Soon2bRN has left us the following comment:
I am an LPN who also graduated college from a medical assisting program and became a CMA.
I took the Medical Assisting program first. All of our heads (the students) were pumped with these ideas that LPN's are being phased out and Med. Asst. do the same job. I bought into this bogus idea and so did the rest of the students; I also felt that I should have been paid what LPN's were paid because we "do the same things".
I am now an LPN, and let me tell you, there is so much more that we do that a Medical Assistant is nowhere near trained to do. The skill and knowledge, as well as responsibilities are vastly different. I have so much more respect for LPN's now. We have far more responsibility, and have independent tasks (without MD supervision). We must be able to recognize changes or signs in our patients that a Medical Assistant is not trained to recognize, and know what these changes may indicate.
Do not be ignorant to the fact that the amount of time which you attend school is not what is important, it is the content of the curriculum that makes the difference. After being on both sides, I can honestly say LPN's and Medical Assistant should not be compensated equally.
Nursing is based on the nursing process, which is a very methodical way of critical thinking and assessment, planning, diagnosing, etc; Medical Assistants are not trained in this, they do not learn theory.
Medical Assistants are definitely important to the healthcare industry but their depth of knowledge is not nearly on the level of an LPN. You must also remember LPN's have licenses, not certification. We need to spend our time continually observing and assessing our patients, suctioning trachs, administering tube feedings, and writing detailed "NURSING NOTES" (just to name a few)because those are our responsibilities as licensed professionals.
LPN's and RN's may also be called to help prove malpractice in court because we are thought to have concrete knowledge in patient care as LICENSED professionals. It is ILLEGAL for Medical Assistants to call themselves nurses. Patients have a right to know the accurate credentials of their healthcare providers.
In closing: Medical Assistants are needed in this industry, and so are LPS's. LPN's are not, and I repeat, are not, being phased out! There was recently a conference on CNN with Bloomberg about nursing and they are developing more LPN programs in NYC because more LPN's are needed. Does that sound like we are being phased out, I don't think so.
This is something that Medical Asssistant schools would like you to believe so you can enroll into the Medical Assistant program. I fell for it to. Trust me, this was told to me by a reliable source (a school administrator) once I became an LPN. Needless to say I was livid to learn this after the fact. And no LPN's don't learn the administrative side because that is not our job.
Hope this was helpful.
9 comments:
Unfortunately, most LPN's end up working in long-term care because physicians offices want MULTI-SKILLED professionals who have administrative AND clinical backgrounds...aka Medical Assistants. LPN's are NOT trained in insurances, coding, billing, office management...the list goes on. Additionally, the comments you made about nurses recognizing changes in patients is completely true- but that is usually the RN who has such responsibility. The LPN is always trying to outshine the RN in my experience. LPN's ARE being phased out of medical offices because they just aren't trained like MA's are. Keep the LPN's in the nursing homes with the nurses aides!
Being a LVN for the last 19 years, I have to tell you that I have never worked in a nursing home. Nor have my classmates. Two of the nurses that I graduated with went straight into geriatrics because it was their calling. Another follwed suit years later because she became an impaired nurse and that was her only option left. (She now works in a dept. store.) Some went on to bridge to RN. You make it sound as though licensed nurses can only work in nursing homes and that is completely incorrect. There are a variety of fields in which a LPN may work. I've spent the last 9 years in an office. I do not pretend to know billing, coding, or insurance other than referrals and cpt. Just like our office girls don't pretend to know Pt. assessments, drug or alcohol testing, DOT or COC. Preop teaching, diabetic education and so on. Some people say that ma's are generic nurses. That's not very nice. I love medical assistants. I have two working under me.
To the first comment!! THANK YOU.
i work in a hospital and the LPN dont do shit!! all they do is pass out tylenol.
They feel that they are above the medical assistant who
call in RX
charting
do EKG's
draw blood
take vital signs.
Assit the doctor with surgical procedures.
triage patients.
perform labs test ex. rapid HIV test, cbc, urine test throat cultures.
put OB patients on the NST monitors.
may i go on?
some doctors allow the medical assistants to give PPd's
two medical assistants = a LPN.
they stay in the nursing home to where they just give medications and do minor wound care and take blood pressure. and as once being a CNA i done that.
