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 :)
i'm still a student RN, and the only person i let call me "nurse" is my dad- he gets such a kick out of his youngest having "nurse" in the title . heck, i'm proud to have student nurse as a credential right now! I agree, I think it is bs for people who have a completely different skill set and often less rigorous/time consuming education to refer to their selves as nurses- because nursing school is NO JOKE!
our hospital has everyone in different colors. Our nurses wear navy blue. No one else will be in Navy Blue. Our CNA's wear different colors then us, Respiratory wears Hunter green, Dietary wears Maroon and the list goes on and on for everyone in the hospital.
This way there is NO confusion, the patients know who the nurse is. If i have to leave the floor, and another nurse is watching my patients the patients are aware "The one in Navy is a nurse." or "the one in green is respiratory"
There are SO many names/disciplines to remember so it is very simple and basic for the patients.
At first i was NOT happy with it, i hated being told what i had to wear. But it looks nice and i understand why we have to do it. We can wear any brand that we want, as long as they are navy blue.
I was watching the Tyra show one morning (I don't normally watch it but it was on). anyway, a girl stood up and announced that she "got her Nurses license in 3 months"
a nursing license in 3 months? My fiance had been in the room while this was going on. he looked at me:
"She did it in 3 months.! why did it take you 5 years?"
When I did my care aide course (Resident Care Attendant, CNA etc. *it's all the same thing*) our first instructor, on our first day, lead with "You are all nurses."
I was SHOCKED! I was going to school to wipe bums and dress the elderly; I was being called a nurse and I was flattered, flattered, flattered!
In all fairness, it IS a nursing role. Nursing has evolved, and to my grandma, I was a bonafide nurse.
Since becoming an "actual" nurse, I see the difference but I let them have it. Most patients don't see the difference between care aides and RNs. They want the one who fluffs their pillows and/or hands them their pills to talk to.
It's frustrating because doctors are SOOOO clear cut. Nurses, well, we are all in one giant category ranging from minimal experience and education from certificates to degrees to doctorates.
I understand you're upset and it sometimes upsets me too. This is okay. You , and we, have all worked hard to obtain our NURSE title.
But, you know what they say: imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
"Yes it is a bit unprofessional to call yourself an Rn but as long as they are not doing the tasks of an Rn it is not a huge deal."
Wrong-o. It is ILLEGAL. Not "a bit unprofessional," ILLEGAL. Whether or not a CNA is "doing the tasks" (by which I assume you mean strictly manipulative skills like punching pills out of blister packs, inserting Foley catheters, giving injections, or starting IVs) ....
whoa, whoa, whoa.
Care aides don't give pills, insert catheters or do injections - these are done by NURSES. What exactly is your (American) definition of a CNA?
Where I am, CNAs are Certified Nursing Assistants - they toiled patients; change their pads, bed sheets, bed pans; help with feedings etc.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Stephanita, I think in the vast majority of cases a CNA does what you described. I understand some facilities offer an option of additional training to get CNAs certified to pass oral meds.
Home health aides in California can go through a training program to straight cath a patient, who must catheterize for each void, as an example, and doesn't have a Foley catheter, and would be self-cathing if able to do so.
This thread got off-track a bit - originally it was about unlicensed people working in doctor's offices giving injections, etc. Here they can give injections but not catheterize. Every state has it's own laws and regulations regarding Nurse Practice Acts and the regulation of aides and assistants.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
The bottom line is if you don't have that piece of paper from the BON saying you are a licensed professional nurse, you are not a nurse. People who pretend to be nurses should have to have the same liability, same responsibilities, same CE requirements, etc.
I don't care who it makes feel better to call a UAP/CNA/CMA a nurse. If you're not a nurse but calling yourself one, it's fraud.
I totally hear you on this, and it irritates the heck outta me...but i have a different take on it.... what do you do when a doctor refers to anybody in scrubs as a "nurse" ? Would you correct them, and seem petty , or just say nothing?
I ask because I work in the OR, and the docs frequently call the surgical TECHS "scrub NURSES"..... of course they dont correct the doctor...... what would you say?
Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
Perhaps this is one little part of the whole 'lack of respect for the profession of nursing'; and it upsets me that some LPNs/RNs do not consider it a real problem that anyone in scrubs "is a nurse." We as nurses should be protective of our title and profession.
Perhaps this is one little part of the whole 'lack of respect for the profession of nursing'; and it upsets me that some LPNs/RNs do not consider it a real problem that anyone in scrubs "is a nurse." We as nurses should be protective of our title and profession.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but does she sound extremely arrogant or something when saying this? By mentioning that she has yet to hold a full time job makes you sound a little bitter and angry at what she's trying to accomplish, but maybe I'm not reading the tone correctly or I have too much understanding. Technically, a BSN is more advanced than an ADN, (As MSN is more advanced than a BSN) but this should not discredit your hard work of the past 18 years and I don't mean it to. This is just what it stands for degree-wise.
Does your step-daughter aspire to be a CRNA? Is that her end goal with her education? I've tried to explain to people what a CRNA is, and quite frankly for their benefit to understand, I just say it's what an anesthesiologist does but your are a nurse not a doctor and they understand, and it sounds like that's what she's meaning. I do not agree with your in-laws saying that you cannot work in an ER, that's not true. You are qualified. But recently I've seen a shift in hospitals only hiring BSNs for ICU/ER jobs, and supplying extra help for ADNs to get their BSN. But hey, that's business.
On the flipside, my ex-husband's cousin became a NP in family practice. The family was so proud because she's "almost a doctor!" I didn't even aspire to nursing school at that point, but it still ticked me off. I told him "She's not 'almost' anything! She IS a Nurse Practicioner! That's insulting!"
I guess that plays to the whole scenario. Be what you ARE and be proud of it! MAs and CNAs play a valuable role. They should be proud of what they've learned and can do.
trauma_lama, BSN
344 Posts
i'm still a student RN, and the only person i let call me "nurse" is my dad- he gets such a kick out of his youngest having "nurse" in the title
. heck, i'm proud to have student nurse as a credential right now! I agree, I think it is bs for people who have a completely different skill set and often less rigorous/time consuming education to refer to their selves as nurses- because nursing school is NO JOKE!