claiming to be what she isn't

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Has anyone ever had someone claim to be a nurse when they weren't? Last night at my hubby's ballgame one of the other players girlfriend claimed she was a R.N. and when I asked her what school she graduated from she named a local facility. I remembered the name but gave her the benefit of the doubt thinking "diploma program" but had my doubts because I have heard her lie before about trivial stuff and I haven't lived in this area for that long to really know much about the schools. Anyway, so came home looked it up on the internet and it is a Medical Asst. school. That is cool and I get along with everyone regardless of what title, job, or position in life they hold that goes for most nurses. I'm not her friend, enemy, or anything in between so why lie? Anyway, I'm not going to rat her out to her face but just wondered if many people have had the same experience at some time?:uhoh3:

Where I work as a PSW we are all called nurses, regardless if we are or not. Now I don't go around telling everybody I am a nurse when I am a PSW. Now I an studying to become and RN and feel that the title is a privalege, but try to explain to a resident that you are a PSW and they will not know what on earth that is. We call ourselves nurses when we deal with residents to simplify it for them. If I callled myself anything else the residents would not let us touch them.

Lordy, the alphabet soup of titles just puts my brain in a tizzy! :smackingf Please educate me on PSW. All I can come up with is "part social worker". :lol2: :no: I did notice the poster is from Canada, so it's probably well known to everyone but me.

Seriously, though, even some RNs have a myriad of letters after their names. It's really no wonder that the general public is confused.

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I believe it means Personal Support Worker. I think they are like your CNA's.

If I am not mistaken and please correct me if I am wrong about this but PSW's may also be known as Personal Care Attendants PCA's.

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Where I work as a PSW we are all called nurses, regardless if we are or not. Now I don't go around telling everybody I am a nurse when I am a PSW. Now I an studying to become and RN and feel that the title is a privalege, but try to explain to a resident that you are a PSW and they will not know what on earth that is. We call ourselves nurses when we deal with residents to simplify it for them. If I callled myself anything else the residents would not let us touch them.

Lordy, the alphabet soup of titles just puts my brain in a tizzy! :smackingf Please educate me on PSW. All I can come up with is "part social worker". :lol2: :no: I did notice the poster is from Canada, so it's probably well known to everyone but me.

Seriously, though, even some RNs have a myriad of letters after their names. It's really no wonder that the general public is confused.

PSW is a personal support worker. I think it is the equivalent of a CNA. Usually to become a PSW you need to take a 2 month course, but the LTC facility gave me the title because I am a second year BsCN student so I guess I would have the training that PSW would have, and then some. Of course I realise that I am not a nurse, but I am a student nurse. THe residents calling me a nurse makes it easier because there are also nurses aids and another title that does the exact same thing that I do. To try to educate the residents on this would be a nightmare, so we just all call our selves nurses, even though we are not. Of course if anybody asks what I do I will say that I am a PSW and not a nurse.

Being a nurse, to me, takes the proper training, and that is 4 years of school and then getting my licence. To me RN is the top prize and I would not want to deminish the meaning for myself or the profession. So for right now my title is as it has been for the past 33 years, Joe Nobody .

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PSW is a personal support worker. I think it is the equivalent of a CNA. Usually to become a PSW you need to take a 2 month course, but the LTC facility gave me the title because I am a second year BsCN student so I guess I would have the training that PSW would have, and then some. Of course I realise that I am not a nurse, but I am a student nurse. THe residents calling me a nurse makes it easier because there are also nurses aids and another title that does the exact same thing that I do. To try to educate the residents on this would be a nightmare, so we just all call our selves nurses, even though we are not. Of course if anybody asks what I do I will say that I am a PSW and not a nurse.

Being a nurse, to me, takes the proper training, and that is 4 years of school and then getting my licence. To me RN is the top prize and I would not want to deminish the meaning for myself or the profession. So for right now my title is as it has been for the past 33 years, Joe Nobody .

