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 :)
When I was an MA I worked in a clinic without a nurse. The nurse that was there before I came had a wreck and had been gone for about 7 or eight months. Before she had her wreck she had been training a medical assistant. The doctor, office manager, and receptionist introduced her to me as the nurse. I later found out that she was an MA like me who had completed the same program at the same school as me. When patients call the clinic with questions the receptionist who say hold for the nurse or I will have the nurse call you back. The old nurse tried to come back and other nurses have applied for the nursing position but the doctor does not want to hire a nurse. The MA is still there and the only one handling patients unless they have a student MA to help out.
Not for nothing and not wishing to cause offence, but what did y'all expect?
Everyone was is such a hurry to drop whites, caps and much of everything else that once defined the public's image of a nurse, that it is no surprise the word has become generic to mean any healthcare provider and or that some would seek to capitalise upon the confusion.
A physican may not be able to afford, or wish to pay for a nurse to work in his office but why not simply introduce his assistant as one. Now if that person was in whites and a cap this could not be done as it seriously bumps up against laws against impersonating a nurse.
In some quarters there are those who say many nurses have "physican envy". OTOH you have UAPs and others who have "nurse envy", and feel by virtue of working in a facility and "doing most everything a nurse does" (regardless of the legality of such actions) gives them rights to claim the title via use.
Remember hearing a story once, and dont know if it is true, about a group of nurses working in a nursing home having a terrible problem with some NAs and "title creep". Since management seemed little interested in correcting the troublemakers one nurse decided to wear her cap on duty (they already wore whites, as indeed the entire nursing staff). When one of the NAs asked her what as up with that the response was short and to the point; "because I can, and you cannot". Message sent and received.
Now I am not trying to stir up old pools about uniforms and or caps, but as the scope UAPs increase it is becoming more difficult to tell who is what. This regardless of all the colour coded name tags (no matter how large the letter print),and so forth.
"Remember hearing a story once, and dont know if it is true, about a group of nurses working in a nursing home having a terrible problem with some NAs and "title creep". Since management seemed little interested in correcting the troublemakers one nurse decided to wear her cap on duty (they already wore whites, as indeed the entire nursing staff). When one of the NAs asked her what as up with that the response was short and to the point; "because I can, and you cannot". Message sent and received."
I wonder how that office changed after all the patients asked why she was wearing a cap? and found out she was the only "nurse"? Talk about educating everybody? I am not sure I would wear the cap..but it would be nice for patients to be able to tell who is really who. How about a big RN pin! : )
What is wrong with saying "I am getting my RN"? ALot of people are going for their RN and its fine to say that. It does not bother me at all when people tell me they are going for their RN.
i feel your pain - i really do. i went to nursing school as a second degree student so while working toward my BSN i got a job as a CNA. i know (and knew as a new CNA) all the hard work that goes into getting a degree. i've done it not once, but twice.
that being said - every time i'd enter a patients room the first thing i would do is say, "i'm jane - i'll be your assistant" as i wrote my name on the board with a marker under the word "assistant" and "your nurse tonight will be sarah" i'd say as i wrote her name under the word "nurse." STILL - when walking into a room where a patient was on the phone, they'd always say, "let me call you back. the nurse is here." when answering a call light over the speaker system when a patient would say, "i need my nurse" i would simply say, "what is it that you need" because for one thing they don't care to hear you explain your title when they want something - but the main thing was that i wasn't about to go find a busy RN and say, "the patient in room 2 is asking for you" so that when she'd walk into the room she could hear him/her say, "can you get me a pillow?" i've also heard patients asking the secretary "can you tell my nurse...." and then they'd spot me and say, "oh, nevermind. there she is!" i had no control over that. i never, ever portrayed myself as a nurse.
i'm wondering if these are the types of situations where you think people are impersonating nurses? i just can't imagine a person having many opportunities (unless they're just psychotic) to be saying, "i'm a nurse."
As a PCA I was often referred to as "nurse" by patients and family members, I even had doctors try to give me verbal orders!
I always corrected them and told them that I was a PCA and not a Nurse. I could never imagine representing my self as something that I am not.
Sorry to get off subject but I have to bring up the old debate of uniforms.. the problem is.. everyone wears scrubs.. you cannot tell who is who in the hospital. In my hospital even the housekeepers wore scrubs.
I honestly believe that nurses should go back to wearing all white.. ( yeah I know).
oh, yes, this happened to me a LOT! doctors would walk up to me trying to talk to me about patients or asking if i had patient in room X. i would always tell them NO, i'm not the nurse - and i'd still have the same doctors do the same thing repeatedly.
