MA -The medical assistant rant.

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WVUPharm2007 said:
Pre-meds haven't yet had their personal delusion of grandeur beaten to death and buried by the more intelligent people they will meet in medical school and beyond.
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Interestingly, I think that goes both ways. I used to be at the top of my class, now in pharmacy school I'd say I'm middle of the road. But at the same time, I look and say "I can't believe I thought pharmacy was tough to get into, how did that guy get in?"
 
GreyFox2002 said:
Medical snobbery trends like this: Maximum snobbery as a pre-med, minimal snobbery as an attending. Its generally a linear curve. There are outliers sometimes, but this is how it usually goes.

Premeds have yet to experience the real-world. They think they are going into a profession (if their accepted, first of all) that is at the mountain of achievement, looking down at the rest of the world. It takes years of being told, and proven, that you know jack, that nurses don't care that your MS3 or Dr. whomever, that a 50 year old pharmacist with 25 years in the field doesn't give a damn that your some 28 year old first year hot shot who thinks your always right. By the time the doc has been through the gauntlet and gets attending status, they've learned.

I know this, because half the time I call an MD to discuss a script, they just tell me the situation and ask me for my recommendation, and I'm just an intern. This does not reduce my respect in a prescriber one bit either, and actually this earns them more respect, as their willing enough, and intelligent, to recognize a pharmacist's expertise.
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I agree completely. Remember the movie Van Wilder? The stereotypical pre-med in that movie kinda hit it spot on. I enjoy talking to attendings wherever I'm at, being a snob kind of wastes time.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
Pre-meds haven't yet had their personal delusion of grandeur beaten to death and buried by the more intelligent people they will meet in medical school and beyond.

I think they are cute.

If the pre-meds on Student Doctor were as brilliant as they all think they are and we locked them in a room with Stephen Hawking, an introductory physics book, and a few cases of Red Bull, we would have unified field theory figured out by tomorrow afternoon...easy...hell, we'd have time travel and flying cars, too.

They usually get a dose of reality and and an understanding of where they belong in the grand scheme of things by about November or so of their first year.
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roadable_airplane.jpg


Get with the times old man, they already exist. :meanie:
 
i am IN California (where MAs are licensed,) and still get RXs where someone will call in:

MD office: "I'd like to call in a prescription for a patient."
Me: "Ok, I'm a pharmacist- go ahead."
(patient's name/dob/MD info- i have to PULL TEETH for this information first off.)
MD office: "medication is Septra DS, Take 1 T PO BID times EYE Oh Dee."
Me: "EYE OH DEE??"
MD office: "EYE Oh Dee."
Me: "Um.... TEN D, like 10 days, right??"
SILENCE.

WHAT a *****.
Not sure WHO would let someone like that call in a prescription. If it were Lovenox, Procrit, or something like that... OH don't even get me started.
 
Ackj said:
Interestingly, I think that goes both ways. I used to be at the top of my class, now in pharmacy school I'd say I'm middle of the road. But at the same time, I look and say "I can't believe I thought pharmacy was tough to get into, how did that guy get in?"
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Nothing like meeting your classmates to make you realize how much you overworked to get into pharmacy school, eh?
 
I understand the fundamental point of this thread is 1) to rant 2) to express a concern for patient safety...but damn, everybody makes mistakes. Seems kind of harsh, even within the context of a rant, to condemn an entire profession based on a few random anecdotes from pissed off people.
 
that1guy said:
I understand the fundamental point of this thread is 1) to rant 2) to express a concern for patient safety...but damn, everybody makes mistakes. Seems kind of harsh, even within the context of a rant, to condemn an entire profession based on a few random anecdotes from pissed off people.
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Yeah, I don't think MA qualifies as a profession.
 
I don't think everyone is saying ALL MA's are ******ed, just that enough are ******ed to justify more regulation....

Technicians can get hired out of high school with no education (PTCB test hardly counts, it's a joke lol), but at least we have solid rules of what we can and cannot do.
 
"I just read the MA rant on the pharmacy forum. I see that you were attacked harshly and unfairly by some people with questionable intellects posing as pharmacists/pharmacy students.

Please accept my apology on behalf of the silent majority of pharmacists and student pharmacists who would never summarily dismiss any group as inferior based solely on their title. Most of us understand that medicine is a team effort, that mistakes are inevitably made (by all), and that our collective energy is better directed toward continuous quality improvement rather than castigation."

