Stephanie Said:

Would you rather be a Medical Assistant or a RN nurse? Both rewarding careers.?

We Answered:

I, too, am a Medical Assistant just out of college.

Both my mother and grandmother are RN's, and I have 2 aunts who are LPN's.

I continuously get asked why I did not choose to be a nurse. Although I have thought about going back to school and becoming an LPN, (it usually only takes a little over a year) I have heard so many horror stories about how nurses are overworked and underpaid for what they do. Not only that, but my mother, the RN, sustained life-threatening injuries from chemical exposure at her workplace, so naturally that gives me a negative spin on nursing.

The biggest drawback to being a Medical Assistant is the pay scale. Even if you complete your program and are certified, the pay around here (Michigan) leaves a lot to be desired. Many of the job ads I see are $8.00 to $10.00 per hour, and they want education, certification, and 2+ years experience. That isn't very good compensation considering the time and money spent to complete a Medical Assistant program (I don't know about you, but my program was 3 semesters long). The unfortunate part about Medical Assisting is some places will take people off the street, train them, and allow them to work in their office for $8.00 an hour. To these people, $8.00 is good money since they never went to college. Then after two years of experience, these people are eligible for certification, and walk out with the experience to get them ahead of educated Medical Assistants like yourself and I.

Obviously this is not the case with LPN's and RN's, as employers cannot simply take someone off the street and make them into a nurse.

I am also a Nursing Assistant, by the way. By working as a Nurse's Assistant, you will see what nurses do and that will give you a much better idea of what you want to do.

Good luck!

Ella Said:

Getting ready to begin nursing school for my RN. Questions about my career?

We Answered:

I trained as an RN in 1980 and quit late last year after 30 years for my own personal reasons.
It is a fantastic career and I was truly dedicated to my work but became disillusioned last year as did many of my colleagues who trained in the same era. We were old school, trained regimentally, mentored rigorously and knew what was expected as a student from the "matrons". Everybody was referred to as Nurse (surname) and feared the wrath of ward sisters etc. lol.
Wards and nursing homes were run by the RN's in those days along with dedicated teams of Auxiliary staff and we worked as a team and had equal respect - not like people today who have an NVQ certificate and think they were as qualified etc. I had a very laid back attitude with these members of staff as I always treat people as equal but some hadn't got a somewhat reasonable basic level of skills in English etc. Don't get me wrong, many were excellent at their work but the ones who were too ambitious too soon, had little idea what accountability was, jumped to be in the thick of things but would be the first to back off when the going got tough ! I had to leave after thinking long and hard, but sorry to say, the profession had lost it's magic for me in the end.
Shame.
Good luck and enjoy your vocation, these are my personal feelings so don't be swayed !

Kimberly Said:

What kind of nursing careers are there and what do they do?

We Answered:

explorehealthcareers.org is a great site check it out for complete details in Nursing