Nurse Impersonators

[NancyRN]

Am I the only one who resents the "nurse impersonators" who abound in the health care field?

Everyone who works at a doctor's office or in a hospital wears scrubs and seems to pass themselves off as a nurse. Of course, the hospital doesn't mind. Visitors and patients don't realize how few nurses are actually on the unit if the unit clerks, nursing assistants, housekeepers, and technicians are all wearing scrubs.

It seems harmless enough, this generic flowered jacketed scrub outfit, until you think of the harm it does to nurses' reputation as a whole. I just wonder what people think when they see two or three "nurses" ambling around the hallways or sitting at the nurses station while their family member waits for pain medication!

I have to think the doctor's offices are the worst. The doctors will actually refer to the medical assistant as "the nurse". I wonder if a doctor would appreciate an employee passing himself off as a doctor?

Last month I was in a doctor's waiting room with my son when a man came in holding his hand wrapped in a towel. He announced that he'd cut his hand and needed to see the doctor ( ok- dont ask me why he didn't go to the ER!) . The "nurse" told him to have a seat. The waiting room was crowded and it was obvious he was in for a very long wait. I saw the towel becoming saturated, and I couldn't help going over to him and telling him to hold his hand above heart level, apply pressure, try some deep breathing, etc. I told the "nurse" to let him go in and be seen, but she said, "He has to wait his turn, it wouldnt be fair to the patients who had appointments."

Driving home, my son asked, "Why didn't that nurse help that man?" I told him, "Because she's not a nurse!" But I wonder how many people in that waiting room went home with the story of the nurse who wouldnt help a bleeding man.

I know nurses don't want to go back to the days of wearing caps (even though I love my cap), but shouldn't we be more concerned about people in scrubs making us look bad? Shouldn't a nurse on duty be as easily recognizable as an EMT, a Firefighters, or a Police Officer?

[RNPD]

Actually, Susy, we do dispense meds every day, even though we should not. An example. Everytime the pharmacy sends up a bottle of Robitussin for patient X and we get a new Robitussin order for patient Y and "borrow" some for patient Y from patient X so Y doesn't have to wait for pharm to send up his own, that's dispensing. So is when we grab a coupla tylenol from stock whenever the patient c/o headahe and has a Tylenol prn order.

I think my point was to make the MA aware that what she is doing is administering meds and not dispensing them.

But from what P-RN just posted, it looks like she is mistaken about other things as well.

[EXOTIC NURSE, RN]

the hospital I work in deliberately told all the nurses which include LPN's and RN's to wear white and the CNA's have to wear white pants with teal green scrub tops but most of them will wear a white jacket over the srub top so the patient is very confused as to who is who...........at first the LPN's or Associate Nurses had to wear maroon srub tops but due to staffing problems that is why they changed the policy.....I never wear all white I basically wear colorful scrubs as I am registry but one of the patients just decided I was not a nurse because I had on a blue scrub and I think more to it had to do with racial issues as well, but all the same ......when the patient was informed I was a nurse in which my badge clearly states that I am a nurse she made the remark that I did not look like a nurse......so again I think wearing all white is an asset to the nurses but I think only the nurses should wear all white so we can be in contrast to other professions...

[majic65]

The problem starts and finishes with the hospitals--look at the name tags, with your first name in BIG letters, your last name smaller, and your license? In the tiniest letters possible. It pays for them to fool the public, because those faux nurses are cheap. And the public? They really don't care who is giving the care--it could be Flipper@!

So what we wear makes little difference, as long as the docs and the hospitals think we're NOTHING. After all, if nurses were professionals and valuable, our services would be billed seperately by the insurance companies, instead of being lumped in with the room charge!

[CATHYW]

One thing about it-in the hospitals I worked in, only the nurses wore white. Ward secretaries had to wear blue slacks or skirt, white blouse, and blue sweaters. Med techs could wear white, but could not wear white hose or knee hi's.

On Med-Surg and stepdown floors/telemetry, nurses frequently wore their caps, but they were optional. At Christmas, we could wear holiday-oriented lab jackets. ICU wore navy scrubs, surgery wore ceil blue, as did x-ray, and ER wore cranberry. There was never a misunderstanding as to who the nurse was. Plus we all wore easily read name tags. Perhaps we ought to become "white-collar" professionals again! You know, dress the part, act the part?

[maikranz]

Originally posted by Susy K

You have spoken my mind.

You have no idea how much this angers me and my fellow nurses.

I work in a clinic setting, full time, during the day. Actual patient care is done by MAs, whereas the nurses are stuck in the back office doing telephone triage, which is what I do. Let me tell you, triage it is NOT. Most of the time is spent scheduling appointments, faxing orders, and other glorified secretarial work. Our merit is judged not on nursing standards, but rather, that of secretaries and receptionists. How quickly do we answer the phone - how long do patients wait on hold - how long is each call - blah blah.

There is nothing to differentiate nurses from MAs in this clinic, as we all wear the same cute scrub type outfits from AllHeart.com etc. While I enjoy the scrubs, it does pose a problem in identifying who is who, except for our name badges which are very small. Interestingly enough, every single nurse wears her name badge, not every MA does.