From one of the pharms/pre-pharms on here with a brain and the maturity to discuss issues with other members of the health care team.

I seriously cannot believe the overloaded egos of so many of the people on this board. It's worse than pre-med. Hopefully when people get out and actually start working in health care they will get their heads knocked out of their @sses.
 
illegallysmooth said:
"I just read the MA rant on the pharmacy forum. I see that you were attacked harshly and unfairly by some people with questionable intellects posing as pharmacists/pharmacy students.

Please accept my apology on behalf of the silent majority of pharmacists and student pharmacists who would never summarily dismiss any group as inferior based solely on their title. Most of us understand that medicine is a team effort, that mistakes are inevitably made (by all), and that our collective energy is better directed toward continuous quality improvement rather than castigation."

From one of the pharms/pre-pharms on here with a brain and the maturity to discuss issues with other members of the health care team.

I seriously cannot believe the overloaded egos of so many of the people on this board. It's worse than pre-med. Hopefully when people get out and actually start working in health care they will get their heads knocked out of their @sses.
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Post the display name of the person who wrote that or it didn't happen.
 
I hope I'm one of the ones with a questionable intellect. It would go nicely with my questionable morals and ethics.
 
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illegallysmooth said:
"I just read the MA rant on the pharmacy forum. I see that you were attacked harshly and unfairly by some people with questionable intellects posing as pharmacists/pharmacy students.

Please accept my apology on behalf of the silent majority of pharmacists and student pharmacists who would never summarily dismiss any group as inferior based solely on their title. Most of us understand that medicine is a team effort, that mistakes are inevitably made (by all), and that our collective energy is better directed toward continuous quality improvement rather than castigation."

From one of the pharms/pre-pharms on here with a brain and the maturity to discuss issues with other members of the health care team.

I seriously cannot believe the overloaded egos of so many of the people on this board. It's worse than pre-med. Hopefully when people get out and actually start working in health care they will get their heads knocked out of their @sses.
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Posting private Pms is a gruesome TOS violation, when the heck are mods going to ban you off this board, seriously ?

I also love the "questionable" in there, unlike your douchie ghost admirer, most of us actually know each other.
 
illegallysmooth said:
"I just read the MA rant on the pharmacy forum. I see that you were attacked harshly and unfairly by some people with questionable intellects posing as pharmacists/pharmacy students.

Please accept my apology on behalf of the silent majority of pharmacists and student pharmacists who would never summarily dismiss any group as inferior based solely on their title. Most of us understand that medicine is a team effort, that mistakes are inevitably made (by all), and that our collective energy is better directed toward continuous quality improvement rather than castigation."

From one of the pharms/pre-pharms on here with a brain and the maturity to discuss issues with other members of the health care team.

I seriously cannot believe the overloaded egos of so many of the people on this board. It's worse than pre-med. Hopefully when people get out and actually start working in health care they will get their heads knocked out of their @sses.
Click to expand...



lol...typical PR bullsh*t.

if you wanted that...go ask a pharm student/pharmacist in person.

if you want what actually goes through our minds and what we talk about with colleagues when you're not around...come to SDN. this is why i love this place, hahaha.
 
Called an MD office to change a medication.

The MA I called said that the script said generic substition was signed, and therefore I could change the drug to whatever I wanted... I clarified and she said I could change the drug, route of admistration, etc. as needed.

I told them NO, and asked to speak to physician.
 
Where can MAs authorize prescription refills and call new ones in? Around here, you have to be at least an LPN to do that.
 
Gee whiz people, give the poor MAs a break, it's not like they are intelligent enough to be superior pharmacy students (to be, in my awesome case) or pharmacists, much less?!? My pcp's MA is actually really smart and nice, but you know, she's probably just an anomaly or something like that. I really don't know what the literature has to say about this baffling phenomenon.
 
I didn't resurrect this thing. A spambot did. I merely responded to it. And now that said message has been mod borked, that reply looks nutty and pointless.
 
Okay, I very much dislike the tone of this entire conversation, i am a CMA (AAMA) and we must go through a rigorous training regimen. I have spent the last 2 years in college studying to become a Certified Medical Assistant. I agree that those who have had no training should not do the job. I'm from new jersey, and here you must be certified in order to give injections. There is also a push for a licensing board to be made. The Problem is doctors and dentists like all of you are cheap and would rather hire some pretty lil. blonde to work for you instead of anyone who knows what they are doing. Most MA's nowadays are certified, and if not they will be soon. Alot, like myself are only doing it so as to have a job during nursing school.
 
