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| No. 20 | 
Sep 05, 2005, 01:14 PM
Originally Posted by Izzie77 I don't think this is that unusual... I have been to my practioner's office on two occasions when the MA introduced herself to me as my doctor's "nurse" when I could see from her clinic badge that she was an MA. I also found this very misleading and inappropriate.
It is sad that a few can ruin the name for many. When I get a patient call and they ask if I am "the nurse" I tell them I am the Medical Assistant. I look forward to the day I can tell them "yes"   | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 21 |
Sep 05, 2005, 01:30 PM
Originally Posted by MacNurse Ack! I had a similar experience at the VET's office. My cats had gone to have major dental work in Toronto, and the vet tech brought them back. I wasn't sure when they were going to be back, so I called the office, and the vet tech that was bringing them back for me was already there. The receptionist got her on the line and she said "Hi, I'm the nurse..." 
I should have said "Gee, I didn't know that RPN and RNs worked in vet offices too, I thought that only vet techs/assistants did." But alas, it caught me off guard and the vet is a close family friend... 
Not a flame to those that are vet techs, but, they're not nurses, period. Maybe she was a nurse ......I have had occasion to volunteer at my vet's office. Not that I generally ID myself as a "nurse" there, since that isn't my role, but ingrained habits are hard to break!
Seriously, I doubt she was a nurse, and no, they have not gone to nursing school so they shouldn't be calling themselves "nurses." But, when lay people ask me what a vet tech does, I often relply that they are "sort of like nurses for animals."
(To anyone who takes offense at this: Please note the phrase "sort of;" I read the old thread, and it seems that some vet techs are offended at being called nurses, since they do many things in a vet's office that are out of scope of pratice for nurses -- neutering comes to mind -- and some nurses are offended at being compared to a vet tech because vet techs are not taught care planning and nursing diagnoses and other things that are considered to be at the "heart" of nursing.)
To Hears Open Wide: it is really not about one profession being above or superior to another; in most states, the title "nurse" is a legally protected one, and MAs calling themselves nurses could get in a lot of troube legally. It is also a BIG issue for nurses who call a doctor's office to get orders, when they end up speaking to the office "nurse" rather than the doctor. When we write those telephone orders, we need to write the title of the person relaying the order for the doctor. And it may be against some hospital's policies for nurses to take phone orders relayed by anyone other than a nurse. | | No. 22 |
Sep 05, 2005, 05:26 PM
I think it is almost regular practice for some MAs to call themselves nurses. My cousin just finished MA school. We went to the uniform store together and she was getting a few scrub tops with "Nurse" "Love a Nurse" etc. imprinted all over them. I told her "You're not a nurse!" somewhat playfully so not to hurt her feelings, but I was serious!  Then a couple of days later one of my CNAs was wearing one of the same tops. But that is another topic all together...  | | No. 23 |
Sep 05, 2005, 06:02 PM
 Tell your state's BON
My state BON puts out a monthly publication (you should check if yours does) that I read last week. It is made up of ads and the people that have been punished for various reasons. However, the vast majority of them are 'nurse impersonators' and the punishment is not light. In some cases, the offender is barred from medicine for the state. Anyway, one of the incidences reported was that the BON had shut down a small chain of vet clinics because the staff were all referred to as nurses, except the vet of course.
This is obviously a problem and it seems to come from perception and opinion. However, 'nurse' is a legally protected title regardless.
Not trying to be harsh, just stating the facts for my state.
| | No. 24 |
Sep 05, 2005, 06:03 PM
Updated
Sep 05, 2005 at 06:06 PM by DusktilDawn
Originally Posted by kiyasmom I think it is almost regular practice for some MAs to call themselves nurses. My cousin just finished MA school. We went to the uniform store together and she was getting a few scrub tops with "Nurse" "Love a Nurse" etc. imprinted all over them. I told her "You're not a nurse!" somewhat playfully so not to hurt her feelings, but I was serious! Then a couple of days later one of my CNAs was wearing one of the same tops. But that is another topic all together...
Have you talked to your cousin about the possible legal ramifications concerning this?
