1. Medical Assistants being Compared to a Nurse My Point of View: Good or Bad Shannon Hicks English 2010

2. Being compared to a nurse Most people that are trying to get in the medical field have to start somewhere, me I started out as a medical assistants. Why? Because it was very little schooling to get my foot in the door somewhere education, salaries, and patient care can expand to the expectation I want to be. Many people have expressed good/ bad feelings towards a medical assistant. I feel what ever career your going in there’s always going to be someone that agrees/ disagrees with the way your personally doing something’s or just the job in general.

3. Nurse Vs. Medical Assistant

4. The most annoying thing as being a Medical Assistant is when people compare you to being nurse or vice versa. We don’t like being called a nurse because we do have a lot of differences, but at the same time we do the similar things as far as our jobs. This most important part in my role for being a medical assistant is providing my patients with the best care ever and making sure I’m doing/ satisfying what the doctor needs, which talking to a couple or nurses at the Instacare they agree as well.

5. So why’s it such a leg breaker if someone talks down to us, (MA’s) or calls us a nurse??? Here is why….

6. Education: Education is a big part of it. Most Nurses get way upset or overreact if we get called an “Upper Title” / “Nurse” then what we really are; but why does it bother the MA? It makes me feel as if other people don’t want to introduce us as medical assistants. We feel discouraged or unappreciated that we are not noticed for our hard work. Most people ask if were a nurse and when we reply no; they instantly start acting different and ask for a nurse. As being a MA this is our worst fear… Why does the patient want a nurse? Are we not as important? What are peoples hold up? Most patient’s feel we aren’t as educated which is true, but we still have to know a lot to have the title as being a “medical assistant”. And yes there is schooling and it was hard, hard enough that we want to be noticed and appreciated. We also don’t want to feel like to nurses are talking down to us just because they have a bigger tittle. “Most offices have about 60 percent of medical assistants that are the staff. “(Intermountain.net) We have a very important job. And most of the people in the office come to us with questions or tasks we need to do to help the patient. We do have knowledge to answer a lot of questions, and if we don’t know then you can always call the patient back and ask someone who can answer the question. Even if we have the title MA doesn’t mean we know everything but… that goes with Doctors, nurses, billing etc. If we knew everything I feel our brains would explode. I feel MA’s are just as important as nurses, but that depends on the work environment.

7. Salary: Every Salary is going to be different with the education, experience, what the job has to offer, and what job your actually hired to do. Medical assistants obviously will not get paid as much as a nurse which I completely understand because we haven’t done nearly as much schooling as them, However for them to talk down on us just because we don’t make nearly much as them is completely unfair. “The Salary earned by MA is typically based on training, experience and job duties assigned by the employer. Nursing Salaries are depended upon education and type of degree.”(Medical Assistant vs. Nurse) I still feel even though the salary may be different we are very important in different ways.

8. Salaries On average, Medical Assistants earn $21,000–$31,000 per year. Licensed practical Nurses on average earn $31,000-$43,000 per year. Registered nurses earn an average yearly salary $47,000-$69,000.

9. Patient Care: Patient care should be the most focused and most important thing anywhere you go. For MA and Nurses the patient care should be a small difference. Both duties are dealing with patients and getting them anything you need. And it is hard to compare them because it does depend on where you work on what the duties will be. One of the biggest duties I can think of is a nurse can administer medication without a doctors order, to where they have the privilege to do some where I don’t. I feel Nurses may be doing some of the same exact things plus some, so why are we always being compared. Training and school “the title” is a big part of it. I also looked on the internet to get another opinion besides mind of the difference between MA and nurses: One of the reasons these two positions are commonly confused is because there is a slight overlap in job duties. Both professionals work under the supervision of a physician or registered nurse (RN). But one of the biggest differences lies in the work settings. MAs usually work in clinics, hospitals or ambulatory care. RN tend to work in nursing homes, hospitals and long-term care facilities. Most MAs are cross-trained in the front and the back office, meaning many of their duties are clerical in nature, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). They are responsible for recording patient information, showing patients to the examination rooms and interviewing them. The DOL reports the daily tasks of an LPN to include administering medications, starting intravenous fluids and responding to patient calls. LPNs also provide basic patient care, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, massaging or performing catheterizations. (Medical Assistants vs. Licensed Practical Nurses: Diagnosing the Differences.)according to the U.S. Department of Labordaily tasks of an LPN So what makes nurses much more better and comparable to MA’s?

10. Education… Patient Care… Salary

11. In my opinion being a Medical Assistant is a lot like being a nurse. But I feel we shouldn't be compared in a bad way. I feel were just as important but maybe in a different role. There’s times where a MA might be a lot more important then a nurse. I feel were more important in clinic ‘s then hospitals because if we had a lot of nurses in clinics employee would be paying them a lot more money to do things that we can. The only time I would say we need a nurse is when we need an IV started or the decision on giving a patient medications without the Dr. approval. I feel patients should give Medical Assistants more of a chance as well.

12. Create Positive Vibes Positive Patient Care.

13. Sources #1 "Medical Assistant vs Nurse – Similarities and Differences." Medical Assistant vs Nurse. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. #2 "Medical Assistants vs. Licensed Practical Nurses: Diagnosing the Differences." Medical Assistants vs. Licensed Practical Nurses: Diagnosing the Differences. Web. 17 Feb. 2016. VERBAL TALK WITH CHARLIE K, RN