Medical Assistant Rant
I don't know if this will offend any fellow Medical Assistants, but I cannot keep it in any longer.
I work in a doctors office as the only nurse. The rest are MA's. Our nametags have our titles removed so that it only bears our name. The MA's introduce themselves to every patient as their "nurse". This is ILLEGAL. You cannot misrepresent yourself to a patient. NOWHERE in your title is the word "nurse". We are all considered the same, which is fine as I get paid much more than they do because of being a nurse. What IRKS my nerves is purposefully misrepresenting themselves and it seems as if this is no big deal?
They are also working far beyond their scope of practice here. Inserting catheters and bladder instillations (filling the bladder to max capacity with sterile water). And a plethora of other treatments that shouldn't be given by an MA, such as chemotherapy treatment. I love my job, but I am getting highly annoyed that I went to school for so long and busted my ass to be able to do this job to just have someone that went to school for six months calling themself a nurse? Do I sound like an egotistical ass or am I making any sense?
I look at it this way...if I was receiving chemo, I'd DAMN sure want to know that the person doing this was an MA and not a nurse. Just like anyone else would flip if they found out their nurse was calling themself the doctor.
Rant OVER!
I work in a doctors office as the only nurse. The rest are MA's. Our nametags have our titles removed so that it only bears our name. The MA's introduce themselves to every patient as their "nurse". This is ILLEGAL. You cannot misrepresent yourself to a patient. NOWHERE in your title is the word "nurse". We are all considered the same, which is fine as I get paid much more than they do because of being a nurse. What IRKS my nerves is purposefully misrepresenting themselves and it seems as if this is no big deal?
They are also working far beyond their scope of practice here. Inserting catheters and bladder instillations (filling the bladder to max capacity with sterile water). And a plethora of other treatments that shouldn't be given by an MA, such as chemotherapy treatment. I love my job, but I am getting highly annoyed that I went to school for so long and busted my ass to be able to do this job to just have someone that went to school for six months calling themself a nurse? Do I sound like an egotistical ass or am I making any sense?
I look at it this way...if I was receiving chemo, I'd DAMN sure want to know that the person doing this was an MA and not a nurse. Just like anyone else would flip if they found out their nurse was calling themself the doctor.
Rant OVER!
Comments
http://www.aama-ntl.org/CMAToday/articles/publicaffairs/details.aspx?ArticleID=377
@ashley_smashley, I am about to just be a major bitch and if I'm standing there next to them when they call a patient back and say, "Hi, my name is ____ and I am your nurse today." and I'll say, "Sorry sir, she meant she is your medical assistant/nurse assistant, etc".
Maybe that's a bit over the top, lol.
To top it off, they do not receive specialized training to perform catheterizations, etc. Sigh.
There's my own rant. Anyway, I agree they should tell their correct title and no one in the work place should treat anyone else as if they are less valuable. It needs all of us to work.
Remember, you took an oath and should report what you are witnessing. Maybe address it in a different fashion (i.e. The cystoscope incident, improper techniques and improper uniform). Tread lightly though, because being a ”newbie” you may not be heard as you should and it may come and bite you in the butt.
Good luck!
You have two options; (1) report the violations to an agency like OSHA (not sure the exact one in medical malpractices), or (2) keep an eye out for work in the same field (urology) and abandon ship, as you don't want to be stuck in that mess when that ship starts sinking!
If upon you leaving your current job asks you why you are leaving, then you can very nicely and professionally tell them why. You may make an impact that way, but I doubt it. They know what they are doing and refuse to do anything about it.