At my boiling point...you are NOT a Nurse...of ANY kind!!!!

[nursehunnie]

Ok folks, I'm just about ready to lose it and I know it's a little silly..or it may seem petty...but just take my feelings into consideration.

I am SICK to DEATH of SOME Medical Assistants, CNAs, and Respiratory Therapists (etc.) calling themselves NURSES, or allowing themselves to be called nurses...or saying that they are getting their "RN". Are you KIDDING ME?

Before I start, let me begin by saying that I respect ALL health care workers and think you should be proud of what you are doing, going to school for, and what your title is. However, I have LOW tolerance for people who break the law and throw around a professional title/license. It's beyond ignorant and I'm wondering how it can be stopped.

I would NEVER in a million years, call myself a Doctor...or a Nurse Practitioner..because I am NOT one. I did NOT go to school for it. I am a Registered Nurse and PROUD of it. If anyone calls me Doctor, or ANYTHING else, I quickly correct them with a sweet smile on my face.

Examples of what I have heard/seen/witnessed/etc.:

" Can I speak to the nurse?" Medical Assistant" Speaking, How can I help you?"

" So excited for my first day of school, we did injections!" says the medical assisting student..friend asks "OH, nursing program?!"...medical assistant student says "Yep, sure is!".

"Nurse Sarah, when do you finish school?". Sarah says, "In 2 months"...Sarah is in a RESPIRATORY therapy program.

My friend says to me," I went to school to become a nurse and finished, but I decided I prefer Social Work." I ask, "Really, so you're a nurse, where did you go?" Friend replies "Yes, CNA Tech Institute".(fake name) Uhm, that's a well known 6 month CNA school. SERIOUSLY?

"I actually teach the nurses on my unit everything. I know more than them and have more experience.", says the Medical Assistant after I ask them why they are referring to themselves as "Nurse".

I can't even go on to tell you how much more I have witnessed. MANY of this is coming from my friends. I'm going to be REALLY honest with you guys. I am just heated. I worked my BOTTOM off in nursing school. I applied to a program with 600 applicants in line (which is STANDARD) and was accepted into ONE of 20 seats. I killed myself not to be flunked out and passed with an average 3.5 GPA. It was four years of GRUELING work and I feel I have earned the right to refer to myself as a Registered Nurse. I'm very proud of it.

I feel like other health care workers are SERIOUSLY making a JOKE of the nursing field throwing around the title as though we are a dime a dozen. Why can't they be proud of what they do? EACH of those fields is JUST fine..but WHY are you breaking the law and calling yourself a Nurse?

Can you imagine what would happen if I called myself a Doctor? Sorry, but that's ignorant and pathetic. I would NEVER do it. If this thread offends you, then please don't reply. It shouldn't be offensive unless you are one of the few health care workers who live a lie and call yourself a nurse.

How do we address this and stop this? Medical Assistants are the BIGGEST group I have witnessed this by. I have a LOT of respect for them and envy their position. They ENJOY their jobs...but why do SOME (not ALL), throw MY nursing license value around like that by claiming they are a nurse?

What do you do when it's a friend doing this?

What do you do when it's a health care coworker?

I already know what I would do if I was going to a Doctor's office and they did this. That's easy. It's the friend part that is hard. I KNOW it's silly to be upset..but I have never seen so much ignorance. Why did I work hard if someone else can call themselves a nurse and only went to school for 6 months? What did I work for? Other than the obvious paycheck and passion?! ha :)

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

As a previous CMA I can have a little different perspective. Although I never called myself an RN when I was working as an CMA, I had no idea just how much different an RNs role is to the Medical Assistant (not to say I did not think I would be learning a lot in school; just not what and how much) until you experience being a nurse (RN or LVN) you have no idea what a nurse really does or has to know to perform her or his job, so an MA has no idea when they say "I am just like an RN just paid less"...

[TwilightRNurse]

As long as doctors continue to refer to their MA's as their nurse this will continue. Doctors are more than willing to pay $10 an hour vs $30 for an RN to work in their office. I totally get that but then call them what they are, an MA.

The sad part is that many MA's will give patients medical advice when they actually have no clue what they are talking about and the patients believe they are nurses who can be trusted.

I've heard some really strange things coming from MA's. One patient said the doctors nurse told her that her colored blood count (CBC) was looking better. I had a patient in the ER with an INR of 18.2 The doctors nurse told her that she should take a couple of ASA several times a day for arthritic pain even though she was on coumadin She came in peeing blood.

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

I feel your anger is justified, OP. I had a pts SITTER call one day and identify herself as Mrs. XX's nurse. I knew she wasn't a nurse so I asked her where she went to NS. When she couldn't answer me I informed her that by calling herself a nurse she would be held to the same standards as a nurse. She got cocky with me, so I reported her to her company.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

I have a PRN job in a family med office and the two MAs call themselves "nurses" constantly. I have chosen not to confront them about it - I guess it just doesn't get to me like it does you (and others). I know what I did to get here. I know what I know. I am a NURSE and I know it. The truth is, it's usually the patients that address them as "nurses" - they just seem to call any person in scrubs "nurse". If they were constantly having to correct these people, it would become cumbersome at best.

