Calling yourself an RN

[MadpeysRN]

I am Facebook friends with someone i work with. She lists herself as an RN where we work and she is not. She is housekeeping staff. This makes me crazy!

[RNdynamic]

Why aren't some people happy in their own skins? Why do some people feel the compulsive need to lie about their credentials, educational attainment, and occupations? I'll never fully understand these impostors.

The office manager at Dr. Heart's cardiology practice wouldn't be able to get away with calling herself a cardiologist.

The factory worker at the electronics plant wouldn't be able to get away with calling himself an electrical engineer.

The legal secretary at the patent law firm wouldn't be able to get away with calling herself a patent attorney.

The fisherman on the lobster trapping crew in Maine wouldn't be able to get away with calling himself a marine biologist.

However, it seems that everyone and their mommas can claim to be nurses with little or no repercussions. Members of these other professions will call impostors out on the carpet for faking and shaking. It is time for nursing to get with the program.

I can't help but agree. It is so stupid. Why pretend to be a nurse when you're a housekeeper?! What is the end goal?! It's so pointless...

[klone, MSN, RN]

An MD is a degree. In order to practice as a physician, I'm sure there are some sort of boards they have to pass in addition to completing a residency. But as long as they've completed medical school, they are an MD.

[mzrainydayz, BSN, RN]

I say confront this person and call them out on their lie. Don't get into a feud with them on Facebook or any other social media. Some classmates I gradutaed with have yet to pass NCLEX to become a licensed registered nurse, BUT they get on Facebook and front like they passed and their now a RN. SMH.

[Julius Seizure]

I haven't spoken to her personally about it but others have said she tells people she just let her license expire. I checked nursys for our state and their is no license not even inactive.

Even if that WERE true, she is still not employed as a nurse. Furthermore, she is not currently licensed, therefore she is not a registered nurse.

[Raviepoo]

That offends me. I worked VERY hard to be able to call myself an RN. Ours is the most trusted profession in the United States and she is undermining it by lying.

[Raviepoo]

See, that's the rub. Working as a nurse when you're aren't one is one thing, and as annoying as it is for non-nurses to claim to be nurses, they're not actually harming anyone by just saying they're a nurse.

They are harming the entire profession by making that false claim.

[Julius Seizure]

It probably is a cultural thing in Puerto Rico. Hispanic cultures tend to be more protective and respectful of earned titles.

I am voicing this from experience, lived in several latin american countries.

Having lived in Florida, and now in Texas...we have a lot of spanish speaking patients and I dont think any of the nurses know that enfermera graduada is something different from just enfermera. Specifically in Florda, we had a lot of Puerto Rican patients and I, like klone, now wonder what they thought!

[Eru Ilúvatar]

An MD is a degree. In order to practice as a physician, I'm sure there are some sort of boards they have to pass in addition to completing a residency. But as long as they've completed medical school, they are an MD.

Oh ok, wasn't sure the distinction was that.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Wait, doesn't the physician has to pass the USME (or something like that) in order to obtain licensure too? Isn't the MD the RN equivalent for them?

In order to be able to get a license as a physician, an individual must pass all 3 parts of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). Usually medical students will take Steps 1 and 2 during med school--if I am not mistaken some (all?) schools require passage of Steps 1 and 2 to graduate. Step 3 is then taken during an individual's residency. If a person graduates from medical school, they are a Doctor of Medicine (MD), but they do not have a license and they cannot practice medicine independently, they have to pass Step 3. MDs are not required to complete a residency (only to do, I believe 1 year), but no decent hospital will grant a physician privileges with completing a residency.

I apologize if I got any of the details wrong--please feel free to correct me. One thing I don't know--does the PVT work for USML? (sorry, couldn't resist)

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

The BON in the state where I reside (Texas) has a list of nurse impostors in their quarterly newsletter. In many of the cases, local prosecutors have filed charges against persons who have fraudulently secured employment as LVNs or RNs when they lacked the education and licensure to legally work as nurses.

Those, I have heard of ...but I'm looking for social examples where the person never actually worked as a nurse, just bragged to their friends/acquaintances.

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

Do you personally know of anyone who has actually been fined for calling themselves a nurse? I'm genuinely curious...

There is someone on this list that I USED to know....

Board of Registered Nursing - Unlicensed Practice

[Momma1RN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I feel the need to give props to my team. I work in a clinic and have MAs (our facility calls them something different but they have the MA scope of practice). I have NEVER heard our physicians or midwives ever call them nurses, and I have never heard the MAs call themselves nurses.

When I was pregnant with my son, the "nurse" at her office routinely gave medical advice, told patients what meds to take/not to take, and never once was I able to actually speak with the doctor. Come to find out, she was a MA (never wore her badge in the office, I happened to see it one day on the counter) and I was FUMING. Everyone referred to her as the nurse.