Why do nurses feel the need to put RN on their license plates?

Nurses Relations

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I have always wondered why RN's need to display their title on their license plate? I have never seen a teacher, lawyer, accountant, librarian, coach, housekeeper, CNA/PCT, chef, mayor etc....... put this on their license plate. Seriously, I don't understand it. I usually see at least 2 a day. Is this just in my area or does this happen everywhere. I would like to know what it is about RN's that feel the need to announce it to everyone what they do? I understand we have all worked hard for our license but come on these other professions have worked just as hard if not more. I know there are more important things going on in the world but I just want some opinions on this. :p

Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
As a healthcare professional, be careful putting your title out there. I remember in the 80's you would see plates with MD, surgeon, etc... Well most of those MD's got rid of those plates, when they started getting sued for accidents, that were not their fault, or even for not stopping and helping out at an accident scene. There are predators out there looking for such info about you, and will use it to their advantage. Also, nurses who where their scrubs to the grocery store, mall, in public, set themselves up for lawsuits, if they don't help someone in need. We are told, here in MA, to call 911 if you find an unconscious person. If you don't have the proper tools, don't do CPR. But, if you are wearing scrubs, you may be held liable, for Not starting it. Nursing pride is great....but we live in a world, that the good Samaritan law is moot in many places, you may set yourself up for disease, or litigation if your status is known. Do what you will, but when a predator causes you to hit them after they notice RN on your vehicle, you were forewarned. Peace,

Sorry for the choppy, poor written post...addiction has set in while I should be sleeping. Night!

I was considering bringing that up. There are times I don't want people knowing I'm an RN.

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
i'm proud of what i do, and i am proud of what i have accomplished! being a nurse is not "just" a job its part of who you are as a person. you can't be "just" a nurse, or at least that is how i feel about it. apparently some people on here do see it as "just" a job???

nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of god's spirit? it is one of the fine arts: i had almost said, the finest of fine arts. - florence nightingale

that is all!

yes, "some" people think so. actually a lot. do some searches and look at the "calling vs. job" threads. its been well documented.

i like calling nursing an art more than a profession. i agree it takes a certain devotion not commonly found in a great many individuals these days. on the other hand, i don't see how either of those facts make it anything more than a job. it just happens to be a job we must apply ourselves to is all. lots of other "jobs" require devotion and skill...........but they are not somehow better than nursing or anyone else for it.

florence nightingale, eh...........she's going to be the subject of a tread of mine sometime in the near future. i'm not a fan of hers. i used to be, while i was taking pre-nursing courses and while in the nursing program............but the longer i'm in the field the less i like her.

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I've seen the occasional "RN" plate and have mulled it over... While I am incredibly proud of being a nurse and consider it one of my great accomplishments, especially because I was 45 when I graduated NS, I am leery about advertising it to John Q. Public. As someone said a few posts back, I don't want to open myself up to litigation because I failed to act when someone thought I should've, etc. Second, some people assume RNs carry medication/narcotics. I've had folks, whom I would think know better, ask me if I do. And third, as I find it really difficult as a woman when I take my car in for service, I don't want to give anyone the impression that since I "make the big bucks" (many people's impression of nurses), they can rack up a big bill for me. (I am not broad-brushing any profession here; don't misunderstand -- but it has been my experience, when I take my car in, I suddenly "need" about $1000 worth of work. My husband can take the same vehicle to a shop a block away and be told he needs brake pads and that's it.)

Just my :twocents:

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
Yes, "some" people think so. Actually a lot. Do some searches and look at the "Calling vs. Job" threads. Its been well documented.

I like calling nursing an art more than a profession. I agree it takes a certain devotion not commonly found in a great many individuals these days. On the other hand, I don't see how either of those facts make it anything more than a job. It just happens to be a job we must apply ourselves to is all. Lots of other "jobs" require devotion and skill...........but they are not somehow better than nursing or anyone else for it.

Florence Nightingale, eh...........she's going to be the subject of a tread of mine sometime in the near future. I'm not a fan of hers. I used to be, while I was taking pre-nursing courses and while in the nursing program............but the longer I'm in the field the less I like her.

Dag, I am sooo curious on why you don't care for florence...I first laughed.....but really want to know...NOW!! Okay, I am calming down...... BUT TELL ME WHY YOU HATE FLORENCE......please.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

i too have wondered about the rn plates. i'd never do it -- i don't feel the need to have the general public know what i do for a living as i'm driving down the highway. but the biggest reason i don't is that in the 80s, as someone up thread has hinted, there was a rash of lawsuits in my state from people injured in accidents who had long term effects despite the efforts of a passing rn who stopped at the scene. they were suing the rn for not preventing long term residual or some such. dh and i have decided that when we go anywhere, we're not nurses so we don't get involved. so far, there's always been someone else who was eager to be involved -- and i'd like to keep it that way. i don't want to lose my house because some yo-yo who thought he was invincible flipped his suv at 100 mph and i didn't succeed in preventing his quadriplegia. or whatever.

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
Dag, I am sooo curious on why you don't care for florence...I first laughed.....but really want to know...NOW!! Okay, I am calming down...... BUT TELL ME WHY YOU HATE FLORENCE......please.

Hate is a strong word, I'm just not a fan. In her time, FN advanced nursing and had some theories that people, outside of nursing, don't completely understand still today.

Her assertion that nurses must be educated if better outcomes are the goal still rings true in a lot of ways.

But we are past that time now. Great advancements have been made and nursing has gone beyond the days where just being altruistic was enough. Legal aspects, politics R/T money, higher acuity needs and a great many social aspects have rendered FN, as a whole, outdated.

But, that has nothing to do with RNs with license plates. That'll be for another thread when I get around to writing it.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I think it opens you up to being an easier stalking subject.....Just like the people who have the designs on the back of their car listing their entire family with their kids names on it. Like a pedophile couldn't follow that and use that information against you? Maybe I'm paranoid but the least information I give out about myself the better.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I have never seen a RN one that I recall. I wouldn't have a problem with it though. I did see one that said HEP-D I thought maybe the guy was advertising some new strain of Hep he had :p

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
Hate is a strong word, I'm just not a fan. In her time, FN advanced nursing and had some theories that people, outside of nursing, don't completely understand still today.

Her assertion that nurses must be educated if better outcomes are the goal still rings true in a lot of ways.

But we are past that time now. Great advancements have been made and nursing has gone beyond the days where just being altruistic was enough. Legal aspects, politics R/T money, higher acuity needs and a great many social aspects have rendered FN, as a whole, outdated.

But, that has nothing to do with RNs with license plates. That'll be for another thread when I get around to writing it.

Thanks for answering. Can't wait to go deeper into the subjects! I was trying to be funny when I wrote that, I know you don't hate Florence. Will try harder next time. Peace!

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I saw a tag one day that said BM2D. Somebody in my neighborhood has one that says SPUTUM. Now there's a coupla folks proud of what they do!!

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery; Neurosciences.

I plan on getting RN tags for my vehicle soon. I worked hard for my title, and I absolutely love what I do, so I want to express that.

As for lawsuits because people didn't stop at the scene of an accident.. How could they even prove the person driving the car is the person with the medical license? If my boyfriend drives my car, that doesn't make him an RN.

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Best one I have ever seen was 007 MD. Unfortunately the car's driver did not live up to his plate's promise!

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