Non-Nurses calling themselves a Nurse

[sarajasmine]

The school district my child goes to has a CNA in the school clinic, who refers to herself as "The school Nurse". I thought she was either an LVN or RN until last week when she had me come pick up my child from school. She had a little nausea but, she said she needed to stay out for two days due to a small rash on her face that she diagnosed as "Wingworm"! She told me to get an over-the-counter anti-fungal and treat for two days when she would be allowed to return to school! (I think that is practicing medicine w/o a license?!) I asked did she mean ringworm-she said no, wingworm...so, I had her write that down on the standard form they use when children are sent hm. Maybe the school board is exempt from following the law?!

Well, I took her to our family Doctor who said, she doesn't have ringworm-it's impetigo and prescribed bactriban.

My beef is that the teachers even refer to her as the school nurse-I wonder if

they even know the difference between an LVN or RN and a CNA? I sent a letter to the Assistant Superintendant for the district but, have not heard a reply. I think I am no different than most of you who have worked hard for your RN or LVN license and earn the respect of being called a "Nurse". I was a CNA before I was an LPN and have now been an RN over 20 yrs. As a CNA, I knew my place and my limits of practice. Any other parent or Nurse concerned about this?

[core0]

Every medical office I've worked in refers to CNAs, CMAs, and other non-licensed staff as "Nurse". I have never agreed with this, but I have been told by several doctors that "the nurse" is the one who provides assistance to the doctor in the office, and lessens confusion for the patients.

In a way, it's understandable, because most patients can't keep up with medical ranks, so it's easier to to call the non-doctor "nurse". I say this because I've been asked point-blank if I am an RN or an LPN, and I reply that I am a Nursing Assistant, and some patients have actually said, "Oh, so you're better than an RN!"

Then I list out the medical rankings for them.

There is no excuse - EVER - to call yourself a nurse unless you hold a nursing licsense. End of story.

In our office the nurses are nurses and the MA's are MA's. Helps that we have a CNO. We have 9 MA's and 30 or so nurses. MA's and RN's have completely different skill sets. My life would suck without my MA. She is very detail oriented, very good at getting auths for meds and good at filtering messages for me. I rely on the RN's for good nursing judgement and assessing patient conditions. Both have their functional area but are not interchangeable in either title or position.

David Carpenter, PA-C

[PANurseRN1]

I am an LPN and i was just wondering do RN's consider an LPN to be a nurse?

Of course you are. CMTs/CMAs are not. Neither are CNAs, although they are valuable to providing care to patients. The only individuals who have the legal right to refer to themselves as "nurse" are LPNs or RNs.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

omg !! omg !! we had to call a doctor today for a patient inr of 58.

yes 58! the "nurse" said that's ok, just check it again in one week. omg!

my care manager asked "ma'am are you an rn or lpn?".

neither, i'm a ma.

care manager: "can i please speak with the doctor directly?"

ma: "no he's busy, you can take my order he'll back me up".

care manager: "no you're not qualified, i demand to talk to the doctor".

ma: "no i told you he's busy and i'm in charge".

care manager: "you're dangerous is what you are sweetie".

we sent the patient to the er. ffp x 3 units. spending the night in the hospital. it will be interesting to see how this one ends. with the ma, not the patient, the pt is now safe.

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

FIFTY EIGHT? How??

Hmmmmm reminds me of the pharmacy error story on 20/20 where a patient got 100 mg of coumadin instead of 10mg in her pill bottle.

You can imagine what the outcome of that one was.

I could think of mean pranks to play on an MA like that. :)

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

FIFTY EIGHT? How??

The elderly patient confused their QID antibiotic with the QD coumadin so were taking 4 x as much daily.

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

Awwwwwwwww poor little person! How frightening for them!

[GRAMBLING]

This is scary, does she give any medication or injections? I feel this is devastating and harmful and should be followed up unless the people who hired her is as guilty??

[Blessed2BeMommy]

I'd love to get your guys' take on this. I am in nursing school (graduate in October with an RN... take my NCLEX-PN next Thursday) and there is a girl in my class who has the license plate Nrs4Kdz, that is also part of her email address. She has a nurse extern position at the local children's hospital, but the license plate thing makes me a little uncomfortable. Am I just being oversensitive?

[core0]

The elderly patient confused their QID antibiotic with the QD coumadin so were taking 4 x as much daily.

Sounds like my patient that confused her Alleve with her Tylenol. After three days at 2 Q4-6 hours her stool turned black. She looked this up on the internet and it said this was "bad". She went to the ER. Her HCT was 8. When we scoped her the entire body of her stomach was a big ulcer.

David Carpenter, PA-C

We have Carpenter's law which was named after a comment I made in the ICU. Your INR should never be higher than your HgB. It should definitely not be higher than your HCT.

[smk1, LPN]

Every medical office I've worked in refers to CNAs, CMAs, and other non-licensed staff as "Nurse". I have never agreed with this, but I have been told by several doctors that "the nurse" is the one who provides assistance to the doctor in the office, and lessens confusion for the patients.

In a way, it's understandable, because most patients can't keep up with medical ranks, so it's easier to to call the non-doctor "nurse". I say this because I've been asked point-blank if I am an RN or an LPN, and I reply that I am a Nursing Assistant, and some patients have actually said, "Oh, so you're better than an RN!"

Then I list out the medical rankings for them.

There is no excuse - EVER - to call yourself a nurse unless you hold a nursing licsense. End of story.

Then you should tell him you will begin calling all of the midlevels (CNS, NP, PA-C) "doctor" because in an office the doctor is the one who provides the medical care to the patient and writes orders for the nurses and this will lessen the confusion for the patients.

[medsurgnurse, RN]

I agree about the fact that she was misleading. I do not think it is professional. But some nurses think they are above everyone. That is sad. They act like it is rocket science to give a shot. That Cma's are stupid. You may not feel that way but a lot do. I really don't care what people think of me. I know my abilities as do my coworkers and doctors. i will graduate this year with my BSN but am still the same person and will never mistreat trained people trying to do their job. What I do have a problem with on the other hand is people who are not trained and have no formal education calling themselves nurses or CMA's. I just wish everyone would get along and just do their job.

So you don't have a problem with non-nurses calling themselves nurses, but it bugs you that those without formal education call themselves CMAs. That really strange. I willing to bet that after you finish NURSING school and pass NCLEX that you will feel different than you do now. Come back to this thread in a year and let us know.

[christymwinn]

I am an LPN and i was just wondering do RN's consider an LPN to be a nurse?

YES MAAM!! Most certainly!! Many nurses whom I have the most respect for are LPN's or were LPN's before geting their RN's. I am proud to say that I was an LPN for over 8 years before I went back for my RN. I know first hand the disrespect LPN's receive.