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 actually dread taking my pets into the vet because I've now heard vet techs on both coasts starting to introduce themselves as "a nurse".
Vet tech is a hard job, but it isn't a nurse. I don't treat animals and I don't know how; vet techs don't know nursing and shouldn't call themselves that.
One of the problems is that there is no regulatory body for MAs....so nursing can't hold them accountable, nor can medicine, for using false claims. the only people who can legally sue them for fraud is.....drumroll.... the patient. This is why we *HAVE* to keep our patients educated on what to expect and from whom...
That depends on your State. In mine it requires an associates degree and is very heavily regulated.
I agree that assessing is an RN role, but now I am a little concerned because where I work has a space on the vital signs chart where you write patient pain down, and you have to have them rate it between 0-10 to write in the pain score. So I'm wondering if we (as HCAs) should be filling in that part or not... I guess that is something that needs to be asked of our manager but I am just thinking "aloud" as it were as your post made me think of it.
Asking a patient to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10 isn't assessing. It's data collection (just like taking vital signs) and is within the scope of just about anyone (in my State). It's when you start asking questions about the characteristics of the pain that it becomes an assessment.
I am not trying to defend those who pretend to be nurses as a form of self-aggrandizement. However, it seems as though some of the people describing themselves as nurses (some MAs and CNAs, for example) are doing so because it's simpler than trying to explain the true nature of their jobs to the majority of patients. I imagine it's a lot easier to just agree you're a nurse (or at least not disagree) than to correct each of the dozens of people who misidentify you each day and then spend who knows how long trying to explain how your job differs from that of a nurse. That clearly doesn't make it right, but it does make it a bit more understandable (at least to me).
Maybe I'm overestimating the difficulty involved in trying to explain such differences to a succession of patients (the majority of them probably elderly). But it already seems as though a substantial proportion of people have only a vague and very dated impression of what nurses in general do today. Trying to explain why someone who does what a nurse used to do 20 years ago or who shares some overlapping responsibilities with certain nurses isn't actually a nurse seems like a losing battle when attempted on an individual basis. Perhaps groups representing and/or advocating for nurses should band together to produce a public awareness advertising campaign about the basic varieties of nurses (i.e., LPN, RN, NP) and what they're actually responsible for doing in this era. It might clear up some of the misconceptions and out-of-date notions, and at the same time help raise the public's appreciation of and respect for nurses.
Thanks for the link! Interesting ... it seems that Virginia only protects "registered nurse" or "licensed practical nurse," not just "nurse."
54.1-3016. Use of title "registered nurse" or "R.N.".
Any person who holds a license or a multistate licensure privilege to practice professional nursing in Virginia shall have the right to use the title "registered nurse" and the abbreviation "R.N." No other person shall assume such title or use such abbreviation or any other words, letters, signs or devices to indicate that the person using the same is a registered nurse.
(1970, c. 116, 54-367.17; 1988, c. 765; 2004, c. 49.)
Also:
54.1-3019. Use of title "licensed practical nurse" or "L.P.N.".
Any person who holds a license or a multistate licensure privilege to practice as a licensed practical nurse in Virginia shall have the right to use the title "Licensed practical nurse" and the abbreviation "L.P.N." No other person shall assume such title or use such abbreviation or any other words, letters, signs or devices to indicate that the person using the same is a licensed practical nurse.
(1970, c. 116, 54-367.23; 1988, c. 765; 2004, c. 49.)
(Chapter 30 of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia)
I actually dread taking my pets into the vet because I've now heard vet techs on both coasts starting to introduce themselves as "a nurse".
Vet tech is a hard job, but it isn't a nurse. I don't treat animals and I don't know how; vet techs don't know nursing and shouldn't call themselves that.
Got to disagree here. In the UK it is the norm to refer to vet. nurses in animal hospitals. They nurse animals.
Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.
One of the problems is that there is no regulatory body for MAs....so nursing can't hold them accountable, nor can medicine, for using false claims. the only people who can legally sue them for fraud is.....drumroll.... the patient. This is why we *HAVE* to keep our patients educated on what to expect and from whom...
The term 'nurse' is not a protected term, but 'registered nurse' is in many provinces and states. If they call themselves a nurse and you challenge them, "A registered nurse?" and they answer in the affirmative, you may have a legal case in some areas that could land them a fine or up to 6 months in jail.
This is one of my pet peeves, too. Especially when I go see my MD at the clinic for a check up with one of my kids and he says "Just call and schedule a nurse visit."......ummm, this clinic only has one nurse, the NP and she certainly doesn't give the shots! The injections are all given by the MA's. The clinic doesn't hire nurses. I wish they did, I would be first in line for a job in my hometown!.....but, of course, being the licensed professional that I am, respecting my MD as a person and as a nurse myself, I keep my comments to myself and just say "Ok."
I have been in health care for 20+ years and never seen someone intentionally pretending to be something they are not.
What I HAVE seen are people who get tired of explaining that "NO, I am not a nurse, I'm a (fill in blank) and we do (blah blah blah)..." over and over and over again. I'm sure that get's tiring - everyone assumes all staff are nurses which is why so many facilities now require all staff of same department wear same color scrubs.
Specializes in acute care med/surg, LTC, orthopedics.
The term 'nurse' is not a protected term, but 'registered nurse' is in many provinces and states.
"Nurse" is a protected title in Ontario. Only members of the College of Nurses of Ontario can use the titles of "nurse", and "Registered Nurse", "Registered Practical Nurse" and/or "Nurse Practitioner" in the province.
I've heard MANY docs introduce the MA's as "my nurse" so I don't think the MA's are being pressured by the docs-I think the docs are at fault for allowing and accepting and promoting this-especially in the clinics. I'm an LVN and MA's are taking over b/c the doc's are hiring them for less money and training them to do what I've been formally trained to do. So although I don't profess to be an RN-yet-I do feel your frustration!!!
Medical Assistants are specifically trained to work in a doctor's office. They are trained to do injections, phlebotomy, EKG's, urinalysis, sterilization, etc. The doctors hire them because that's where they are trained to work. In my area, LPNs who work in clinics make about the same as the MAs do. There really isn't much that goes on in a doctors office (except for triage and the occasional IV) that requires a higher level of skill than an MA has.
That is frustrating. If MA's wanted to be nurses they should have went to a 12 month LPN program instead of a 9 month MA program. I personally have no problem with MA's but their schooling and licensing needs to be regulated... it seems like any John Doe can walk out of a technical school and call themselves an MA. Then again- maybe it's good they aren't regulated, could hurt nursing in regards to jobs in Dr's offices? Hum.
So although I don't profess to be an RN-yet-I do feel your frustration!!!
UserG
57 Posts
I actually dread taking my pets into the vet because I've now heard vet techs on both coasts starting to introduce themselves as "a nurse".
Vet tech is a hard job, but it isn't a nurse. I don't treat animals and I don't know how; vet techs don't know nursing and shouldn't call themselves that.