Am I really a nurse yet?

[jcgrund]

I am a recently licensed LPN and I just started working at a clinic a week ago. My grandmother, who was visiting, kept telling me all these crazy home remedies she's heard of, like that dark plums will cure varicose veins. I tried to explain to her what was true and what was ridiculous, but she wouldn't listen to me. At one point, I actually found myself shouting, "I am a nurse!"

Then, a friend's little boy got a second-degree superficial burn on his arm and the parents were looking to me to take care of it! And I thought, "me? I'm not really a nurse, I'm brand new." I loosely dressed the burn, told them to give him some Tylenol, and watch it for infection. Then I second guessed myself for the rest of the weekend!

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

License = yes, you are a nurse. Congrats!

Now that you are, however, be very, very careful when dealing with family and friends. They will likely see you as a source of free medical advice/supplies/treatment, and -- sad as it may be -- you're opening yourself up to potential lawsuits by obliging, especially when you're new and aren't solid in your knowledge and skills yet.

[nurselori001]

Sorry, but I had to laugh when I read this... because as nurses we have all been in both these situations. When I was in nursing school I had a clinical instructor tell me that you are a nurse when you actually feel like you are a nurse. I remember the first time a patient asked me a question that I didn't know the answer to and I couldn't say "let me go and ask your nurse". Frightening isn't it? Best suggestion for this is to admit you don't know, to go look it up somewhere, and get the correct info to the pt. Just make sure that you aren't giving out advice that they should be getting from a doctor. Can you say lawsuit?

As for grandmom, many different cultures use many different "remedies" to cure their ailments. Medically, you know that there is absolutely no way that any of them should work but...do you? When I was a teen, my mother gave me an article out of Readers Digest that said that the reason that the home remedies for wart removal worked was because people actually believed they work. Now, warts come from a virus right? How could that be? Yeah, right. I got out a potato, rubbed it on a couple of my many warts, buried said potato in the back yard and I'll be darned if those warts went away! Then I started giving them dates like, this one will go away by Christmas, this one by my birthday, etc. Gone, gone, gone. As long as the remedy isn't hurting anyone, what's the difference? At least those plums will keep Grannie nice and regular

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

on tv shows the actors playing doctors and nurses practice off the clock!! in the real world practicing off of the clock opens us up to law suits so it is best that we don't. therefore, i suggest that you tell people to see his/her doctor if they have any questions regarding x,y,z. this means don't provide care to others unless it is an emergency (in which case the good samaritan law kicks in)... this also means do not offer advise except to follow up with whoever is actually getting paid to provide them care. btw, i know that this might be hard for you as a new nurse because you have a lot of really cool knowledge in your head, but it is best to cya to protect your license. remember no one else will!

[mzjennx, BSN, RN]

sometimes i feel like i dont believe myself that im a nurse. even with a license i did not feel like a nurse because i did not have a job right away. not that i have been working for about 5 months, everytime i say, im your nurse, i have to stop and think about it. i am the nurse, so that means i have to take care of the patient no matter what. nurse is a powerful word! and yes you are a nurse no matter how bad your days is or what happens to your patient as long as you provided the best care for them, you are a nurse