Why Even go for your MA? Don't Understand...

Katie5 · Dec 3, 2010

How many times have you been asked why you didn't become a doctor?
You are a nurse for a reason. Maybe it's the patient relationships, maybe the hours, but there is a reason you persevered through nursing school and are where you are today. And it probably wasn't because no one told you about medical school.
Let's afford MAs the same professional courtesy that we would like. There are some people who would rather do precerts than turn patients. And there are some really phenomenal MAs out there. I personally know an MA who eventually became the manager of her department.

Waoh. :yeah:

roser13, ASN, RN · Dec 3, 2010

OP, I've always wondered the same thing. I have never worked with MA's who attended any type of certification program, nor did they need to. The MD's always wanted to train their staff in "their" ways.

There was a recent poster who (in my opinion) had fallen for the MA advertisements at her local community college and was almost ready to graduate with her associates degree in applied science. I felt so sorry for her as it was beginning to dawn on her that she might have wasted her $$ and her time to obtain the degree.

To those that say that MA courses involve the same A&P and science courses as a nursing program - I strongly disagree. My experience has been that the courses teach A&P/Science "lite."

Ambitious-Girl · Dec 3, 2010

How many times have you been asked why you didn't become a doctor?
You are a nurse for a reason. Maybe it's the patient relationships, maybe the hours, but there is a reason you persevered through nursing school and are where you are today. And it probably wasn't because no one told you about medical school.
Let's afford MAs the same professional courtesy that we would like. There are some people who would rather do precerts than turn patients. And there are some really phenomenal MAs out there. I personally know an MA who eventually became the manager of her department.

^^Thank You!

I'm a MA, that only attended school for 10 Months + 160 Of externship work..I personally don't think there's anything wrong with becoming a MA as stated above ."Diffrent Strokes For Diffrent Folks". Now, I'm currently a Nursing Student. I'm happy, I waited instead of jumping into this field to find out I don't like it. I've been in this program 4months today and I can't count the number of people who wasted a spot to find out they "couldn't handle it"etc....

2011NursingStudent · Dec 3, 2010

I have a friend that just started MA school, but knew she could not get in to the LPN/RN community college programs around here because she's not a good test taker and does not have a strong GPA, also doesn't want to take the prereqs. Her program is 10 mos and she knows exactly what she wants to do - give injections, etc in a doctor's office setting or clinic and that's it. She doesn't aspire to work in a hospital, try bedside nursing, advance her career, etc - she knows what she wants to do and says she'd be happy w/it the rest of her life. Her husband pays the majority of their bills, so its really more something to do to earn her some income.

Do I think $16k to make $12/hr is a good choice? No...she'll have to work 1,333 hours to pay that off, plus whatever accrues in interest. That's almost an entire year of her life to pay it off.

HOWEVER, a lot of us have some student loan debt it will take us a while to pay off, so I can't judge. I think she's just appreciative there is a program she can finish in less than a year that will give her a job in the medical field - and she does not want to do the type of work a CNA does.

BluegrassRN · Dec 3, 2010

How many times have you been asked why you didn't become a doctor?
You are a nurse for a reason. Maybe it's the patient relationships, maybe the hours, but there is a reason you persevered through nursing school and are where you are today. And it probably wasn't because no one told you about medical school.
Let's afford MAs the same professional courtesy that we would like.

Thank you. I thought this deserved to be repeated (again and again) in this thread.

While I'm at it, big bold letters and no breaks in paragraphs makes a post difficult to read. Not to be grumpy, just to inform so that you know. I don't think the General was trying to be rude, just trying to get a point across.

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Dec 3, 2010

The education and things you do are very different. My mom is a cert. MA She went to school 14 years ago and back than at least where we were from, it was 18 months and that included the anatomy and physiology. She makes good money because she has been at her job for a long time and has a lot of experience. She is an exception though from what I have seen. A lot of people I know that went to MA school more recently went for shorter amount of time, aren't considered certified and make about 11-12 bucks an hour starting pay. But your role in the health care field is very different, and IMO I would rather stick to the nurse route, also so many areas you can go to if you don't like the area you are in and also higher education you can always do.

