Hello everyone. I'm currently in the program at a technical college for CMA, but I'm starting to question my career choice.

Sooo, can some of you answer some of these questions for me? it would be much appreciated.

Do you enjoy your pay and is it enough to support your family? (i.e no welfare/assistance, own car, eventually buy house)

Do you enjoy your Job?

How is advancement in pay?

Is it true that you just feel like a higher paid CNA?

Are you considered a secretary? (because I do NOT want to do that, I went into this for the health field and to take care of people, not to be a doctors secretary)

Is it a good career choice for a married young person who would eventually want to have and raise kids considering hours and benefits? (lol me, I'm 19 and married to a hansome Air Force boy :P )

I know this may come off as nosy and maybe a little bit pushy. But I'm curious and this is stressing me out. I'm half way done with it and considering dropping out because I do NOT want to commit to this and waste my scholarship money on this if it is considered the lower end of healthcare and not respected throughout the healthcare community. (from which I've heard from nursing students at school and people that worked at hospitals) although I'm trying to ignore them at the moment.

I also picked this over nursing because of the hours in the workfield it supplies. but now I'm starting to doubt everything.

what if the salary doesn't support my future kids???

AHHHH ok still stressing. lol

ANY feed back would be helpful at this point.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: student CMA

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? no

Do you enjoy your pay and is it enough to support your family? (i.e no welfare/assistance, own car, eventually buy house)if I worked full-time yes

Do you enjoy your Job? LOVE it
How is advancement in pay? Average- %5 yearly increase I believe, but you can top out.

Is it true that you just feel like a higher paid CNA? No way

Are you considered a secretary? NO, we have a receptionist

Is it a good career choice for a married young person who would eventually want to have and raise kids considering hours and benefits? I am married with kids and it has done me well :)

Ultimately it is your choice, but look into all of your options. See what credits you have, and what would transfer into a nursing program if that is what you ultimately want. It is a very fulfilling job

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMA/ RMA/CNA /SN

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? Yes

>Do you enjoy your pay and is it enough to support >your family? (i.e no welfare/assistance, own car, >eventually buy house)

Yes, I love my job. It depends where you live whether it would be enough to support a family. It definitely wouldn't be where I live.

>Do you enjoy your Job?

Yes, very much.

>How is advancement in pay?

I'm just starting out and will get my first review and hopefully raise in July, so I can't help you out there.

>Is it true that you just feel like a higher paid CNA?

Not at all, you're comparing apples and oranges. The two fields are completely different. (I'm also a CNA.)

>Are you considered a secretary? (because I do NOT >want to do that, I went into this for the health >field and to take care of people, not to be a >doctors secretary)

I work both front and back office. I rather enjoy the diversity but I still wouldn't say I ever actually feel like a secretary. Even if you work front office, you're still dealing with patient care (sick calls, etc.)You can always get hired strictly back office.

>Is it a good career choice for a married young >person who would eventually want to have and raise >kids considering hours and benefits? (lol me, I'm 19 >and married to a hansome Air Force boy )

The benefits are good where I am. I don't need hospitalization so I didn't opt for that but I do get free vision. The latest I ever work is 6:30, holidays and weekends off, so it's pretty family friendly. I'm always here in the a.m. when my youngest leaves for school (high school).

I think it depends on what you want. If you want have a hand in deciding what's best for a patient, assessing their illness/problem, using critical thinking skills to make decisions...you'd probably want to go the RN route. We don't do that as MA's we just carry out what a doc has decided he wants done for a pt. I personally don't want the nursing hours though. I don't want to have to work holidays, weekends, etc.

If you don't mind being strictly on the technical end, we don't use the critical thinking skills a RN does. Don't get me wrong, you can't not think about what you're doing, obviously. We don't really know the disease processes in depth, we don't plan a pts care, we take care of the technical aspect of the job (giving the injection, drawing blood, etc.) We don't make any decisions about a pts care. If that wouldn't bother you, I'd say MA would be fine. If you feel that's going to restrict you, you'd be better off just going nursing.

Does that sound about right Tracy?

Lorraine
CMA, CNA

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMA, CNA

Are You Still In School? No

Are You Working? Yes

I think you hit the nail on the head Lorraine!

I worked last night and had 2 different examples. We had a woman come in with bad edema in her lower legs. Since I just learned assessments in nursing,I was able to assess and grade her edema before the physician saw her.
We also had a boy come in that had something in his eye. He actually had a bubble on his cornea ( chordeum think it was?), a blister per-say from an allergic response, and I was able to do a partial eye assessment on him, PEERLA. It was nice to be able to go a bit further, but it certainly wasn't necessary for me to do that.
I am a very goal-oriented person. I was completely happy as an MA for 10 years. It got to the point where I went as far as I could go, and was actually being asked to do things out of my scope of practice( Catheters and IV's). This is why I chose to go back, to further my education. I could certainly work full-time, get good benefits and help support my family in the position I have now. We are very well respected in my area and used alot- even in some hospitals. Opportunity is good here, although I know other people have stated having difficulty finding a job out of school. It's all personal choice and what you think will make YOU happy. To me, job satisfaction outweighs pay scale any day of the week

Your Professional Title/Credentials: CMA/ RMA/CNA /SN

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? Yes

thanks for all your replies girlies. It helped me out a lot. I decided I'm going to stick with it. For one of my other classes I had to interview other MA's at clinics (I used some of your responses, anon ofcourse) and I would like this WAAAY more than nursing. The hours are WAY better in my opinion. I like to do things that MA's do. It's much more interesting to me. It would be easier when I have a family.
thanks again~

Your Professional Title/Credentials: student MA

Are You Still In School? yes

Are You Working? yes