Can RN work as CNA in MA?

[ladybugsea]

Is this allowed? I know I've seen threads on this topic in the past, but I'm not having luck using the search and google and checking the BORN. I thought I had read here that it was not allowed in certain states, I'm wondering about MA. Thanks!

[ErraticThinker]

"Frowned upon...?"

Why should a licensed, experienced, RN NOT be allowed to work as a CNA?

In a tight labor market, perhaps this represents a realistic (though undesirable) choice.

MD=RN=LVN=CNA.

What "qualifies a CNA" when someone with more experience/knowledge is willing to work for less?

I'd rather be a CNA, using my knowledge/expertise, than an unemployed RN trying to find work.

Willingness to work is rather irrelevant since it's a legal issue of being held to the standard of your education and license. The hospital wouldn't protect you, nor would they try and you would be opened up to all sorts of liability.

Also, the idea that MD's RN's LVNs and CNAs are interchangeable is pretty unrealistic. Physicians deal with a very different philosophy and use much different ways of knowing. Their training is also drastically different. LVNs have a basic skill set that's a little bit higher than a CNA, though both lack any real education in the theory of what nursing is and can only approach problems based off of their previous experience as opposed to using critical thinking and being able to draw off of a theoretical body of knowledge.

The labor market is artificially tight for RN's because of profit maximizing techniques used by hospitals (non-profits ironically enough), but working as a CNA isn't really a solution since in most cases you can be considered over qualified, and I'd be wary of an institution that's willing to look the other way and open you up to a heap of liability should there be an event. just saying.

[catz123]

in ma you can not work under the callibor of your license. In other words and RN can not work as a CNA.