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 :)
Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.
When I was a CNA, I was licensed by the state. I had a temporary license and then a full license, with a number, issued by the state. So yes, CNAs can be referred to as licensed.
I just want to point out that nurse's aides and CNAs are referred to as UAPs, Unlicensed Assistive Personnel on NCLEX. I do not think poorly of UAPs of any kind, however I do think it is presumptuous to feel entitled to call yourself (general you) a nurse. Attending a 1-2 month program (at least that is the length in many states) does not make you a nurse. You are a helpful assistant to the nurse and health care team, as well as helpful to the patient.
When I was a CNA, I was licensed by the state. I had a temporary license and then a full license, with a number, issued by the state. So yes, CNAs can be referred to as licensed.
If one is a CNA, one is a certified nurse assistant, not a licensed nurse assistant. Most states certify nurse assistants. Certified is not licensed--two different things. Therefore, as licensed nurses, we are ultimately responsible for what we direct those who are UAP's (CNA's) to do. And it gets sticky when CNA's give medical advice or speak to the Dr. about the patient. We are all part of the plan of care, I am just responsible for it. I LOVE the CNA's that I work with, and wouldn't want to do it without them. The work is not easy. However, I am a licensed practical nurse, and perhaps someday will be an RN, however, I do and have made the distinction.
OH, and interesting...there's an ad right beside where I am writing this saying "certified nurse assistant degrees" and "nursing is always in demand". No wonder some don't get it--advertising will tell you otherwise.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
not sure if this has been addressed but why would someone saying they are getting their rn annoy you? i will be a cna soon (taking classes now) and really am in school to get my rn (i graduate with my bsn next may.. and i already have a bs in biotechnology and went to grad school) so that's a little offensive to assume that it's a lie just because that person is a "lowly cna"??
the term "getting my rn" annoys some of us because it implies that there are licenses out there with your name on them, just waiting for you to pluck them up. instead, you're going to school to earn a bsn. once you've graduated from an accredited school of nursing, you'll be allowed to sit for the licensing exam . . . and when you pass it, you'll become a registered nurse (or a licensed practical nurse.) so you're in school for a bsn, not an rn.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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are you saying that cnas are not nurses? at all? then what are they? im so confused by this post....
i have seen people say they are nurses and not even finish a program.... are those the people your mad at? or are you mad at cnas... because they attended a shorter program than you did with your rn program?
certified nurse assistant
if its not a nurse then why is it called certified nurse assistant ?
note: im not mad or offended i just want to understand ...
for example.. i know a girl that callles herself a cna but does not have her certification. therefore i dont consider her a nurse
cnas are nurse assistants, not nurses. a nurse is someone who has passed a licensing exam to be either an lpn or an rn. no one is mad at cnas because they passed a shorter program. we're mad at people who call themselves nurses who have not passed the nclex.
You will always have patients/residents who do not understand (nor will they ever) the difference between a CNA and a nurse.
When I became a CNA many many moons ago, we all wore white from head to toe. We didn't wear scubs, either. We wore white uniform dresses and white stockings.
Now, we all looked exactly like the stereotypical nurse.
The only difference between the CNA's and nurses were, or course, the nurse's cap... oh, and if one was a nurse, then one was allowed the privilege to wear a navy blue cardigan with the whites!
But the residents in our LTC did not get the difference, caps or no.
Any woman in a white dress that washed bedpans-- or gave out pills-- was a "nurse" to them.
It was all the same.
We CNA's never told anyone we were nurses, and we always said we were aides... but with some residents, there was no point in correcting, after awhile... but again, we never said we were nurses.
CNA's are very very much part of the nursing team, and may even do some very basic nursing, but they are not nurses.
The contribution of the CNA is immense and I feel strongly about this.
They should be right proud of the hard work they do and understand that they do not need to say they are something they are not...
Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.
If one is a CNA, one is a certified nurse assistant, not a licensed nurse assistant. Most states certify nurse assistants. Certified is not licensed--two different things. Therefore, as licensed nurses, we are ultimately responsible for what we direct those who are UAP's (CNA's) to do. And it gets sticky when CNA's give medical advice or speak to the Dr. about the patient. We are all part of the plan of care, I am just responsible for it. I LOVE the CNA's that I work with, and wouldn't want to do it without them. The work is not easy. However, I am a licensed practical nurse, and perhaps someday will be an RN, however, I do and have made the distinction.
OH, and interesting...there's an ad right beside where I am writing this saying "certified nurse assistant degrees" and "nursing is always in demand". No wonder some don't get it--advertising will tell you otherwise.
The state I live in issues licenses for nursing assistants. So maybe it is not the same everywhere, but on our Department of Health website there is a link, under healthcare licensing, to submit your application for a NA license. You can also apply for RN, CRNA, LPN etc, under the same healthcare licensing heading.
I'm sure it's not the same in every state, of course.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Same thing with medical assistants. I've heard people talk about a two-year long MA program and various certifications, but in my state you don't have to set foot in school to be a medical assistant - you just have to have a doctor train you and be present when you are doing the tasks assigned.
I worked as a medical assistant for years before I became an RN, and everyone called us nurses too. I didn't realize how insulting this is until I really became a nurse. I also thought I was the same as a nurse. Boy was I wrong! Just because I did things that nurses do sure didn't mean I knew how to think like a nurse, or assess a patient like a nurse, or even educate a patient like a nurse. It even insults me now when I go to the doctor and the medical assistant acts like she knows everything. I have respect for them, but anyone can be a medical assistant. A doctor can hire someone off the street. They don't even have to have a high school diploma. I think something really needs to be done about this. But medical assistants aren't regulated in most states. I wish the boards of nursing would take this problem up and try to do something about it.
I worked as a medical assistant for years before I became an RN, and everyone called us nurses too. I didn't realize how insulting this is until I really became a nurse. I also thought I was the same as a nurse. Boy was I wrong! Just because I did things that nurses do sure didn't mean I knew how to think like a nurse, or assess a patient like a nurse, or even educate a patient like a nurse. It even insults me now when I go to the doctor and the medical assistant acts like she knows everything. I have respect for them, but anyone can be a medical assistant. A doctor can hire someone off the street. They don't even have to have a high school diploma. I think something really needs to be done about this. But medical assistants aren't regulated in most states. I wish the boards of nursing would take this problem up and try to do something about it.
The state I live in issues licenses for nursing assistants. So maybe it is not the same everywhere, but on our Department of Health website there is a link, under healthcare licensing, to submit your application for a NA license. You can also apply for RN, CRNA, LPN etc, under the same healthcare licensing heading.
I'm sure it's not the same in every state, of course.
Awhile back I got into an "argument" (I'd say battle of wits but one of us was seriously unarmed) with someone who was 100% certain there was simply no way any hospital could ever hire anyone to be a nurse's aide unless that person had a license/certificate/whatever. Although I pointed out that this was untrue, anyone off the street could be trained to take blood pressures, ambulate a patient and find a nurse, she was adamant that I must be ignorant, misinformed or simply too old to possibly know what I was talking about. Irritating, to be sure. At any rate, "CNA" is regulated so differently in different States as well as different facilities (nursing homes vs hospitals, for instance) that it's hard for anyone to know exactly WHAT is needed unless they do some careful research in their specific geographic area--and by employer.
Morainey, BSN, RN
831 Posts
When I was a CNA, I was licensed by the state. I had a temporary license and then a full license, with a number, issued by the state. So yes, CNAs can be referred to as licensed.