Our charting is done via computer, and we as nurses can see the horrible documentation of the MAs, and some "email" type messages that can accompany our electronic medical record. Some times we see patients asking for "Nurse Sharon" when "Nurse Sharon" is really an MA. The MA naturally doesn't correct the patient - and it's horrible. It really makes nurses as a whole look bad, especially when you have a really bad MA. I've heard my own non-nursing friends complain about the "nurses" standing in halls, sitting in the "nurses station" etc. I tried to explain that just because a person is wearing scrubs doesn't mean they are a nurse, but that doesn't always work.

To add insult to injury, our clinic is thinking of dismantling the triage RNs and using them as.....ok...prepare yourself:

Medical Assistant's Assistants

Yes, you heard me correctly. The MAs are apparently overworked and the clinic is thinking of pairing a nurse with her to be delegated tasks to when the MA sees fit or falls behind. If you would see half these MAs -sitting on the internet, making personal phone calls - it's horrible. If it wasn't for my immediate co-workers and the hours of the place, and the fact that it is 5 minutes away from my grad school, I would contemplate getting another job. This is just part of what is wrong with the nursing profession. It makes me feel hopeless. A nurse shouldn't have to wear all white to be made known; I appreciate the fun colored scrubs. But I would give them up in a heartbeat to differentiate us all.

Seems to me that you should be having a discussion with your supervisors or whomever it is that assigned you to these administrative tasks you are performing. Something is not quite right.

[Q.]

It goes much deeper than that. We have nursing leadership/supervisors, but they are really just figureheads. There is no nursing support and in my mind, the clinic is very nurse UNfriendly as far as respect and support. The clinic pays high for being a clinic, the hours are nice, but the lack of respect is so profound here, it's really almost....sad.

There was a drug rep who came in and brought a plate of brownie type cookies. We actually NEVER see any of these treats but for some reason, the reception supervisor brought them into our location because it's "centrally located" so everyone can have them. One of the MAs who is notorious for sloppy work, laziness, unprofessionalism and fraud in that she passes herself off as a nurse, charts things she hasn't done, etc. walked into our room and was quite pissed that the plate of treats was by us. She stormed in and said "Well I am going to take some seeing as WE are the ones seeing drugs reps all day." Meanwhile, the rest of us are busy working and hardly even paid attention to the damn treat tray. Within one hour, she had her physician come in and ask why we had the plate of treats, we stated they were brought in for all and we really could care less! Just take them! So he did and brought them back to the MAs. I mean, a grown PHYSICIAN came and took a plate of brownies AWAY from the nurses! I mean I know it's petty but it's the CONCEPT! It's little things like those that lead to poor morale.

I had emailed my BON here about the work environment, and the MAs passing themselves off as nurses, and I haven't heard anything. The nurses here feel so alone, so lost. It's very, very sad.

[NurseExplorer]

The Texas BON posts an imposter's name and, in at least one incidence, their social security number after verifying the person is actually impersonating a nurse! I think the imposter has to actually be hired as an RN then later found out to be lying in order to qualify for posting.

Check out the Disciplinary Actions.

http://www.bne.state.tx.us/files.htm

Lots of other interesting stuff on the Texas BON website. Do other states do this?

[reyna]

in a hospital here in california...RNs wear white scrub-like uniforms while LPNs, CNAs and Housekeeping have their own color-coded uniforms...i might not differentiate an LPN from a CNA but i could definitely tell which one is the RN...

only if you are a nurse or someone with a medical background, could you tell if the person behind the counter in a doctor's office is an MA, biller, nurse, or whoever.

[NancyRN]

We all agree that we hate it when others masquerade as nurses. What are we going to do about it? It's going to be up to US to make certain we're easily identified. The "imposters " have no incentive to change things.

They want to be seen as nurses because we nurses have good reputations as caring intelligent professionals. They're ruining our image and watering us down. We've allowed it because somehow we've been sold the idea that it's snobby to be proud of being a nurse!

[nehi]

I too was upset about the Tina thing. All I could think was "What gives her the right to self proclaim she is a nurse, didn't she forget something like the actually schooling and sitting for boards? Does anyone remember the show a few years back called Nurses? It was about a group of nurses working at the local hospital. At first I thought it was rather funny but then the short dresses, and love affairs with all the dr's started. I think ANA had something to do with getting it off the air.

I also think that our hats are very impractical. But what are we going to do to gain back our profession?

[SICU Queen]

This is all very disheartening to read about. I, too, am sick of "pretend" nurses. There's a lot more to being a nurse than passing the pills and changing the sheets.

I think this may be one of the reasons I stay in ICU on night shift. Every person in my unit is an RN. We do total care and have no secretary at night, except for the one who floats, and she is VERY quick to point out that she is NOT a nurse. Doesn't make her less of person! Just one with a different role.

I worked hard for my title, as I'm sure others have, and I don't appreciate those who "steal" my, and other nurses, initials by letting laypersons assume that they are one...

Did I say that right? Too many 7p shifts, I guess... lol...

Kim

[alkat]

The hospital where I work requires the nurse assisstants and nurses to wear scrubs of choice. During nurses week the nurse assisstants are given the same recognition, praise, gifts, etc. as the nurses, no nurse assisstant is left out during nurses week. But the hospital also has a nurse assisstant week where the nurse assisstants are honored again, but not the nurses. For some reason I feel insulted by this. Also, I have had to correct many situations where a patient was given incorrect information by someone they thought was a nurse (because we all wear scubs) but was really a nurse assisstant (not a CNA but a NA). I have even had a patient tell me "the nurse thinks I should get some blood work because I feel tired" I found out this "nurse" was actually the housekeeper who also wears scrubs.