So why even bother with getting an RN?

[netglow]

[h=2]Saw an ad for urgent care wanting to hire MAs. They want you to be able to provide compassionate nursing care, assessing patients & taking effective action. They also want you to be able to triage critically ill patients and prioritize patient care appropriately as well as have skills in assessing, prioritizing many requests by patients, families, physicians, staff. You have to have skill in their EMR & infection control. You gotta coordinate care between clinic and other facilities such as hospitals or physician offices & do telephone triage and call backs ...among many & assorted other requirements.[/h]

[Seas]

Sounds like a low quality place to me.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Why would it be wrong to call a medical assistant a nurse?

In my state it would be wrong to call a medical assistant a nurse because it is illegal to call anyone a nurse (or refer to one's self as a nurse) if the person in question is not a Licensed Vocational Nurse or a Registered Nurse. The word "nurse" is a legally defined and protected term.

It's a shame that this is not the case in all states. If any MA ever refers to himself as a nurse in my presence, I will not just accept that without comment.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Count me as one who doesn't have a problem in general with MAs working in offices, as long as they do NOT represent themselves as nurses and/or they correct any insinuation that they are nurses.

[Asystole RN]

I don't understand why some RNs fear that they will be replaced with techs, etc. It will NEVER happen, from a liability standpoint. Just imagine the number of (med) errors. They would be through the roof if we allowed improperly-trained staff do what a nurse SHOULD be doing.

Arizona's BON has been conducting studies with CNAs being trained as Med Techs. So far the CNAs have a lower, statistically insignificant, but lower med error rate over both LPNs and RNs.

Techs are in fact replacing traditional roles that LPNs, and to some extent RNs, but the roles of RNs seem to be expanding.

[OCNRN63, RN]

No, our MAs do a great deal more than that. I'm very comfortable with their performance and scope. They do a great job and we could not operate without them. We also have one nurse. The only point of my post was the correct the misimpression that one must possess a MD degree to direct MA activities. It may be thus in some states, but not in mine.

I don't identify my location, but there are less than 20 states with completely independent NP practice, so that should narrow it down for you somewhat.

There is a long tradition of MA disdain on this website. My experience with them has been nothing but positive. However, I have only worked with 6 in my entire career, lol. Those 6 have been outstanding members of our team and I've never had any reason to want to replace them. There has never been anything in a primary care office that I have needed that made me wish my MA were a nurse. We don't need nurses in the office. The nurse we have is a wonderful person, but spends most of her time ordering doing inventory and ordering supplies and does very little actual nursing activity. She really is unnecessary, and when she graduates from her NP program and resigns, it has already been decided she will not be replaced, and her responsibilities will be assumed by the office manager.

Is that the nurse's fault or yours? From what you describe, it sounds like you were underutilizing her. You could have had the MAs taking care of the paperwork issues and had your nurse doing what she was educated and licensed to do--provide patient care.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Arizona's BON has been conducting studies with CNAs being trained as Med Techs. So far the CNAs have a lower, statistically insignificant, but lower med error rate over both LPNs and RNs.

Techs are in fact replacing traditional roles that LPNs, and to some extent RNs, but the roles of RNs seem to be expanding.

So the upshot is less education = fewer med errors? I question the validity of this study. I'm sure the facilities in which these studies are being conducted have significant vested interests in skewing the data.

[carolinapooh, BSN, RN]

So the upshot is less education = fewer med errors? I question the validity of this study. I'm sure the facilities in which these studies are being conducted have significant vested interests in skewing the data.

Also, it could be a case of the data skewing itself - as in, there are more errors per RNs/LPNs because there are MORE RNs/LPNs who are passing meds. If that's not explicitly stated (and as you know, that happens!), then it's implied that the above stated result in Arizona is true - when it's actually not.

Plus, the real caveat is 'statistically insignificant'. If it's statistically insignificant, then it's practically irrelevant.

Truly I'm not concerned about my role being replaced in this regard if this is what's being presented as evidence.

[OCNRN63, RN]

Arizona's BON has been conducting studies with CNAs being trained as Med Techs. So far the CNAs have a lower, statistically insignificant, but lower med error rate over both LPNs and RNs.

Techs are in fact replacing traditional roles that LPNs, and to some extent RNs, but the roles of RNs seem to be expanding.

The CNAs are not also responsible for all of the other aspects of patient care that nurses are. Those are the things that can sometimes get you caught up in a med error.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Reading Asystole RN's comment, about RN roles seeming to be expanding - expanding to doing what? I mean, really what to that is still RN and not APN?

I have only "intuition" moments when I see a hospital system to the south of me wanting RNs with 5+ minimum experience, with some kind of line in their ads saying it needs to be intense experience within what ever specialty they are advertising for at that moment. BUT the jobs are for office. My intuition says to me, they want old school APN level experience (meaning back when APNs really had a good amount of experience as RNs - pretty much were trusted clinically to know what to do and do it) to work with practice MDs in this system. I feel they don't want the expense of APNs but want someone who is right there but still an RN.

So fast things change - I think some networks will try and grab a few of you "old bats" out there if you come riding in at the right time since things are moving out of the hospital.... office can be chaos, and MDs start sniffling without a good old bat there to save them and impose order on things.