Still on my soapbox

Published

Wondering where the bottom will be. Our local hospital started actively hiring Medical Assistants not long ago (now that they are on a tiered system with higher levels of legal scope of practice). Now, they're not only hiring them, but asking the college to add another semester of MA program enrollment which effectively doubles the yearly output of MA graduates. What they're not asking for are more nurses. (They had started hiring LPN's instead of RN's, but now the focus is on MA's.)While this example is a microcosm-- and admittedly anecdotal evidence-- it makes me shudder when I think of the future of nursing. Where does it all end?

What are MAs doing in the hospital?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
What are MAs doing in the hospital?

That's my question too. I looked up the class list for local medical assistant programs, and they don't even require an anatomy course, let alone patho. I can't imagine what they would be doing that would threaten nursing's function in a hospital.

I don't want to make this a rant against MAs in an office setting, but it still burns my buns that no one at my primary's office is qualified to triage. I called some time ago about a suspected UTI. I was told that there were no appointments for two weeks. I repeated that I thought I had an infection, and I needed treatment that couldn't wait two weeks. I was transferred to the business manager to get permission to go to the ER! ***** Makes a whole helluva lot of sense to treat a UTI via the ER rather than paying someone qualified to triage and juggle appointments based on need, right? I have an HMO, so my ER trip took money directly out of the group's pocket.

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Specializes in Anesthesia, ICU, PCU.

Maybe the OP works in a subacute rehab sort of facility where, correct me if in wrong, I do believe they sometimes employ "med aides" who are able to pass the meds as prepared by a licensed nurse. It could be that the MAs they're talking about are being hired in a role such as this.

The MAs at my PCPs office took my signs, gave me all my shots, drew my blood, and even gave me an ordered neb treatment once when I was a kid. The same ones are still there ~15 years later it's crazy! I definitely wouldn't call these ladies dummies, but theirs is a different skillset than that of a hospital employee. I don't imagine critical thinking or problem solving are much of an emphasis in their current role, but that's not a bad thing. I practically envy them for it lol

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I caught a little bit of a reality show the other evening, and one of the people on it said that if things didn't work out that she would have to return to finish her "medical assisting degree". And there lies the issue.

There are many techinical schools that promise the sun moon and stars for people to obtain these certifications at a huge price, or the schools know that their students can and do get grants (and loans) to go through their programs. Further, some states have these certifications as part of the "welfare to work" and/or "get off unemployment" tactics. In theory, one could assume that once that is was thought of that there wasn't a whole lot of jobs, now the hospitals have come on board to offer alternatives. And literally, some certification programs (and not just exclusive to medical assisting training) do refer to this all as "a degree" and use language such as "your clinical practice". So really, people come out with a certificate that they believe are degrees. Which is scary on a number of levels.

Medical Assistants, no matter what their cognitive ability, are not licensed, therefore someone needs to be responsible for their duties. A number of LPN's in search of the "coveted" hospital position, are more than willing it seems to take that on.

I am not sure how in the world that is going to work out and at what cost to the patient. However, I am sure that the facilities will make a profit in the end...

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I never saw MA at a hospital, but maybe they are abundant in office. It's good that I never have seen one b/c I heard they think themselves as a RN, and if that is the case, I would definitely straight them out. I think it is okay to have MAs in long term, non-acute settings where pts will just get their routine daily meds under sufficient RN supervision since it doesn't take a genius to know that one should hold blood pressure meds and beta-blockers if bp and hr is low. But then again, I never worked in long term kind of care, so I don't know how those RNs would feel about MAs.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I am not even sure MA's are allowed in acute care in Texas. Will have to look that up. I see many potential risks.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
We have several MA's who work with us in the hospital. I was under the assumption that MA's were well educated, but sadly, I have found quite the opposite. I don't know what their educational curriculum is like, but the ones we have here do not seem to know a whole lot about nursing. Maybe their education was geared more toward working in offices, or maybe it is just this area. Not trying to bash them, but the ones we work with could not possibly function as nurses.

They don't know a lot about nursing because they're not nurses! They can't function as nurses because they are not nurses!

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My question is what they do for job function in acute or sub acute care

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Which state agency controls the MAs? In Tx, MAs are not under the authority of the BON (yet) but there is discussion about moving in this direction. We have a very strong Nurse Practice Act & BON who have authority and direction over all things 'nursing'. At this point, MAs are not permitted in acute care.

A good many years ago, I was absolutely horrified to discover that there were "techs" (shudder) administering chemo & changing IICP lines in very well known hospitals. However, I found out that these - very few positions that were being phased out - techs had stellar performance records, no infections, and no mistakes. They were well trained, worked under the immediate supervision of a qualified RN & knew exactly how to do their jobs and when to call their RN.

My point? Never say never. Nursing must continually adapt to changing circumstances. We just need to make sure that quality and patient safety is our primary focus.

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Specializes in ICU.

I am also wondering what state you live in? Here in Indiana you don't see MAs in hospitals, they primarily function in doctor's offices. As a matter of fact, LPNs are being phased out of hospitals entirely and they only hire RNs. We have PCTs in hospitals that first come in and assist with paperwork but the RNs do the majority of the work. Here a MA has a 2 year degree but the degree focuses on completely different things than the nursing program does. I'm kinda confused.

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Which state agency controls the MAs? In Tx, MAs are not under the authority of the BON (yet) but there is discussion about moving in this direction. We have a very strong Nurse Practice Act & BON who have authority and direction over all things 'nursing'. At this point, MAs are not permitted in acute care.

A good many years ago, I was absolutely horrified to discover that there were "techs" (shudder) administering chemo & changing IICP lines in very well known hospitals. However, I found out that these - very few positions that were being phased out - techs had stellar performance records, no infections, and no mistakes. They were well trained, worked under the immediate supervision of a qualified RN & knew exactly how to do their jobs and when to call their RN.

My point? Never say never. Nursing must continually adapt to changing circumstances. We just need to make sure that quality and patient safety is our primary focus.

very true. I agree, as I certainly feel like I learned most of my nursing from my jobs instead of from school, and I concluded that didactic portion of 2 yrs in NS was for the lot of parts, pretty useless, although it is true to have good basic knowledge regarding science and A&P.

Now my point is, as we are letting these "techs" do more primitive/basic nursing duties, such as passing simple meds, doing simple dressings, doing tedious paper works and charting, I say nurses should have expanded scope of practice. For example, with adequate training, nurses can and should be able to intubate or insert femoral lines, etc, although I wonder what others will say about this...

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

http://www.nbc12.com/story/25132538/nursing-school-can-not-accept-new-students

http://www.indianagazette.com/news/indiana-news/former-students-sue-ictc,19565241/

It is also the fault of "for profit tech colleges" that MAs think of themselves as nurses. These are just a couple of articles that immediately popped up when I googled 'medical assistant.' I hope the students in Indiana win their lawsuit. Maybe that will put an end to the false advertising of these ridiculous institutions.

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