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?

[mattsmom81]

135CTV, I can tell by your post that both coworkers and patients alike must LOVE it when you're on duty!

Hope you don't rule out a future teaching or a management position in the medical field as you would have many opportunities. Your masters degree will go a long way. Quite a few nursing schools now offer special training 'fast tracks' to students with college degrees. (There is a shortage of nurses at the bedside) I'm glad you enjoy your assistant role now and wish you well in your future..post away!

[135ctv]

To be honest, there are and have been coworkers who do not love it when I am on duty.

I have reported aides to the charge nurse who were referring to themselves as "nurses" and advising patients as if they were nurses. (This is why I was initially interested in reading this thread). I have also reported aides who spoke to residents in a disrespectful or abusive manner. This does not endear these aides to me. (One even threatened to lay me out in the parking lot). Then again, its not a popularity contest.

Ideally, the best situation would be to have a good relationship with your coworkers and to provide optimal patient care. But, when I am forced to make a choice between "getting along with" or pacifying and aide and doing what is best for the resident, I'll pick the resident every time.

I have had aides say that I am slow on rounds. I am much slower than someone who sticks a bare hand on a bedpad to see if it's wet and, if it is, pulls the bedpad out and moves on to the next room. It does take longer to stop and wash your hands, put on gloves, explain to the resident what I'm doing, remove the wet pad, clean the patient and check for skin breakdown (which would be reported to the nurse). It's not a race. As long as my rounds are completed by the end of my shift, I feel I have done my job. It is more important to me to keep my residents clean and dry than it is to rush through a hallway so that my coworker can finish earlier and have a longer smoke break.

[Huganurse]

135ctv: I would love to work with you!

[CATHYW]

I am astonished! Are you real, or some nurse's dream?:)

[135ctv]

Not all nurses would think of me as a "dream". Many nurses would rather have rounds done fast, they don't care how they are done. Having someone take more time goes against the norm.

Some nurses would rather not hear that another aide is rude or disrespectful to patients or that they are trying to pass themselves off as a nurse. On rare occasions, when I felt the situation warranted it, I have escalated issues to the DON when I was brushed off by a charge nurse.

In a perfect world, I could have the time to give good care to my patients/residents; friendly, helpful and compatible coworkers; and a great boss who appreciates me. In reality, things are not that perfect. I work with aides who spout off medical advice to patients and other aides. Sometimes, I cannot take the amount of time I would like to care for a resident because the facility is short aides and I have twice as many people to care for as usual. I work for charge nurses and nurses who are dealing with their own staff and time shortages.

This is the real world. These problems don't just occur in nursing. In many other industries workers have added work due to staff reductions and not enough time.

As long as I feel that, at the end of a shift, I did as much for my patients/residents as I could, I feel OK (not always great, but at least OK). I may have annoyed a charge nurse or my peers because I was not quite as fast as the other aides or because I reported something when the easiest thing for everyone would have been to keep quiet, but I can't make everyone happy all the time.

This has really digressed from the subject of the thread. I apologize.

[mud]

Very interesting thread. I know that when I worked on the floors, there was constant confusion about who was who. One of my favourite scrubs was the same colour as the dietary staff began to wear. I was often given empty food trays from my patients!! It did not matter what my name tag said, or that I had a cute little nurse pin on, and a stethescope!!! Now that I am in the OR, it is not so bad. We are still confused with our support workers, but it is better for the most part. The docs (most) where the old scrubs, and we wear the teal coloured ones. This helps some. I would have to say that what has always bothered me most, is, as has been mentioned already, those who do not correct patients when they are incorrectly addressed as a nurse.

I used to work in a nursing home, and can remember a health care aide wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon nurse on it, and the word nurse......that really used to bug me. I guess the bottom line is...What can we do about it??? My fiance was also an RN, he recently went through a huge career change, and is now a police officer.........maybe he had the right idea!! Mind you, he looks alot like the local dog catcher!! Bye all!!

[NancyRN]

There were nursing students in my hospital yesterday. No question of who the nursing students were. All wore distinctive white uniforms with a blue stripe and a blue patch on the arm. Since not many want to go back to the cap, a distinctive uniform, insignia, or badge could work.

