maybe its just me, but i get very bothered when someone says "i'm a nurse," and their not, their a cna, or nurse aid, or have no schooling at all and just worked their way up in a clinic. i work at a local emergency clinic 30 hours a week to gain experience in my field, and i just got accepted in ns, and i'v worked darn hard to get here! and i find it bothersome when one of the girls at work say "i'm the nurse" or something along those lines...i feel that when i graduate and pass my nclex that, only then, will i be able to say "i'm a nurse." the other day my doctor said "jamie, will you get a nurse?" i said "im sorry doc, i dont think we have any of those working here." he actually laughed and said "you know what i mean"......but is this just me?????
The state authority I am in prohibits anyone who does not hold a nursing license to identify themselves as a nurse and all through the 4 years of school it was beat into our heads the importance of appropriate identification of what one was.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I fail to see how this hurts anyone
or how it threatens anyone
and if the patients are that confused maybe it was just the easiest thing to say. I dont see where it hurts those little old confused people either.
why let it bother you, I just dont see a significance here.
Perhaps because in the state I am licensed in, it is against the law for anyone who is not a licensed nurse to call her/himself a nurse.
Woody
Because the patient may be confused, it may be difficult to articulate to them who is who; it just may be simplier to call everyone 'nurse' under those particular circumstances. Some of those patients may just need to hear 'doctor' and 'nurse'. Anything more than that may aggitate them. I would have probably said 'aide' to the patient, but, I have seen situations where it does confuse them even more.
Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Because the patient may be confused, it may be difficult to articulate to them who is who; it just may be simplier to call everyone 'nurse' under those particular circumstances. Some of those patients may just need to hear 'doctor' and 'nurse'. Anything more than that may aggitate them. I would have probably said 'aide' to the patient, but, I have seen situations where it does confuse them even more.
I spent all most two months in a local nursing home, last summer, receiving wound care. There were several confused patients on the same unit I was on. Calling someone who is not a nurse, a nurse, using the excuse that it is less confusing is really a put down on your patients. Entering into a patient's confusion does nothing to help that patient.
My father was in the hospital, when he was 82 years old, and he became very confused after having surgery. I insisted that everyone re-orient my dad whenever they approached him. It took a day for his confusion to clear. My point is a lot of times we offer the excuse that it is easier on the patients, when in fact it is easier on us not to spend the time orienting them.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I spent all most two months in a local nursing home, last summer, receiving wound care. There were several confused patients on the same unit I was on. Calling someone who is not a nurse, a nurse, using the excuse that it is less confusing is really a put down on your patients. Entering into a patient's confusion does nothing to help that patient.
My father was in the hospital, when he was 82 years old, and he became very confused after having surgery. I insisted that everyone re-orient my dad whenever they approached him. It took a day for his confusion to clear. My point is a lot of times we offer the excuse that it is easier on the patients, when in fact it is easier on us not to spend the time orienting them.
Woody:balloons:
While I can understand your point, I don't see it changing. One person may take the time to orient the client, while others will do whatever else. And, from what I see, there is no penalty that is really being enforced to deal with others that call themselves nurses that are not. I even see other nurses do it. My nursing administrator will introduce aides and say "This is YOUR nurse".
Is it a put down to the patient? Depends on your perspective. I respectfully agree to disagree when a patient is clearly confused and does not comprehend the difference; they may see anyone wearing white as a person who is supposed to take care of their needs somehow.
I do get annoyed with people who aren't nurses call themselves one. A CMA has not been oriented to the nursing process, rationales of why some things are done the way they are done nor have had a well rounded course including med-surg, peds, psych or maternal health. Nor do they have a license to protect. In fact, what they do may affect OUR licenses. However, as an LPN, I am told by my own nursing peers that I am not considered as one, either. I have been told, even though I have attended a nursing school, sat for an NCLEX (PN) exam and passed, that I am not a 'real nurse' because I am not an RN. I have seen some LPNs introduce themselves as " I am Ms. So and So, the nurse" and have seen people say in front of them "You are NOT a NURSE...you are an LPN". Does that make any more sense?
this once happend to me and i asked the so call person who saids she was a nurse. " really and what nursing school did you attended?? Do you have your ADN or BSN?? He mouth droppend. There is no reason why we let them get away with that/ Speak up
Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
While I can understand your point, I don't see it changing. One person may take the time to orient the client, while others will do whatever else. And, from what I see, there is no penalty that is really being enforced to deal with others that call themselves nurses that are not. I even see other nurses do it. My nursing administrator will introduce aides and say "This is YOUR nurse".
Is it a put down to the patient? Depends on your perspective. I respectfully agree to disagree when a patient is clearly confused and does not comprehend the difference; they may see anyone wearing white as a person who is supposed to take care of their needs somehow.
I do get annoyed with people who aren't nurses call themselves one. A CMA has not been oriented to the nursing process, rationales of why some things are done the way they are done nor have had a well rounded course including med-surg, peds, psych or maternal health. Nor do they have a license to protect. In fact, what they do may affect OUR licenses. However, as an LPN, I am told by my own nursing peers that I am not considered as one, either. I have been told, even though I have attended a nursing school, sat for an NCLEX (PN) exam and passed, that I am not a 'real nurse' because I am not an RN. I have seen some LPNs introduce themselves as " I am Ms. So and So, the nurse" and have seen people say in front of them "You are NOT a NURSE...you are an LPN". Does that make any more sense?
