Nursing Imposters

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I was browsing the Texas Board of Nursing site today out of curiosity. Well, somehow in all of my reading, I came across the imposter alert section for the last ten years. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely scary that these people were able to get away with what they did for quite some time but some of the scenarios were downright horrifying. One woman managed to work as a school nurse for TEN YEARS posing as a registered nurse. How does one manage to slip through the cracks like that? How does an otherwise respectable school district, hospital, nursing home, staffing agency or institution let something like this occur? Call me naive but I just never imagined people doing such a thing. You could KILL someone because you don't have the education, knowledge, and licensing to back you up. How absolutely terrifying.

Do any of you have any stories similar to the one I mentioned? Have you worked with someone who was an imposter or know of someone who did this?

I apologize for not putting a disclaimer, yes she was excellent at her job and everyone no matter what your title should be. What I meant is that she presented herself in a manner that allowed her role to be misrepresented, she never wore her ID, never corrected patients when they called her nurse, never introduced herself as a cna, and unfortunately the NAs and RNs wear similar colors and bothe can wear lab coats which I disagree with. She also gave patients medical advice and walked them thru procedures as if she was the nurse. To some that sounds great, but in reality unless you clearly identify yourself as nurse assistant you are creating a false perception of yourself. I've even seen people from other departments ask her about medications they're on and she will act like she knows the answers to their questions, she is good at faking it.

Your NA was wrong to tell people in the past that she was an LPN, but I didn't see anything in your post to indicate that she's still telling people that. Behaving in a professional manner, wearing a lab coat, and deliberately being well-spoken are not in any way, shape or form doing anything wrong. Being good at your job is a GOOD thing. I'm not sure what the problem is.
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Ruby vee is misinterpreting a few posts in here lol

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Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.
I apologize for not putting a disclaimer yes she was excellent at her job and everyone no matter what your title should be. What I meant is that she presented herself in a manner that allowed her role to be misrepresented, she never wore her ID, never corrected patients when they called her nurse, never introduced herself as a cna, and unfortunately the NAs and RNs wear similar colors and bothe can wear lab coats which I disagree with. She also gave patients medical advice and walked them thru procedures as if she was the nurse. To some that sounds great, but in reality unless you clearly identify yourself as nurse assistant you are creating a false perception of yourself. I've even seen people from other departments ask her about medications they're on and she will act like she knows the answers to their questions, she is good at faking it. [/quote']

I read the post you are referring to. I thought it was clear. This nurse's aid you are referring to is being misleading and the facility you work for needs to counsel her to stop. Her giving advice to patients about medicine is definitely crossing the line. What if she gave a patient incorrect advice? That could cause serious harm. You don't have to be a medical professional to realize that. She does not have the education, qualifications or licensing to be operating in that scope or capacity. I just don't get people. If you want to be a nurse, take the prerequisites and apply to nursing school. Don't "pretend" to be one. Not only does it make you look foolish but it also puts lives not to mention credibility at stake.

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We recently had a patient on our floor whos daughter was so overbearing and over involved in her mothers care, which isn't always a bad thing, but she'd find something new to yell at us about every day. Such a know it all, would yell at the doctors for prescribing one type of BP med over another etc. Whenever we asked what she did she would say she worked in an ER, told some people she was a nurse, talk about prescribing drugs, insinuate she was a PA. She's a secretary.

I'm a tech, I make sure to introduce myself to every patient as the nursing assistant. I make it clear to patients what I can and can not do, I would never pretend to be something I'm not. But If a patient is screaming "nurse!! nurse!!" I still go running. Even though I'm not a nurse its usually because they dropped their call light or something I can do. If visitors were talking and one said "Oh, the nurse here was just helping mom from the bathroom" I wouldn't butt in and be like oh no, I'm the nursing assistant. But if the visitor was like "Moms I.V is beeping, can't this nurse just fix it?" I would say nope, I can't I'm a nursing assistant but I will be sure to find the RN who can for you!