Wanted to add, on the plus side, my mom works 40 hrs a week, gets done at 5 and has holidays off, vacations and gets a fat Christmas bonus every year. For sure perks to each side, but I prefer to stick with nursing.

nep1980 · Dec 3, 2010

As an MA I would love to chime in on this topic. Many valid reasons have been cited already. For me, 25 years ago, I did not have the money to attend "nursing school". So I opted to get my foot in the door by attending an MA program through a private school in my area. I graduated top of my class with the intention that after working a few years and saving some money, I would go to college and get my RN.
Well, life took its course and I got married, had children, worked in a job I loved and didn't feel the need to go back to school.
Until recently.
Now that my kids are grown and I have gained so much "working knowledge"...more I might add than anyone ever learns in school...I wish I had a license. Frankly, in my clinic, I do much of the same work as the RN's and LPN's...only without equal pay. I take orders, I give meds, I give injections, I clean and dress wounds, I culture, I draw blood, I assist minor surgery, I test, I chart, I advise, etc etc etc etc etc.
What I don't do is bedside. But, even if I were licensed as an RN, I would not want to. It never was my desire. My goal was to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.
For several years now I have taught in other MA and basic Med Term/Anatomy classes. While I love sharing the knowlege of what I have learned, I always encourage my students to disregard the idea of taking MA courses and just go for the LPN. Same time involved, almost exact classes but with more intense clinicals and in the end higher pay and more respect. Plus then they can easily bridge to RN if and when they choose.
Unfortunately, nursing is an sorority of heirarchy. The more important letters you have after your name, the more respect you get. It doesn't matter who does a better job or who acquires more hands on knowledge. Which in many cases is a darn shame.
For me, I toss around the idea all the time of going back to school. But I honestly have no desire to do clinicals. I dislike the idea of bedside so much that it simply turns me off to further my career. Although I have been exploring the idea of Health Promotion or Dietetics. But again, at my age, who wants to go back to school for 4+ years?

You are only 42 you act as if you are old.......you are VERY capable of going back to school.....do it.....My mom went to MA school when she left my father, she has worked at her office for 17years and is stuck at her salary, I am almost done my RN and she has as much knowledge as me but she just like you......with the I'm do old blah blah blah.....she is 49 and in great shape.......I don't want to hear the too old line from either of you.......there are many people in my school that are older than either of you and less deserving to be in RN school.....

tiredstudentmom · Dec 4, 2010

I was an MA myself, though I didn't spend 2 yrs doing so! lol! Some other folks I have talked to don't want to go through with the nursing school and like being an MA. Personally, it was a good experience for me because I ended up kinda easing my way into nursing. If it hadn't been something I enjoyed, dealing w/ patients, meds, venipuncture, exams, etc., then I knew I wouldn't want to take it any further. Now that I have had that experience and know that I want to go into nursing w/ all my crazy heart, I believe that it was a good choice in the end. Hindsight has said that perhaps I could have had my LVN or even my RN by now. I was sucked in by ATI along with many other folks. However, I made the most of it and landed a good job a few months afterward and learned many invaluable lessons and skills. Do I believe that I got a good education? No. The only aspect that held any value was the last 2 semesters: clinical skills/labs and then externship. Hopefully they have amped up their program since then as it was several years ago. I even found out that the Dallas County community colleges, like Brookhaven, offer a Medical Assisting diploma. I'm sure that it's a way better program than ATI and probably less than half of the price! To do it all over again, I would have to go with the community college as it is very inexpensive, especially compared to the private for profit schools.

BabyRN2Be · Dec 4, 2010

People who become an MA do so because they prefer the office setting and/or they are given slanted information by the salespeople who are promoting the profitable school programs. If they had accurate career advice, they would know that nursing offers greater job and pay opportunities.