Personally, if someone told an LPN, in front of me, that she was not a nurse, I would correct them. And one of the reasons I would do that is because I was an LPN from 1967 to 1971. But even if I had not been, I would still correct the person.
A patient that is confused just becomes more confused when they are given the wrong information. It kind of runs in the same vein as talking to a patient that is in a coma. I've been told by my peers that they can't hear a thing, so why borther telling them what you are about to do. One of the reason's I do is because when I was working in a ICU, back in 1970, I had a patient who was comatous. The house staff would stand around her bed and discuss her like she was a log. And so didn't most of the nursing staff. They all got a very big surprise, when she came out of her coma, and was able to repeat some of the conversations that took place around her bed.
I am sorry but I believe that it is important to re-orient a confused patient. A large number of them are confused because of a chemical imbalance in their body. And even if they are not and it is due to old age, they still deserve the respect of re-orienting them.
Perhaps because in the state I am licensed in, it is against the law for anyone who is not a licensed nurse to call her/himself a nurse.
Woody
So its against the law. But does it threaten who you are. Does it cause you to be hurt. Does it really bother you and if so why. Yes it may well be illegal. Fraudulent, even. But how does it affect you. A lot of things are illegal. Occasionally I hunt out of season. Doesnt hurt anybody except the deer I shoot. Presidents pardon people who obstruct justice, doesnt hurt anyone.
Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
So its against the law. But does it threaten who you are. Does it cause you to be hurt. Does it really bother you and if so why. Yes it may well be illegal. Fraudulent, even. But how does it affect you. A lot of things are illegal. Occasionally I hunt out of season. Doesnt hurt anybody except the deer I shoot. Presidents pardon people who obstruct justice, doesnt hurt anyone.
I have a question for you. Do you think that an illegal, who crosses the border in your state of Texas, is he breaking the law? Do you think he should be caught and deported? If someone is misrepresenting themselves and calling themselves a nurse, yes it does hurt me. It hurts me professionally because the person is a liar. And because they may do something that I am not allowed to, and a patient sees that and doesn't understand why I will not.
And by the way, when I was younger, I use to go deer hunting, on my uncle's farm, in upstate New York. And neither I nor my uncle ever hunted out of season and never without a hunting license. Laws are there for a reason. Ignoring a law because you do not believe anyone is hurt is wrong. It is a violation of a law, regardless of intent.
in sc it is indeed illegal for a person who is not a nurse to represent him/herself as one. this law was passed years ago by the state legislature and is enforcable, albeit rarely done.
well, i just became a nurse june 16th 2007, after 17 years as a pca/tech.
many times i would be mistaken for the charge nurse, and a majority of time the nurse.
i guess because i wanted to be one i just carried myself as a professional nurse.
i had always corrected the patients when that mistake was made,
that i was the assistant,
and if i needed to notify the lpn or the rn ,
i would do that because that was my job.
yes it did feel good to seem like the nurse,
but i always clarified my position.
there was one day, that one of the nurses on staff;
one of the ones i was always doing something for,
made the statment, and i forgot why she brought it up; she said, "your not a nurse."
6 months later i went to college to start my prerequisites, and today i have full rights as a nurse in emergency care!
what a long hard haul it has been.
nobody should ever pass them selves off as the real thing.
but i know i was accused even though, i never,ever passed myself off.
the reality is those who pass themselves off,
really don't know how hard it is to become a nurse,
and they don't realize the responsiblity that goes along with it...
I just graduated myself as a Practical Nurse. Until I do get to take the state testing, I always put license pending, but I am working and training side by side with an RN. I have only scratched the top of being a nurse and hope an RN takes me under her wing and teaches me everything she knows. I will be able to bridge over in a year, but, I don't know crap right now. Greener than green! There is school, and then there is reality!
I have been an EMT, a student nurse, an LPN, an RN, and a "nonlicensed RN" (meaning, I did not "lose" my license, but simply worked in other fields for quite a while and didn't have time or money to continue the licensure while I was doing that). During the times I was qualified in each of these categories I was proud of my title, whatever it was at the time. When I have been unlicensed as a nurse I have been very careful never to convey that I consider myself to be a nurse.
I personally think the problem is partly the fault of the nursing profession in that we had a clear way that patients knew we were nurses when we wore clothing that said so from the front or the back. It was especially helpful in situations of crowded circumstances when there wasn't a lot of time to ask questions or try to get a look at a tiny badge. We should never have given that practice up, even if we collectively instead had made the decision to change to wearing something more practical. There is nothing to stop nurses from collectively making the decision to go BACK to wearing something distinctive that stands out and separates us from the herd of all other types of health care personnel.
As for the question about non-nurses who do some tasks that patients associate with being a nurse.... There are still lots of places where there are too few nurses to get the job done without the non-nurse. Where I live, if office personnel at the doctor's office were not allowed to do some of the work under the supervision of the nurse, there would be no doctors or nurses who would be willing to work here, especially not for the low $ and the high complexity of illnesses and the responsibility involved. But the office personnel do actively distinguish to patients that they are not nurses or doctors, and that the patient can request to talk with the nurse instead.
woody62, RN
928 Posts
Perhaps because in the state I am licensed in, it is against the law for anyone who is not a licensed nurse to call her/himself a nurse.
Woody