***I don't... I REPETE I DO NOT want this to turn into an MA bashing thread!!!***

I just want some advice on how I can handle this situation I have with a close friend of mine.

She is a very hard working medical assistant at a doctor's office. However, she consistently introduces herself to people as a "nurse" RIGHT INFRONT OF ME! She actaully tells people, "we're both nurses" (referring to both her and I). I am an RN. I worked incredibly hard to get that title. I just don't know how to tell her that it is insulting to me without coming off offensive towards her.

Maybe I should just leave it alone? She just seems to be doing it more and more lately. The thing that bothers me most is that she must feel on some level that she IS a nurse and we ARE both nurses...or else why would she be okay with saying it right infront of me all the time? Should I just not say anything? I thought of throwing the whole "illegal to call yourself a nurse" thing out there, but I don't think she would mind...apparently any female in scrubs is a "nurse" to the general public anyway :chuckle:

In my state that is illegal. I would have to correct her and if that did not work, turn her name in to the Board of Nursing. Maybe your state is different, but if she is not proud of her career choice tell her to go back to school.

In my state that is illegal. I would have to correct her and if that did not work, turn her name in to the Board of Nursing. Maybe your state is different, but if she is not proud of her career choice tell her to go back to school.

i agree with you. we work hard for our titles and it is illegal for her to represent something she is not.

I think you are more upset than is justified since you haven't told her how you feel. If you tell her how you feel and she doesn't modify the behavior then you have justification to be upset, otherwise it is not really fair to her because there is no way for her to resolve the issue without even knowing it exists. So yes, tell her, but be polite about it. She probably calls herself a nurse because it is easier than trying to explain to everyone what a medical assistant is over and over, and in reality once she does explain it the person is probably going to say "oh a nurse, okay."

Illegal! If she wants the title then she needs to put the work in for it just as the rest of us have.

Check your State's Nurse Practice Act. In Georgia, the protected title is "registered nurse", and many can legally call themselves nurses who haven't received formal nursing training. Yes, it reeks and I hate it as much as the other posters.

I was working as a camp nurse and got an nurse assistant, usually a camper's mom. The camp director told me I'd love the nurse assistant, as she is also a nurse. When I met her, I asked about wher she'd been a nurse. She had to admit that she was a medical office assistant, but that she "did nursing" for the MD's in her office. Yes, it really ticked me off to hear that.

Unfortunately, many can use the title nurse, but "registered nurse" title abuse should be reported ot your State Board of Nursing.

"Check your State's Nurse Practice Act. In Georgia, the protected title is "registered nurse", and many can legally call themselves nurses who haven't received formal nursing training. Yes, it reeks and I hate it as much as the other posters."

It's the same in OK. I was an M.A. for many years before becoming an RN. However, I didn't refer to myself as a "nurse" and made it clear that I was a medical assistant. Many of the M.A.s I used to work with called themselves nurses, though. It's always been one of my peeves, because some of those people had been working in other departments before transferring to the clinic and had minimal, if any, experience. And there they were, calling themselves nurses.

I would explain to my friend how I feel and the controversy it creates when she calls herself a nurse before licensed people. If she is open to it, I'd speak about the process to get into nursing school, the pre-requisites, program, and NCLEX, then, the level of responsibility that a nurse has versus the CMA, CNA, tech or whatever. Then, if she continues, you'd have more justification to put her in her place.

I have seen, though, that the general public IS confused about the levels of nursing care. They generalize everyone in the same lump: if you take vitals, draw blood, change my briefs, you MUST be a nurse. Many hospitals have now resorted to having the techs and CNAs wear other colors and only nurses wear white to differentiate between the two. I can see another uproar in allnurses, now...this subject is a very sensitive issue here.

I think since you work with her a less confrontational method might work better. You might lead in by saying "I notice that you introduce yourself as a nurse, is that something you were wanting to study" and then gently bring up the points mentioned above. A lot of the time its not that MA's who do this have a malicious intent but they want something so badly that sometimes its easier to pretend.

EDIT AGAIN I was right the first time. LOL

Ask your MD to speak with her. This is similiar to the thread about the CNA who calls herself a nurses-lots of good posts in that recent thread.

My hospital clinic has added several CMAs to our staff. All of them refer to themselves as MAs. Recently I had a female pt. who told me she prefered the MA to do a certain procedure on her because the Medical Assistant had more education! After explaining the MA could not legally perform the procedure and why, the pt. told me how surprised she was.

She thought an MA was the same as a PA!! The perception the public has of the medical field is often so skewed.

i'd have to deal with this issue with humor of some sort.....after she introduces herself as a nurse.....i'd just have to hug her and ask why she didn't let us know she graduated and took her boards, we would have thrown you a party!........

Wow, what a difficult situation. You seem like you don't want to create tension in the workplace by addressing the situation. However, some tension must already exist since this is something that bothers you (and it should). It is also a difficult situation because of your friendship... I agree with the other posters that it should be addressed. In your post, you also acknowledged that she may not be aware of the implications of what she is doing. Maybe when you approach her with this, it would also be a good time to review what each of your roles are in the office. If it is approached from more of the educational perspective, maybe you could save both the office environment and your friendship. Good luck in this tricky situation.

Ask your MD to speak with her. This is similiar to the thread about the CNA who calls herself a nurses-lots of good posts in that recent thread.

My hospital clinic has added several CMAs to our staff. All of them refer to themselves as MAs. Recently I had a female pt. who told me she prefered the MA to do a certain procedure on her because the Medical Assistant had more education! After explaining the MA could not legally perform the procedure and why, the pt. told me how surprised she was.

She thought an MA was the same as a PA!! The perception the public has of the medical field is often so skewed.

The MD may not do this; I would be prepared for that. Some people may take it as he is not hiring real nurses (if you were not there, that would be true), and he may either not want to rock the boat for keeping a cheaper person to do the job, or may blow the nurse off. Unfortunately, some MDs feel that anyone below physician is not worth clarifying their role.