MOST LPN DO NOT KNOW HOW TO START A IV DRIP!!! AND PANIC IN A CODE.
LNP's think that they dont have to do anywork or is beyond paper work and so does some of the RN's.
I am working with a dumb ass LPN nurse as i write this who gets upset when i have her a discharge to do on a patient.
hell i did it myself. she only gets 5 thousand more than i get!!!
I am finishing my MA Associate degree and I am very excited about my new PROFESSIONAL CAREER. I think the LPN that posted here is more concerned with trying to be "better" or "more professional" than an MA. If you went through MA training then obviously you lost the point somewhere along the way. I was taught that the pt is the main concern at all times. The LPN needs to get over get over it and grow up. Maybe you should skip RN and go straight to MD.
You say that as if an MD is above an RN, LPN etc. They go through a hell of a lot of school and should be respected but, an MD and any nurse are in totally different categories. MD's dx medical conditions and nurses dx the human response to that medical condition. There is no comparison. MD's do what they do and nurses do what they do. As far as ma's go....they are pretty much just wanna-be nurses. I got into healthcare to do healthcare, not set up appointments.
Sorry to jump in on a very old post, but an anonymous post cited that medical assistants perform this task:
"perform labs test ex. rapid HIV test, cbc, urine test throat cultures."
I'm not sure what test/methodologies you've witnessed these MAs use, but CBCs and rapid HIV tests are done by laboratory/medical technicians with an accreditation from ASCP. Only CLIA-waived tests can be done by MAs e.g., urine dipstick, rapid strep test, and even those have to be reviewed by a lab tech prior to being resulted.
As an instructor of Medical Assistants, I can honestly say that I have been told by HR representatives in major hospitals that LPNs are being phased out of their respective hospitals. This does not mean that LPNs are being phased out completely from the medical community.
I am so tired of the turf wars that go on in healthcare. It doesn't do the patient any good to sit around and argue over who is more important or who deserves more respect.
I think that author of the original article would have done herself more justice by simply stating facts and following them up with statistics from a worthy source. Opinion, as you can see from the other posts, can mean very little to someone who is trying to defend their place in the workplace.
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY TEACH IN OTHER STATES, BUT IN TEXAS CERTIFIED MEDICAL ASSISTANTS DO TWICE THE WORK THAT A LPN CAN DO. EHEY PANIC AT THE WORD :FRONT oFFICE:. WHOEVER SAID THAT CERTIFIED MEDICAL ASSISTANTS ONLY DO FRONTS OFFICE WORK. OUT THERE YOU CAN BECOME A REGISTERED MEDICAL ASSISTANT BY TAKING A SEPARATE TEST AND YOU WILL ALSO BE REGISTERED. LPN'S NEED TO GET OFF OF IT. THEY COULD NOT BEGIN TO DO WHAT A CERTIFIED MEDICAL ASSISTANT CAN. I AM NOW A RN AND THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT A RN CAN DO HEPARIN LOCKS, IV PUSHES AND HANG BLOOD. I HAVE SEEN LPN'S HANG BLOOD AND IF THEY HAD BEEN CAUGHT THEY WOULD HAVE LOST THEIR LICENSE. SO ALL OF THE LPN'S OUT THERE NEED TO LEAVE THE CERTIFIED MEDICAL ASSISTANTS ALONE. AT LEAST THEY GRADUATED WITH A PHLEBOTOMY LICENSE. SO GO BACK TO MAKING BEDS, VITAL SIGNS AND PRETENDING TO BE NURSES. WHEN I WAS A CMA I DID TWICE THE WORK OF A LPN AND DID CHARTING WHICH IS CONSIDERED PAPER WORK.
MAs and LVNs have their own specific jobs and are utilized at certain institutions for those purposes. I respect both, but I have heard many complaints from MAs about wanting equal compensation to an LVN, in which I do not agree. I'm sure you all have heard the quote, "you can teach a monkey to drive a car" or whatever. So yes, I agree with the original poster's message. And the original poster has more credibility than anyone here cuz he/she has been through both programs. Just put an MA in the shoes of an LVN in a LTC or med-surg/acute hospital setting, wonder what will go down. -RN student
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