Oh Man, here goes nothing. I have had to say to MY OWN FAMILY members "I am not a nurse, I am a CNA" when they ask medical questions and say "well,you should know, you're the nurse", and yes, there are many nurses in my extended family. I also have to redirect ambulance drivers, MDs, and other medical professionals who should know better. When I go to my MD. for an office visit he says, "I will get the nurse for that injection" and he only employs Medical assistants. So yes, the medical profession itself definitely does proliferate this.
If I wanted the responsibility of an RN, I would have become an RN. I chose not to do this. Why is this so hard for other people to accept?
Just one more thing. In my state a CNA is a Licensed medical professional. We can be sued and are encouraged to carry insurance. We also have an expanded scope of practice. this is just for an FYI. Hospitals in my state do not hire LPNs and the few that are grandfathered in are being phased out. Sad considering the fantastic years of experience that can't be found in a textbook.
All things considered, I find the medical profession itself is not preventing this abuse of titles. It is a criminal offense to represent yourself as a licensed medical professional if you do not hold that license. Period.
Specializes in MCH,NICU,NNsy,Educ,Village Nursing.
Inform them (if they claim to be a nurse) that it is illegal for the to do so and if they continue to do so, you will have to report them to the BON. Educate them on the illegality of calling oneself a nurse when one is not. Maybe they aren't aware.
Reminds me of a very young paramedic I worked with briefly, too young to have acquired much experience in much of anything. He also worked as an E.R. tech; and was overheard (on the ambulance) saying he started 30 IV's a day in the E.R., and did all the RNs' work for them, and couldn't understand why his 2-year degree wasn't seen as the equivalent of theirs, and why he wasn't paid the same.
He was, ah, unpopular in some quarters. He moved on. It was hoped, by many, that some day he might accumulate enough experience to at least enable the possibility of a smidgen of wisdom, not to mention tact.
What is wrong with saying "I am getting my RN"? ALot of people are going for their RN and its fine to say that. It does not bother me at all when people tell me they are going for their RN.
I don't see why that would bother you.
Not the "OP" but:
First problem I see is that persons tend to hear what they want or wish to; and disregard "going for" just picking up "RN".
Second the general public and even quite allot of "healthcare personnel" do not understand (and many probably do not care to learn) nursing hierarchy. They hear the word "nurse" and that is good enough for them. However we all hear know the difference between a student nurse, graduate nurse, and RN along with the limitations (general) of their practice if any.
IIRC back in the "old days" many hospital diploma programs forbade if not strongly discouraged their student nurses from traveling around whilst in uniform for fear of being drawn into situations as professional nurse. Now there probably were other reasons as well, but there is some method behind the madness.
Oh Man, here goes nothing. I have had to say to MY OWN FAMILY members "I am not a nurse, I am a CNA" when they ask medical questions and say "well,you should know, you're the nurse", and yes, there are many nurses in my extended family. I also have to redirect ambulance drivers, MDs, and other medical professionals who should know better. When I go to my MD. for an office visit he says, "I will get the nurse for that injection" and he only employs Medical assistants. So yes, the medical profession itself definitely does proliferate this.
If I wanted the responsibility of an RN, I would have become an RN. I chose not to do this. Why is this so hard for other people to accept?
Just one more thing. In my state a CNA is a Licensed medical professional. We can be sued and are encouraged to carry insurance. We also have an expanded scope of practice. this is just for an FYI. Hospitals in my state do not hire LPNs and the few that are grandfathered in are being phased out. Sad considering the fantastic years of experience that can't be found in a textbook.
All things considered, I find the medical profession itself is not preventing this abuse of titles. It is a criminal offense to represent yourself as a licensed medical professional if you do not hold that license. Period.
As a EMT-I, just thought I would let you know that the term "ambulance driver" is as insulting as calling a NA a RN...With all due respect
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
to the OP:
What is wrong with saying "I am getting my RN"? ALot of people are going for their RN and its fine to say that. It does not bother me at all when people tell me they are going for their RN.
I don't see why that would bother you.
Because you don't "get" your RN. You go to school so you can sit for NCLEX-RN and become an RN if you pass the exam. It's not something that's automatically given to you. Going to school to become an RN doesn't change your status in any way; until you graduate from a nursing program, you're still an MA/CNA/whatever. That's the sort of "title creep" people are referring to. It's as if going to school elevates you in some way above those who are not.
CordaeP
162 Posts
When I was an MA I worked in a clinic without a nurse. The nurse that was there before I came had a wreck and had been gone for about 7 or eight months. Before she had her wreck she had been training a medical assistant. The doctor, office manager, and receptionist introduced her to me as the nurse. I later found out that she was an MA like me who had completed the same program at the same school as me. When patients call the clinic with questions the receptionist who say hold for the nurse or I will have the nurse call you back. The old nurse tried to come back and other nurses have applied for the nursing position but the doctor does not want to hire a nurse. The MA is still there and the only one handling patients unless they have a student MA to help out.