I go to allnurses.com as well as this site. Every few weeks some one post a thread ranting that they know of a medical assistant, or they heard a medical assistant say......yada yada....that a medical assistant called themself a nurse, or a medical assistant said thaty tye are just like a nurse but just get paid less....I am yet to meet a medical assistant that does this. Infact, when I was working and patients called me a nurse I would correct them, that I was a medical assistant. Do you do any of the above things or know of any fellow medical assistnace that does? I am so tired of reading posts that bash medical assistants...

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CCMA-C

Are You Still In School? Nursing School

Are You Working? Doing free doula service

Totally off the subject but I work with a CNA who was recently hired at a clinic affiliated with Childrens Hospital. She has no formal MA training yet she fills the position of, and is referred to, as a medical assistant. The doctor told her that since she has 9 years of experience as a CNA she is more than qualified to be called a MA since the jobs are interchangeable and she can be taught by the staff what she needs to know.. Is there a law against this? I know you cant call yourself a nurse if you aren't one (considered practicing without a license).

Are You Still In School? No

I have corrected folks. I am not a nurse & don't want to be.

The wife is an RN, I am an MA. After I get the results back from my test I will be a CMA.

There are always going to be detractors, nurses are want to be doctors that didn't go to medical school, bla, bla bla it is never enough.

IMO some folks just NEED to grouse or they are not happy. Knocking others is one way of showing how small you really are.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: SMA

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? no

No, it's not against the law...(as far as I know), to call oneself an MA, regardless of the truth. There is little to no "rule of law" for medical assistants. A person could probablly even say they're a registered or certified MA w/o any reprocutions. Although thankfully they wouldn't be able to back it up w/o the documentation to prove it & at least you have to have attended an accredited program to test for the privaledge of wearing those titles.
Bottom line...THERE ARE MA posers who call themselves nurses. THERE ARE MA's who work hard at constantly correcting & educating people who should know better. THERE ARE MA's who know there are times when it's better to just smile and go on...because to the patient calling them a nurse it's simply synonamous with "one who cares". I've worked w/amazing nurses who aren't threatened by Ma's and NOBs (nurse snobs) who think they're better than everyone. You can only take responsibility for yourself...& leave the rest to God.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: RMA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? not currently

I think this has to do with the way society views women in the medical field. If you're a woman and you're wearing scrubs, "you are a nurse"....and let's face it most nurses are female and most MAs are female.

Anyway, no I've never heard/see a MA refer to himself/herself as a nurse. I've heard my doctor refer to her MA as "the nurse", which I found odd, considering I was there for my physical for the Medical Assistant program.

I apologize for the people on Allnurses. I am a mod over there and I do see these threads pop up a lot. I used to teach MAs and I would be very adamant in class about MAs not referring to themselves as nurses. It's not a power trip on my part; put simply, it's against the law to represent yourself as a nurse if you do not hold a valid nursing license. A person whom has had their license revoked would be wrong to represent themselves as a nurse as well. A nursing license must be valid for a nurse to be a nurse. That said, I do believe MAs are grossly underpaid and under-appreciated. I feel, and this is JMHO, that many nurses are just ignorant of the MA job description and they automatically assume the MA is a nurse-wannabe. If the entire medical field came together to better understand the different roles we each play then I think we would all benefit.

As an aside, I see a lot of RNs putting down LPNs and challenging their ability to call themselves nurses. I see MAs challenging LPNs and downplaying their scopes of practice. I see BSNs up in arms over RNs with two year degrees who make the same or more than those with four year degrees. There will always be wannabes. CNAs who want to be LPNs, LPNs who long to be RNs, ADNs who ache to hold the BSNs, etc. Be proud of who you are the valuable job you do. However, please do not represent yourself as a nurse, for your sake.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: RN, BSN, CASAC

Are You Still In School? Physician Assistant Program

Are You Working? Hospice PRN

Well...after starting my externship, I've been called a nurse or "the nurse" more times than I can count! Most of the patients I've had so far seen my "STUDENT" ID, and asked me "Oh, are you in school to be an RN?" I politely tell them that I am actually a medical assisting student. I even had a nice conversation with one patient after he told me that his niece just graduated from Nursing school (she went to the same school I did), after he called me a nurse. One of my patients was a retired Nurse, and referred to me as "the nurse". When I corrected her, she told me that she used to be a Nurse and that I should go into Nursing school because I'd make a good one. That made me feel good about myself.