It's imperative for patients to be able to identify the nurse. Wouldn't you be nervous if you couldn't tell who the PILOT was when you were boarding a plane?

I love this thread! Venting is so healthy! :)

[135ctv]

I wouldn't mind wearing the same scrubs as all other aides -- it would be a lot less confusing to patients.

It's too bad that their wasn't some way that patients and their families could be educated in the different positions involved in their care. I did not know that there were so many levels of caregivers nor did I know the difference between licenced and unlicenced personnel until I took a CNA course.

[mattsmom81]

I must admit there was never confusion about who the nurse was when we wore our caps, ladies and gents! (maybe we need to go to a less gender-specific cap--like in the armed forces??? Who knows!) I am admittedly irritated to see medical assistants being 'capped' now and wonder why we ever allowed this in the first place. In some respects I look to the ANA and their poor leadership back in the late 70's when they came out with their position statement on minimum education for RN's--this seemed to fuel the fire that split our ranks and divided one group of nurses against each other....I am just thinking out loud here, but nurse 'class warfare' really started about this time...anyone else notice this?? I was told in 1976 I would be a 'bedpan pusher RN' and the "BSN's would be my boss." Hmmm. As an old, very experienced diploma nurse, I have not seen that happen. But that pervasive attitude has successfully divided our professional ranks and created an easy group to control and intimidate. One of the reasons I view the ANA as a management association vs a bedside nurse association. Anyway, I have been on my soapbox long enough... Happy Valentines's Day fellow nurses!! Nice visiting with ya'll!!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

mattsmom81 I remember that position paper very well!

We BSN students were in hog heaven...we were IT!

http://www.nursingworld.org/centenn/cent1960.htm

First Position Paper on Nursing Education

"Education for those who work in nursing should take place in institutions of learning within the general system of education. Professional nursing practice is constant evaluation of the practice itself. It provides an opportunity for increased self-awareness and personal and professional fulfillment. It is asking questions and seeking answers--the research that adds to the body of theoretical knowledge. It is using this knowledge to improve services to patients and service programs to people. It is collaborating with those in other disciplines in research, in planning, and in implementing care. Further, it is transmitting the ever-expanding body of knowledge in nursing to those within the profession and outside of it.

"Such practice requires knowledge and skill of high order, theory oriented rather than technique oriented. It requires education which can only be obtained through a rigorous course of study in colleges and universities. Therefore, minimum preparation for beginning professional nursing practice at the present time should be baccalaureate degree education in nursing."

"Position Paper on Education for Nursing," AJN (December 1965), p 107

Uh Oh we had a big head didn't we.

The ANA did put a divisive wedge in our midst with that position paper. But read some more and they did have some better things to say.

ANA Continues to Fight

for Improved Salaries and

Better Working Conditions for Nurses

"I cannot see how we can fulfill our obligations as members of a proud profession to promote the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and good health of the citizens of the world if we do not have enough humility to acknowledge the economic poor health of the nursing profession and to speak out courageously through our own organization to improve it."

Ann L. Zimmerman, RN, First Chairman of the Economic & General Welfare Commission and ANA President, 1976-1978 , in May 4, 1960 Speech to the House of Delegates

"... Nursing salaries today are far below those of other professional occupations."

Evelyn Moses, "Nursing's Economic Plight, AJN (January 1965), p. 69

No wonder everybody with a uniform on is perceived to be a nurse. Even the ANA didn't understand what it was.

[maikranz]

Originally posted by mattsmom81

I am admittedly irritated to see medical assistants being 'capped' now and wonder why we ever allowed this in the first place.

Where is this happening?

[135ctv]

Questions:

A medical assistant I was working with (we were both working as CNAs) told me that a medical assistant was the same as an LPN. She said that the only difference was that medical assistants work in doctors' offices and LPNs work in hospitals, LTC, etc.

Is what she told me correct?

It is my understanding that medical assistants are not licenced, is this correct?

Why are medical assistants hired as CNAs and not nurses in long-term care if their training is equivalent to that of an LPN?

Sorry for the stupid questions, I am new to the healthcare field.