I couldn't agree with this more. The typical "career college" that offers these MA programs sometimes is no more than a scam. They work off the same idea behind the 4-1-9 scams out of Nigeria. If you aren't familiar with these, they often email you out of the blue, saying they got your contact info from "someone" and that they "prayed" before they emailed you, that you would be a trustworthy person. Then they go on to say that they were related to royalty in some country (usually war torn Africa) that was overthrown, but they have money in a secret account. They say that they will give you a cut of some millions of dollars if they can wire it to you, and you'll wire it back. However, there are "costs" involved (lawyers fees, bribes for government officials) that will need to be paid in advance. The mark will think, "What's a few dollars compared to the millions I will receive?" That's what these for-profit schools will bank on, they charge exhorbitant fees (often in the thousands when the same classes will only cost a few hundred at a vo-tech school) and tell the prospective student that a) MA's will be replacing nurses in a few years b) that this is a career that's really "in demand" (there are few openings around here) and/or c) that everyone (supposedly referring to MA's) makes $90,000 on graduation. They hope that the student will bite and be lured into the program will accruing debt that they will have little to no way of paying off at a near minimum wage job.

Keep in mind that the classes such as anatomy and physiology are on the 6th grade level and are no way near the challenge of anatomy taught to pre-nursing students.

Also, this person went to school for two years to become an MA? :eek: That was the slow road to become an MA. Typically, it takes ten months to one year to complete schooling, unless it's the type of program where you take one class over one month's time.

There's no comparison the schooling needed to become an MA vs. LPN/RN.

BabyRN2Be · Dec 4, 2010

I am NOT saying that this is the reason some people choose to be MAs - but if someone has a drunk driving charge, or an arrest record, or charges filed against them for whatever reason..... most Boards of Nursing will not let someone sit for the boards. I remember when I was in nursing school we had to do a background check the first week of clinicals. I felt bad for a fellow student who had to drop out. She was arrested 15 years earlier in a bar fight and was charged with assault. She could not be a nurse. BUT she could be a state tested nurses assistant! (Stna)

This could be the case. In some states you can't be a CNA when one has a record. When I did my CNA training in preparation for NS, people who had criminal records were turned away from the CNA school.

MEDRULES · Dec 4, 2010

The Medical Assistant that you've spoken to doesn't necessarily represent ALL MA's. I recently graduated from a MA program and it took me 1 year, full time, to get my diploma, as does most students. And to answer your question about why not get into a LPN program or Nursing: 1) The LPN programs here in Tampa have at least a 2 year waiting list, ( I'm 55 years old I want to work a little before I retire) 2) Some people don't have 2 years or more to complete a LPN or Nursing program. They have families, financial obligations, etc. 3) Some of us aren't as fortunate as others when it comes to intelligence to be able to pass the entrance exams. 4) There is financial help for the Medical Assistant or CNA programs. The programs aren't as costly as a Nursing program...... You were fortunate to be able to complete a nursing program. Some of us aren't.

MEDRULES · Dec 4, 2010

I couldn't agree with this more. The typical "career college" that offers these MA programs sometimes is no more than a scam. They work off the same idea behind the 4-1-9 scams out of Nigeria. If you aren't familiar with these, they often email you out of the blue, saying they got your contact info from "someone" and that they "prayed" before they emailed you, that you would be a trustworthy person. Then they go on to say that they were related to royalty in some country (usually war torn Africa) that was overthrown, but they have money in a secret account. They say that they will give you a cut of some millions of dollars if they can wire it to you, and you'll wire it back. However, there are "costs" involved (lawyers fees, bribes for government officials) that will need to be paid in advance. The mark will think, "What's a few dollars compared to the millions I will receive?" That's what these for-profit schools will bank on, they charge exhorbitant fees (often in the thousands when the same classes will only cost a few hundred at a vo-tech school) and tell the prospective student that a) MA's will be replacing nurses in a few years b) that this is a career that's really "in demand" (there are few openings around here) and/or c) that everyone (supposedly referring to MA's) makes $90,000 on graduation. They hope that the student will bite and be lured into the program will accruing debt that they will have little to no way of paying off at a near minimum wage job.
Keep in mind that the classes such as anatomy and physiology are on the 6th grade level and are no way near the challenge of anatomy taught to pre-nursing students.
Also, this person went to school for two years to become an MA? That was the slow road to become an MA. Typically, it takes ten months to one year to complete schooling, unless it's the type of program where you take one class over one month's time.
There's no comparison the schooling needed to become an MA vs. LPN/RN.

Very well said!! I agree with you 100%