I went one some house calls with a PA today; all of the patients had some form of dementia, and he referred to himself as "The doctor" and referred to me as "his new nurse". I asked him later why he did (very polite, of course), and he told me that these patients are confused enough, and that they don't need more confusion in their lives and that they can't always compute new terminology/or they forget who he is/what he's doing there. In the office, though, he refers to himself as the PA and calls me his "student assistant/intern".

I don't like being called a Nurse, and I enjoy explaining to patients what I am. They have all been really interested in it (it's a good way to break the ice, too).

Just out of curiosity,when you tell them you are a medical assistant,how many actually know what one is? I think that is a problem with this field,that so many don't even know what the term means. Frankly,I didn't before 5 years ago.

You know, I really have no idea. Most of them just say "Oh, okay." I didn't know what a MA was until about 3 years ago.

I think I agree with the others. As long as you are not trying to "pose" as a nurse, its ok when people call you as such. Ive been called a nurse as an LNA, and sometimes, even when I correct them, they just dont understand the difference anyway.....I think as long as you are not trying to "pose" as a Nurse, its ok.......

Your Professional Title/Credentials: LNA/ MA

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes

But respect only comes with recognition and as long as most people are in the dark as to what are medical assistants,then MAs will go on being confused with nurses,and will not be getting respect. Why hasn't the AAMA done an ad campaign to get the public educated as to what medical assistants are,and can do? I have never seen any kind of PSA about medical assistants,unless you want to count those dumb commercials in the afternoon,touting those tech schools.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: RMA

Always correct anyone who assumes you are a nurse. RMA is right-this is one way to help the MA profession become recognized in the public eye, by education!

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Certified Clinical Medical Assistant

Are You Still In School? no. But I begin school in August towards my RN-BSN!!!!!!

Are You Working? yes. Hospital ER/Clinic

Great thread. Very interesting reading.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMA

Are You Still In School? Yes-will grad in Dec. 08 BSN

Are You Working? Hospital ER

It really get's to me when I see or hear other M.A's say they are nurses to patients. I saw one fellow co worker (myspace.com/48368464) M.A on his myspace and he claimed to be a male nurse. that was irritating to say the least. First of all, he has a horrible bed side manner, and second of all he works in an Urgent Care center where even though some Doc's call the M.A's "nusrses", clearly we are not even close. It seems as if he is embarrased to be an M.A, and in my opinion if any M.A dares to call them self a nurse, why don't they go back to school to earn that title? just sayin.

I agree with that! Be PROUD to be a CMA, or do something that you CAN be proud of!!

Jenny

Are You Still In School? yes

I worked with a clinical staff of 8 LPN's/MA's. We were each assigned to work with an MD. There was no difference in our scope of practice, except that the LPN's were certified for IV therapy, MA's could not. As a result, we were referred to as 'the nurses.' The check-in and check-out and scheduler staff were called 'front office.' The MD's, DO's, PA and NP were called 'the doctors.' It was for the sake of convenience that it was done this way. I noticed the MA's, in speaking with pt's, say they were Dr Smith's nurse. I never told a pt. I was Dr Smith's nurse...I always identified myself as a medical assistant. Whenever a pt challenged my ability, I stated, "Some of us are medical assistants and some are LPN's. I have certification in medical assisting." That usually suffices. It grates on my nerves to hear an MA call herself a nurse. However, I was part of the nursing staff at the practice I worked at. I recently moved and my doctor wrote me a wonderful letter of recommendation. He referred to me as his 'primary nurse.' The doctors didn't seem interested in differentiating between the two. I consider it a compliment as I have the utmost respect for nurses and have learned from working closely with both.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: RMA

Are You Still In School? N

Are You Working? Just moved to new state. Interviewing

I plan to elaborate on this on the MedicalAssistant.net website a little more, also. I've already had a short about this for a while on there, but I think this topic deserves further comments and thoughts.

