Alphabet soup

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I couldn't care less about all the letters you throw behind your name. The only ones that count are RN. And these you tend to tack on last as an afterthought. Are you that insecure that you must list every degree amnd cert ever earned after your name? I know u r a professional. I can tell by the fact that you have written an article. Or that you wrote an intelligent response.

Plus I don't know what 3/4ths those letters mean really. And do I think more of a RN. With a MBA. No I don't si give it a rest already Maybe u could just attach a PDF of your CV to your signature so I can download it and read how awesum u r at my leisure

Brett

RN

paramedic

Ambulance driver

Etc.

Many nurses and physicians do not know or care either. In the real world with real people, these random acronyms cause confusion. Confusion that is unnecessary and easily avoidable.

I would hate to work in a hospital that doesn't care about who is providing what and where. If you have over 2000 health care professionals working at any given time in a hospital it is really nice to identify the players and their roles. Sometimes just "RN" is not enough. When you work in a professional environment with many disciplines and scientists, you learn the language of the letters for certs. licenses and education. If you work in a very, very small 30 bed hospital with just a handful of RNs and no other health care professionals except for a couple of MDs, then identifying yourself may not be an issue. However, on multidisciplinary teams or participating in educational or research rounds with guests from many areas, other professionals will read your name badge when you are speaking rather than interrupt the session to ask who are you, what you do and what qualifies you to speak. Not all of us work in an everyone knows everyone type of hospital. In large hospitals it may seem like mass confusion but in reality knowing one's credentials and where they generally work or what they specialize in makes that world seem a lot less confusing.

You also might be confusing a CV with what is required for name badges and that might be where you are getting the "random" part from. Most of the time the letters do serve a purpose. We are required to have our highest education level, our license and one pertinent certifying credential on our badge. I bet your badge has the same. In no way does that include all the weekend certifications. They should not be included on any name badge or part of a signature. There are some entry level providers like EMTs who do not have college degrees that will place the weekend certs behind their name. You usually will not see that with degreed health care professionals.

I truly believe if you work on Acute Rehab or whatever floor you should put your education, license and specialty cert if you have one. Patients and families who are on specialty floors are usually given an introduction to who all the professionals are. It also doesn't take patients long to understand what CCRN stands for. In pediatrics I find that parents may ask questions about the letters and the qualificatons of their child's caregivers. If the parents know the RN has those extra certifications in peds they usually more relaxed.

And don't take your patients to be idiots. Many of your patients may also have a college background and can understand education letters.

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Specializes in ED.

By no means did i say that we shouldnt all strive to further educate ourselves. Also i do have that job as an ADN I also plan on getting my bsn/msn. not to mention CEN . I know we all worked very hard on those letters, im just saying lets focus on two of them RN,

on a side note four of the most important letters i earned arent even a title EFMB took 5 tries

I guess i'm the only fan of SAving Lives by S. Summers.

b

RN, EMT-P, SSG (ret.)

death warrior

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Specializes in ED.
Uh oh...

Did something happen to the job you were about to start?

You should be proud to work in Orlando and in one of the hospitals that prides itself for well educated and highly trained professionals. Thanks to access to a couple of excellent universities, especially UCF, many health care professionals hold Bachelors, Masters and Ph.Ds. They also maintain professional certifications because there are many specialty units that require expertise in certain areas. This does not include CPR, ACLS, PALS or other weekend certs that are expected but not part of a title.

.

i am proud i could have lived anywhere. where do u get that i'm not proud of my own alphabet soup and plans to earn more. i'm just saying most of it can be left on our wall and doesnt need to trail our name.

as stated above i got that job proud of it im an ADN in a sea of BSNs lucky for me most of my life experience doesnt translate in to 3 letters. also i use those lil weekend certs every day at my paramedic gig at pediatric drownings , homeless STEMIs, cardiac arrests at the Parks etc, so i think those lil weekend things are important, but i dont throw them behind my name.

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Specializes in ED.

the whole point of my thread is "do we need to trail out long lists of letters behind our names to show that we are professional proud knowledgeable nurses that take good care of our clients. " i dont think we do. I'm not putting down anyones accomplishments or education. ive been working a very long time on my own and havnt stopped yet. as for the grammar. you can blame some of it on auro-correct and i can forward my college transcript, if you dont believe i passed english comp.

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Specializes in ED.

GreyGull i added all those weekend certs at the end of my name as a stab at humor.

and i'm not talking about badges either

i have enough trouble finding the first name and job title on badges

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
the whole point of my thread is "do we need to trail out long lists of letters behind our names to show that we are professional proud knowledgeable nurses that take good care of our clients. " i dont think we do. I'm not putting down anyones accomplishments or education. ive been working a very long time on my own and havnt stopped yet.

I think the reason you are catching heat in this thread is your first post. This is much better. The first one was rather disrespectful and condescending.

I, too, have a "string of letters" and I choose to use the ones that define me in my present practice. The others I will use when addressing other healthcare providers/speaking at events/conducting seminars, etc.

It is a personal choice and see nothing wrong with using those hard-earned "string of letters"........

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Specializes in PeriOperative.

The long string of letters reflects a person's schooling, not their education.

I try never to let my schooling interfere with my education. My degrees and certifications are not displayed on my badge. I want my coworkers and patients to judge me based on my actions, not my schooling.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

My badge says "RN." I sign "RN." On my forum signature here, I trot out my alphabet soup. Worked hard for every letter, proud of all of 'em -- they represent a certain amount of sacrifice on my part, be it money, time I could have spent with my husband/friends, etc. I am most emotionally attached to my NREMT-P, because that opened the door to the others. :)

I noticed one of my coworkers from the critical care float pool has her "CEN" on her badge, but I'm not going to ask to have it on mine -- my patients see "RN," and that's the only one that means much to them anyway! I'd be just as happy without all my alphabet soup, but it's a means to an end -- Army Nurse Corps, if the Gods of Nursing are willing, in FY2011. :D

Brett, good luck with your ED position, and thank you for your service.

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Specializes in ED.

LunahRN good luck with Army Nurse Corps they need more like you. you are well under the age cutoff. Took a Vietnam Vet Army nurse in my big white bus last week she was a hoot. very demanding of the nurses at the hospital, i loved her, she did 2 tours. awesum gal.

only thing I ask is that you learn how to salute properly and how to wear the uniform. especially the beret. was my pet peeve with the officers couldnt salute and looked disheveled a lot. :)

an RN in the army is a leader, and you will have more help than you can imagine doing your job, take care of your Sargeant and they will take care of you. just remember to duck, and the dangerous part is getting to work (IEDs) stray bullets etc....

peace out,

b

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
only thing I ask is that you learn how to salute properly and how to wear the uniform. especially the beret. was my pet peeve with the officers couldnt salute and looked disheveled a lot. :)

Will do my best! As an Army brat and also as the wife of a former infantry guy (11B), I should be okay. :D Thanks for your words!

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Specializes in ED.

ditto on the Army Brat, 11 bang bang huh, i took care of the Cavalry troopers i like to ride :)

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Yep, 11 bulletcatcher! LOL

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