Poll: Should nurses have more distinctive titles?

[Trvln Nurse]

I'd like to poll other nurses. Do you think nurses should have more distintive titles? and Do you think this would help elevate respect for our profession and elevate our salaries?

The newspaper in my area doesn't provide seperate job categories for CNA's, CMA's, LPN's, RN's, and NP's but classifies them all as nurses. I've also heard CNA's referring to themselves as nurses. Our job badge often doesn't reflect our educational background. My local TV news grouped our profession with waitresses, busboys, and other service professions. This is the only profession that I'm aware of which does not differentiate between one year, two year, four year, six year and eight year educational levels. How do you feel this affects our salaries and profession?

[Trvln Nurse, RN]

should we have more distinctive titles? will this give our profession more respect? i think that the way we are portrayed in the media has alot to do with the way the public percieves us. i can't watch er because the doctors do more nursing care on that show than the actual nurses! or the pink song that calls a nurse a "little *****." or the way that nurses are portrayed as sexual in white fish net stockings and a tight nursing uniform and cap. we should raise hell everytime that we are portrayed in a demeaning and disrespectful way by the media and maybe then they will get the picture. the public is bombarded by these images of a nurse.

as far as having adn, bsn, phd, by your name, let me tell you this. when i started a new job at the hospital that i currently work in, i asked that bsn be added behind my name. by the way the id printer behaved you would have thought that i did not earn this degree but wanted it printed on my badge. she called the director of nursing to see if this was "allowed." long story short, bsn is behind my name on my badge. i wonder if a doctor would have gotten the same hassle to have phd behind their name.

we should be proud of our educational achievements whether its an adn, bsn, msn, phd, crna, crnp. we are all educated professionals.

:rotfl: thanks for the comment....this is what i'm getting at by this post. as i origionally said....i have notice that we are portrayed along with uneducated professions such as food service as well as there is absolutely no distinction in my local newspaper. the employment ads don't differentiate between cna's, cma's, lpn's and rn's.....so what does that tell the public?! if the media compared doctors and their assistants in the same fashion....doctors would never stand for it. my husband is an engineer....they have very distinct titles based on their schooling (ie: level i, ii, iii, vi and so on) and they are never compared to a draftsman who is their assistant. most importantly their pay is reflected on both their schooling and their experience.

i can't help but think that if nurses refused to be lumped in the same category as their assistants in the news media and with the nursing boards (ie....call assistants techs or something else but do not refer to them as nurses...i also feel the same about lpn's as they just don't have the same training we do) we would have more respect. i also have noticed that when doctors have seen my educational title on my badge they realize i have more than one or two years of training and have been more open to my suggestions/requests.

i also feel that nurses with more college education should be paid more. period. by the same token....nurses with a lot of years in the practice and different levels of specialties should also be paid more. period. perhaps we should have levels of nursing (ie: level i, ii, iii, iv, etc as the engineers do). i really believe that by not insisting that we differentiate ourselves....we are not being perceived as a "real profession", thus we are portrayed terribly in the media, and we are not paid the salaries we should nor are we treated as the professionals we are!

**************************:yeahthat: ***************************

[DeniseRNBSN]

should we have more distinctive titles? will this give our profession more respect? i think that the way we are portrayed in the media has alot to do with the way the public percieves us. i can't watch er because the doctors do more nursing care on that show than the actual nurses! or the pink song that calls a nurse a "little *****." or the way that nurses are portrayed as sexual in white fish net stockings and a tight nursing uniform and cap. we should raise hell everytime that we are portrayed in a demeaning and disrespectful way by the media and maybe then they will get the picture. the public is bombarded by these images of a nurse.

as far as having adn, bsn, phd, by your name, let me tell you this. when i started a new job at the hospital that i currently work in, i asked that bsn be added behind my name. by the way the id printer behaved you would have thought that i did not earn this degree but wanted it printed on my badge. she called the director of nursing to see if this was "allowed." long story short, bsn is behind my name on my badge. i wonder if a doctor would have gotten the same hassle to have phd behind their name.

we should be proud of our educational achievements whether its an adn, bsn, msn, phd, crna, crnp. we are all educated professionals.

i agree.

when i graduated from junior college, i placed rn on my badge. two years later i graduated from a university, i placed rn, bsn on my badge. just recently i passed the ccrn exam. guess what, i placed that behind my name as well.

i am very proud of my accomplishments and want it known on my badge. i hate to hear nurses tell me "it's just alphabet soup" and "it doesn't mean anything". i've worked by butt off for my degrees and certification.

it may be fine for some nurses to have just rn behind their name but don't badger those that have gone further in their education. by the way, it is recognized monetarily in my hospital to have a bsn and certifications.

denise rn, bsn, ccrn

[live4today, RN]

Many nurses are hourly hospital workers just like hourly blue collar workers. We are on an employer's payroll just like blue collar workers are on an employer's payroll.

Doctors are not hourly hospital workers. They are independent businessmen/women who offer a service for a fee.

Nurses are not independent businessmen/women offering a service for a fee.

Doctors bring "money" in the shape of clients/patients to a place of business ran by bigwigs who collect major profits off the business the docs bring to their facilities.

Nurses are hired to provide a service to the clients/patients doctors bring to the facilities in which we are hired.

THIS and NOT titles is where the difference lies in why we are not looked at as professionals like doctors, attorneys, and political figure heads.

[Trvln Nurse, RN]

Many nurses are hourly hospital workers just like hourly blue collar workers. We are on an employer's payroll just like blue collar workers are on an employer's payroll.

Doctors are not hourly hospital workers. They are independent businessmen/women who offer a service for a fee.

Nurses are not independent businessmen/women offering a service for a fee.

Doctors bring "money" in the shape of clients/patients to a place of business ran by bigwigs who collect major profits off the business the docs bring to their facilities.

Nurses are hired to provide a service to the clients/patients doctors bring to the facilities in which we are hired.

THIS and NOT titles is where the difference lies in why we are not looked at as professionals like doctors, attorneys, and political figure heads.

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Many nurses are salaried not hourly...

Many nurses are independent business men & women...

In many places...it is the nurses who bring in the "money" in the shape of clients/patients to a place of business...

Now that is another difference between Lower & Higher nursing degrees! I do not find your statement to be accurate, nor supportive to nursing practice. It's statements like this that continues to lower rather than elevate our profession as a whole! What do you think many nurses with BSNs, MSNs, and PhDs do anyway? Not all nurses work as a "blue collar" worker. You out to spend some time exploring some of the specialty sites...you might find it enlightening. :yeahthat:

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

ie....call assistants techs or something else but do not refer to them as nurses...I also feel the same about LPN's as they just don't have the same training we do

Surely you're not attempting to suggest that LPNs aren't nurses just because of the training, are you??

[zenman]

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Many nurses are salaried not hourly...

Many nurses are independent business men & women...

In many places...it is the nurses who bring in the "money" in the shape of clients/patients to a place of business...

But cheerfuldoer is basically right. "Most" nurses are an expense to a hospital. I don't think there are "many" nurses or "many" places where nurses bring in the money especially in comparison to the number of total nurses.

Now that is another difference between Lower & Higher nursing degrees! I do not find your statement to be accurate, nor supportive to nursing practice. It's statements like this that continues to lower rather than elevate our profession as a whole! What do you think many nurses with BSNs, MSNs, and PhDs do anyway? Not all nurses work as a "blue collar" worker. You out to spend some time exploring some of the specialty sites...you might find it enlightening. :yeahthat:

I find cheerfuldoers statement to be refreshing and realistic, something that is always appreciated...at least by me!