I for one never called myself a nurse, not even for convenience, because I felt uncomfortable with it, and it didn't fit into our doctor's idea of running the office. So it never became an issue. Doctors were doctors, medical assistants were medical assistants, and nurses were nurses, and the doctor always told the patients "my medical assistant will help you with this...".


I wonder...

a.) whether the term nurse is a general blanket term and okay to use, but RN is not.

b.) whether calling yourself nurse as an employee in a medical environment is impersonation? Misleading? False representation?

c.) and whether it has consequences if something goes wrong.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

The intent of protecting the title "nurse" is to protect the public from individuals who are not nurses, yet deceitfully lead the public to believe they are nurses and able to provide certain services that only nurses are qualified to provide.

Twenty four states are known to have statutory protections for the title nurse: AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, KY, MD, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, WA, WV, WI.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CCMA0-C

Are You Still In School? Nursing school BSN

Thank you very much, heartsopenwide! That's good info. I can only assume that there must be many, many, many medical assistants, and probably even doctors, who didn't even know this. Now I feel even stronger about adding an article about this directly to the website and blog,.... because, we all know, when something is the law, and it is broken... that has consequences.

Medical assistants MUST be made aware. My websites are a great tool for exactly that.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

I believe this is a very important topic that deserves additional awareness! I am adamantly opposed to medical assistants either calling themselves "nurse", or silently tolerating it if someone addresses them as such. So I've put an article directly on the Certmedassistant.com website!

Please feel free to critique or comment:

Medical Assistant Conduct
http://www.certmedassistant.com/medical-assistant-conduct.html

Thanks.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

I just finished school and I agree with the way I was taught that we were MAs not nurses, but when I went to externship the office I worked in had what they called "Nurse visits" BP checks, B12 injections, etc... but the MAs do these visits! So what is up with that and this office was a great office not on the seedy side.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? No

Are You Working? NO

I am a CNA at a nursing home and people constantly call me a nurse. Usually I correct them and sometimes I just don't take the time to explain. I would never refer to myself as a nurse.

I think the general public does not know all the technical names or specific duties for each medical job. They Know doctors, and nurses.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CNA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

HeartsOpenWide made a very good point when she pointed out:

Twenty four states are known to have statutory protections for the title nurse: AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, KY, MD, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, WA, WV, WI.

"-nuff said!".

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

Are You Working? self-employed

Alita just touched on something I was going to mention as well... I believe the medical office staff at your externship site was catering to the public's understanding of "doctor and nurse". So, they simply call it "nurse visits" to distinguish it from a doctor visit. If I worked there, I would have a very hard time agreeing with this exact verbiage.



However, if you are on externship you have very little impact or influence on established office policies. I feel that "follow up visit", or "care visit" would be more appropriate, if Medical Assistants provide the care; and "nurse visit" for the nurses.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Website Owner/Forum Admin

Are You Working? self-employed

As a guy, for some reason I get this ALL the time. Typically I will always introduce myself as an assistant to the provider I am working for...e.g. I am the assistant today for Dr. Jones..blah, blah, blah.

Occasionally I do get called the nurse. I find out that if I stop to correct EVERYONE who does this, then it would take a massive chunk of time out of a very busy day.

IMO, I honestly do not want to be a nurse. I shadowed an RN at a hospital, and I give RN's,LPNs alot of credit. I could not do this job and live right mentally :-) Which is why I give alot of credit to my RN/LPN friends.

However if I am asked for my exact title, I always say MA and will be happy to educate them about it. I always am like its "one step below LPN, one step above CNA." And I always disagree with people about degrees, I possess an associates in science in liberal arts, with full plans of going back for a BS in psychology.

So I guess its yes and no to your question. Yes I will educate if the situation allows the time to merit it, otherwise I am going to keep saying I am her assistant. I assist. thats pretty much all there is to it.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: MA

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

hello sir
i read your post and i appreciate your feelings that you are apologize for any rude comment for this site.and sir every person has their own feelings so why are you irritate from those people you just think about Christ and serve him.
thanks.
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anjel
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Corporate Business--Corporate Business

Your Professional Title/Credentials: online job

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

I must have missed something I don't recall any rude remarks made here.. Just wondering.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMa

Are You Still In School? No

Are You Working? Not yet