This just reminded me I recently was talking about school to a friend and they interrupted me and go "Wait, you're not a nurse!? I thought you worked at a hospital! They know you're not a nurse right????" YES of course the hospital knows I'm not a nurse, there are other jobs at the hospital besides RN lol

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Specializes in CVICU.

Might be somewhat related. Some people in my nursing program post things on Facebook like, "From one nurse to the rest, happy new year!" and such. A girl posted in our group page, "Hope you fellow nurses had a good winter break!" I realize she did it with good intentions, but I couldn't help but say, "We aren't nurses yet." C'mon, we have only finished 1 of 4 semesters. 'RN' is not a title I would want right now, I would crumble under the responsibility. We are fledglings, and I think some students jump the gun when they start calling themselves 'nurse' before even graduating. What's to say you won't fail out this semester?

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I worked at a school where one of the school nurses had worked without a valid license for 18 months. Apparently she'd moved back to her home state for a while, came back, and never bothered to renew her expired license. She got a big fine, and was no longer working at the school when I started there.

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I had a family member hospitalized once and a junior level nursing student from a local university introduced herself as the "nurse" who will be taking care of my _. I didn't say a word because I didn't want to embarass her. She didnt perform any procedures or give medications, so I let that mistake slide.

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The hospital I currently work in is part of a network of several large hospitals.At one time, I had an off duty RN from another sister hospital come in to my unit wearing her work badge and civilian clothes making all kinds of demands (her family/friend was a patient). I think my Charge Nurse spoke to her and her behavior immediately improved. And this RN also took off her badge. I didn't hear a word out of her for the rest of her visit. And that's really all she was: a visitor.

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I have a classic example of an impostor: a patient who represents herself as a nurse. I had this happen recently on two separate occasions. Out of curiosity, I actually looked up both of their names on the Texas BON verify a license website for either RN, LVN, or GN. Couldn't confirm both. And I tried the full names that was given on their chart. So I passed that on to my Charge and during shift report that these two idiots told me they were nurses. Their charts got immediately flagged and their names were ran on the High Alert database. I don't know what happened after that but what a great way to get unwanted attention in a short period of time.

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I've worked in physicians offices before and every MA, NA, secretary etc calls themselves a nurse, even the Drs refer to them as nurses. One girl I worked with failed out of nursing school twice but, said it didn't matter because, she worked as a nurse anyways. I've even seen this on the website of a local Drs office, on the staff page it said: Jane Doe, MA - Dr. SoandSo's nurse. I tried to explain many times that it is illegal to call yourself a nurse if you aren't one and they always gave me a confused look and responded: Um, but... I work as the "nurse".....

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

As I have said MANY TIMES before it IS illegal in some states to call oneself a nurse wihtout proper graduation from school and licensing. Those who do are committing fraud and that is punishable by law. Personally, if I found it a habit and my state had the law I'd call the board.

At least 39 states are known to have language in their Nurse Practice Act; explicit in restricting use of the title "nurse" to only those who are licensed or implicit language restricting use of any words implying the individual is a licensed nurse.

Title "Nurse" Protection

TitleNurse-Map.png

This is from the ANA and is not completed as I know for sure New Jersey and Massachusetts have added this to their state laws and Nurse practice act.

Title "Nurse" Protection: Summary of Language by State

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I have a classic example of an impostor: a patient who represents herself as a nurse. I had this happen recently on two separate occasions. Out of curiosity, I actually looked up both of their names on the Texas BON verify a license website for either RN, LVN, or GN. Couldn't confirm both. And I tried the full names that was given on their chart. So I passed that on to my Charge and during shift report that these two idiots told me they were nurses. Their charts got immediately flagged and their names were ran on the High Alert database. I don't know what happened after that but what a great way to get unwanted attention in a short period of time.

I've had lots of patients (and visitors) tell me they were nurses when, upon further conversation, it was quite clear that they were not. I've never felt the need to look them up on the Board of Nursing License Verification website however. If they want to claim to be nurses while they're patients or visitors of patients in the hospital, it's no skin off my nose. It makes them look ignorant, but whatever. Now if they were attempting to WORK in my hospital, that would be different. I don't understand why you'd feel the need to flag their charts, either.

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