It makes me wonder about what these instructors in these MA courses are telling their students. Has anyone seen the advertisments for Georgia Medical Institute? Without using the word "nurse" at all in their advertisment, they certainly leave the impression that anyone can beome a nurse "in a few short months."
At my facility we have a CNA on one of the units (not mine) that wears the designated color for the RNs, instead of the designated color scrubs for the CNAs. Why her UM allows her to do this is anybody's guess. I think it is misleading to the patients.
It's not about "status quo," it's about not claiming to be something your not. It's also about not deliberately giving misleading impressions.
| | No. 25 |
Sep 05, 2005, 06:11 PM
Originally Posted by purplemania It is against the law in Texas to represent yourself as a licensed nurse when you are not one. Is that not so in your state? The District Atty. in Texas prosecutes people who pass themselves off as nurses (even LVN';s who say they are RN's).
It is against the law everywhere to pass yourself off as a nurse. All of the clinics have techs, and the docs are bad about saying my nurse, call the office and talk to my nurse. It gripes my @##. I found out the nurse at my old clinic was a girl who kept failing respiratory school until she finally gave up. He taught her to give shots and that was it. He called her nurse, she identified self as his nurse.
When I was a student and visited the BON there was a case against a girl who pretended to be a nurse and she was fined $1000.00 for every day they could prove that she was working as a nurse. Clinics in trouble for hiring her without getting the license. She kept putting them off then would quit and go somewhere else. fined $100,000.00.
| | No. 26 |
Sep 05, 2005, 07:00 PM
One of the CNAs I work with frequently identifies herself as a nurse..."My name is Becky, and I will be your nurse tonight." If someone corrects her, she gets really bent out of shape. Drives me crazy and management doesn't really seem to care...
We have similar problems with firefighters and EMTs that call themselves paramedics..."The paramedics are here, honey...tell the paramedic where it hurts...paramedics were called to a _____." Sorry, but until you have golden sparkles on your left shoulder, you are an EMT. Driving an ambulance or pushing a cot (or being an excellent EMT) doesn't make you a paramedic any more than wearing scrubs and giving injections makes you a nurse...
| | No. 27 |
Sep 05, 2005, 07:02 PM
This isn't the first I have heard. There is a clinic around here that is NOTORIOUS for having it's MA's say, repeat, and confirm that they are nurses! 
You have the knowlege to know the difference but I am willing to bet that there are lots and lots of patients that do not and will believe it. Like I have always said...the public should definetly be more educated as to what is a nurse, what they do etc. Some don't know the extensive things nurses perform. I vote for more advertising for the nursing career and educate the public.
Need not say more. REPORT HER!   | | No. 28 |
Sep 05, 2005, 11:02 PM
Heartswideopen - even RN's can't give advice over the phone. I work as an ER nurse and nursing supervisor and we cannot give advice over the phone.
It has gotten so bad that we can't even do blood pressures for the general public anymore . . .my father-in-law used to come in about once a week, sit at the nurses's station and get his bp checked. Not anymore. Too much liability.
steph
| | No. 29 |
Sep 06, 2005, 02:28 PM
Updated
Sep 06, 2005 at 02:31 PM by breastfeedingRN
I was an MA for many years and never referred to myself as a nurse. When I worked in a peds office for several years, one of the docs would call me her "nursie-poo" to her patient's, but I always corrected her. I always assume that an office staff member who says they are a nurse is an MA until I see her badge with LPN or RN on it.
I actually had an awesome instructor in MA school that told us in the first semester that we were to never refer to ourselves as nurses. She told us that if we did and gave medical advice and that patient believed we were a nurse and sued because of wrong info or whatever, that we would be held to the standards of a nurse in trial. Not sure if that is true, but never wanted to find out! I wish all schools would tell their students that.
I also think that it is the doctors that hold a big responsibility in making sure their staff MAs don't refer to themselves as nurses and that the docs themselves don't. I always identified myself as Dr. So and So's medical assistant when I called a patient. In peds we actually had a staff nurse that did triage and whenever she was out, the MAs had to return calls. I always made sure they knew that the nurse was out and that I was an MA.
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