MA's are cheap easy labor. I worked for a Dr. that hired like a million of these people and the turnover was insane. They were almost ALL hired off craigslist, if that means anything, and most only finished high school.Training was on the job and involved a lot of physical exams. They were the ones touching people's eyeballs directly too, and the way they cleaned the equipment after each patient contact could make anyone run for the exit (if only the average patient knew....)


edit; ugh, should have checked the date -_- sorry thread necrogods
 
I'm sorry, as a retail pharmacist there really is only one thing I need to know about MA's...they can call in prescriptions but a pharmacy technician cannot take them. Why is this? lawmakers know that MA's are not competent enough to do this task without the assistance of an actual healthcare practitioner (ie pharmacist) thus prettymuch MA = office janitor. There are tasks in a healthcare office that a MA would be qualified for, calling in prescriptions most certainly is not one of them.
 
It's kind of strange too that a physician would delegate such task to a MA knowing how easy it is for things to go wrong... Shouldn't you guys/gals refuse and ask to speak with the prescriber?
 
W19 said:
It's kind of strange too that a physician would delegate such task to a MA knowing how easy it is for things to go wrong... Shouldn't you guys/gals refuse and ask to speak with the prescriber?
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And bring the entire outpatient healthcare system to a halt? Most of the time it takes half a day just to get a call back on an error.
 
pillpharmer14 said:
And bring the entire outpatient healthcare system to a halt? Most of the time it takes half a day just to get a call back on an error.
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I got it! But it's dangerous to let a MA perform such task--so many stuff can go wrong. A LPN is more fit to do such job...
 
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I like when nurses call in, my only gripe is they do it quickly. If it's a voicemail I listen 2-3 times, if it's verbal I repeat back everything I have for clarification (I do this anyways). I think an MA that cares and is competent could probably do it, but overall I'd still prefer a nurse who knows about meds and how they are typically given do it. Bottom line I just want someone accurate who will convey the necessary info clearly that's going to care about making sure their patients get the proper drug with the right strength and directions, I don't care if they are an MA, BSN, MD, or the janitor.

For pharmacy you need to be at least a ChPT (at least in my state) to take calls and transfers of prescriptions.
 
I wish techs could do that in my state, I take at least 40 phone-ins per day and it is a colossal waste of time. In 2015 there is absolutely zero reason why any script needs to be called in from any office, the absolute and only exception to this is a prescriber calling in the script (not the MA/Nurse/Janitor/whatever) themselves because they are out of the office and took an emergency call. I do not know why we as pharmacists allow this garbage to continue, having something as important as a script with no paper trail (the medical office can say the pharmacy transcribed the script incorrectly).
 
Dr Wario said:
I wish techs could do that in my state, I take at least 40 phone-ins per day and it is a colossal waste of time. In 2015 there is absolutely zero reason why any script needs to be called in from any office, the absolute and only exception to this is a prescriber calling in the script (not the MA/Nurse/Janitor/whatever) themselves because they are out of the office and took an emergency call. I do not know why we as pharmacists allow this garbage to continue, having something as important as a script with no paper trail (the medical office can say the pharmacy transcribed the script incorrectly).
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That's why you always document that you repeated it back to them, but yeah I can't believe we haven't gone 100% escribe as well.
 
No regulations or certification in IL either. This is the problem, there is no standard, and yes there are some MA's who are superb, there are some who sound like they just walked in off the street (which they probably did.) There are the MA's who will leave voice mails at 5:05pm Friday, when they've turned off their phones, say a bunch of gibberish and end it with "I can't figure out what the doctor wrote, but I'm sure you know." ????????? I've had MA's out and out lie to me about having gotten an order clarified with the doctor (figured out when I insisted I would have to talk to the doctor personally, and the doctor was completely surprised at the order I had, and said no that wasn't what s/he ordered....)
Every technician I've worked with (unless they are in their first month of working), at least knows how to pronounce drug names. I appreciate the MA's who realize they have no idea how to pronouce something and so they spell it out (unfortunately, there are too many who "guess" resulting in wasted time calling them back.)
 
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