hospital just hired a few medical assistants to become Patient Care Technicians/Associates.
I think that someone should sit down MAs and CNAs and explain to them that they are only to refer to themselves as MA or CNA. See problem solved.
Like I said, I know for a fact they never tell you in MA school to NOT say you are a nurse or that it is wrong.
I know I'm probably way past the fact, but I just wanted to point something out in regards to these two statements. I know I'm not an MA, I'm a CNA, but in my certification class, they DID tell us that it is fraud to call ourselves or lead people to believe that we are nurses or anything other than CNA's. They told us that even if a pt or a pt's family member calls us a nurse we are supposed to correct them and tell them we are nursing assistants, or whatever our title is. They were sure to emphasize that we could get in a lot of trouble if we were to do anything like that.
10ACGIRL
315 Posts
I don't have to learn to give botox, but I do like the fact of doing back office and front office but that does not mean that I will do botox injections unless i get the proper training