My "regular" job is a field nurse supervisor for a home health agency and just today I went to assess a client who is in the end stages of her life. I recently made the decision to reassign the CNA that she had because I felt her abilities were not in line with the rapidly declining health status of our client. When I got to the home, the son of the client grabbed my hand and shook it hard and said "THANK YOU FOR CHANGING NURSES". (apparently he was well pleased with the new CNA we sent). The general public just doesn't know - and frankly, they just don't really care. It's easier to say "nurse" than "nursing assistant" or "CNA" or Home health care worker, etc.

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Although I understand where you are coming from, I am in a place in my life where my dog can call himself a nurse and it wouldn't bother me.

I worry about things that will affect my family and my children...if someone on a street corner calls himself a nurse, a doctor, or Bozo the Clown. Whatever.

I happen to sleep well at night because I choose the things I will get annoyed over.

This is not one of them.

[GilaRRT]

Respiratory therapists masquerading as nurses is a rather novel concept in my experience. Agree with Jo, you could call yourself a nurse because you are cheap and nursed a beer at the bar all night for all I care.

[Lizzie21]

I agree. I love all the members of the healthcare team! It is annoying that some say they are nurses when they are not. I think everyone should be proud for what they went to school for and not cover it up saying that they are nurses.

[MrsEd]

I KNOW it's silly to be upset..but I have never seen so much ignorance. Why did I work hard if someone else can call themselves a nurse and only went to school for 6 months? What did I work for? Other than the obvious paycheck and passion?! ha :)

Ummm....maybe b/c they HAVEN'T been through nursing school they can't truly appreciate the hard work and dedication that goes into becoming a nurse. I think part of it is just the culture of health care - especially in a doctors' offices where it is mostly staffed by MA's - patients refer to everyone as "nurse". I worked my way up from the bottom as well, but I don't get offended and I don't get insulted because I really don't know if they know any better. It is easy to discern from your post how upsetting this is to you, but you have to ask yourself: Is this really the hill you want to die on??

[Reminisce]

I guess I am kind of confused, I can see why you would worry what someone else is doing if it is affecting a third party, such as "oh yes I am a nurse, let me start your iv and get your meds" when the person saying this is in fact a (CNA), but a random person claiming to be a doctor (MD) while passing and not giving medical advice doesn't seem to be that big of an issue, it just seems to be a sensitivity issue of prestige of both parties and some insecurity issues to the person whom is misrepresenting themselves. just my .

[Divinity1118]

I understand your anger. I have been a registered nurse for over 18 years and have heard all of that. My stepdaughter is curently in nursing school (a 2 year program for people who already have their bachelor's to obtain her BSN). She actually tells people that she is going to be a CRNA and tells friends and family, basically whoever will listen, that she will basically be an anesthesiologist. All of this from a girl who had aspirations of med school. She is 25 and has yet to hold a full-time job. She has also made it known that she will have more of an advanced degree than me (I have an ADN). My in-laws who are know-it-alls tell me that I cannot work in an ER or ICU. Some people are just ignorant. Learn to let it roll off you, sometimes that is hard to do.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but does she sound extremely arrogant or something when saying this? By mentioning that she has yet to hold a full time job makes you sound a little bitter and angry at what she's trying to accomplish, but maybe I'm not reading the tone correctly or I have too much understanding. Technically, a BSN is more advanced than an ADN, (As MSN is more advanced than a BSN) but this should not discredit your hard work of the past 18 years and I don't mean it to. This is just what it stands for degree-wise.

Does your step-daughter aspire to be a CRNA? Is that her end goal with her education? I've tried to explain to people what a CRNA is, and quite frankly for their benefit to understand, I just say it's what an anesthesiologist does but your are a nurse not a doctor and they understand, and it sounds like that's what she's meaning. I do not agree with your in-laws saying that you cannot work in an ER, that's not true. You are qualified. But recently I've seen a shift in hospitals only hiring BSNs for ICU/ER jobs, and supplying extra help for ADNs to get their BSN. But hey, that's business.

[Joyfull77]

At my doctor's office, the medical assistants are called nurses by the other staff, however, the medical assistants themselves would never call themselves a nurse. I work with medications at work and some of the residents will ask if I'm a nurse and I always say no....but when a resident with dementia insists that I'm a nurse even when I say I'm not, I choose not to argue ; )

[ssimcha]

Ive been a tech for quite some time and all these experiences I have seen first hand, I really don't understand why someone (CNA) would put themselves in such a position. For me personally Im too busy doing V/S, bed baths, turning patients, and doing EKG's to want to take on an RNs' role when Im not one...I think it makes them feel like they have a sense of worth, when all they have to do just do their job and be good at it...as long as Im attentive to the patients and nurses I can get praise all the day long even though thats not what Im there for but its nice every now and then since Nursing/Patient Care in general is a thankless job at times. Im going to school soon though cause some of these co-workers are getting on my nerves....j/k. But yeah thats' probably what it is...maybe.