APNs with no names?

[birdgardner]

In my clinicals, it is striking how seldom nurses use the names of APNs.

They will refer to other RNs by first names, in pretty much any situation, whether admiring or irked or informational.

I will hear "the midwives" when the OB-GYNs are referred to by name. In NICU, it was "that's the nurse practitioner" as opposed to "that's Dr. Woo, the neonatologist." There will be a list of anesthesiologists with numbers, and then a number for "CRNA."

Only occasionally do doctors come in for this nameless treatment - "where's a resident, I need an order" but even first years are usually Dr. FirstName.

I saw someone I took to be an unusually compassionate and attentive doctor sitting by the bedside and talking to an ICU patient and family - "that's the NP" not "that's Jeannie Smith, the NP." She seemed left out when she came into the nurses' station.

One of my instructors is a PNP but she is back to working as an RN because the hours are better and the money is as good, but I can tell that she's also glad to be back with her NICU "family."

The only place where an NP really seemed to be integrated into the team and fully repected, fully named was the Psych Unit.

So what's going on here?

[noc4senuf]

I have several NP's that come into my facility and everyone calls them by their first name.

[tk3100]

I address them by their first names.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

I'm an APN and I'm always addressed by my first name. My last name is quite long and difficult to pronounce. My pts also address me by my first name. Several of my male patients call me "doc." They do know I'm an APN but its just a term they like to use to show respect.