If PSW is unknown to them, and the term "nurse" is, rather than break the law and refer to yourself as a "nurse" I would refer to myself as a "nurse's aid"

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where I had worked I had a Nurse Aid tell me that she could do my job, that all I did was pass meds, and how hard could that be? I also had another Nurse Aid that failed nursing school tell the patients that he was the nurse and even went as far as tell a patient that the doctor had changed her pain med orders! Then I had to tell the patient that it wasn't changed, and she kept insisting the "nurse" told her it was changed! These were just a couple of stories, I was a CNA there before I became a RN, and worked with these guys, and in the beginning when I would ask them to do something (within their scope of duty), they would walk away saying "you know how to do it". can we say ignorant, or insubordinate? I can honestly say that when I was a CNA I thought the nurses had it easy, that all they did was pass meds, I wised up after a day on the job as a RN, but I never disrespected a nurse or talked to the patient like I was the nurse.

But the one that takes the cake is when I met my son's friend's mom who said she was a nurse for one day, I asked one day? she said yeah, I walked off the job, I got tired of people talking about me, I asked why she just didn't get a job else where, she said she didn't like the job of bathing, dressing the patients, come to find out she was a nurse aid! Oh well what can you say?

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Apparently, I'm not the only one who gets really annoyed by MA's or aides who call themselves "nurses". I also get annoyed by EMT's who act like they think they're cardiac surgeons, coming in and giving advice to everyone how to do their job. I think it's a sad attempt to elevate oneself to a higher level of respectability.

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Country Mom, do I have a story for you! I had a patient that had dialysis one day, well she wasn't doing too well, I asked the doctor if I could send her to the ER for eval and tx, he said no she is to go to the dialysis center, and I was told to write it up as an order, well the emt who transport the patient came and said the patient wasn't doing too well, I had told them the doctor is aware of the condition and ordered the patient to the dialysis center, not to the ER and I showed them the order, well they went ahead and took the patient to ER, and called in a complaint against me, and the doctor was furious that his order was ignored! The patient died two days later, the doctor said it was probably because she didn't receive her dialysis!

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.

I knew a girl once who I think lied just to be lying. She told everyone once that including a friend of mine who graduated from NC Chapel Hill that she graduated with x degree from there. She proceeded to lie and made up some silly stories "about her time there and her degree". As far as I know she is still a waitress.

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PSW is a personal support worker. I think it is the equivalent of a CNA. Usually to become a PSW you need to take a 2 month course, but the LTC facility gave me the title because I am a second year BsCN student so I guess I would have the training that PSW would have, and then some. Of course I realise that I am not a nurse, but I am a student nurse. THe residents calling me a nurse makes it easier because there are also nurses aids and another title that does the exact same thing that I do. To try to educate the residents on this would be a nightmare, so we just all call our selves nurses, even though we are not. Of course if anybody asks what I do I will say that I am a PSW and not a nurse.

Being a nurse, to me, takes the proper training, and that is 4 years of school and then getting my licence. To me RN is the top prize and I would not want to deminish the meaning for myself or the profession. So for right now my title is as it has been for the past 33 years, Joe Nobody .

Thanks for the clarification. Again, with such a huge number of designations for various healthcare providers, the general public just doesn't really care what your title is. I can see the problem you may encounter with LTC, presumably elderly and possibly not fully with the program. I remember hearing "Nurse. Nurse." with whoever responded being a nurse to the one calling out. Don't blame you for not trying to educate them.

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I think many people are genuinely unaware that nursing is a professional discipline separate from unlicensed 'helpers'.

I think you're right, and it is so frustrating! I dont think many people are aware of the differences between R.N.'s, LPN's, CNA's, M.A. and so on. I have a friend who is a M.A. who actually told me that she could be a nurse bc she "pretty much knows how to do everything already anyway". Thats the problem, I dont think people are AWARE of what an R.N. does. The difference is that we are not techs with the main focus of performing manual skills. Yes, nurses perform skills. But we go to school to learn an entire way of thinking. Other healthcare workers do not perforn the nursing process.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

I wish RN's in the hospital setting looked different. You know, it's a sea of scrubs out there. I don't even like some hospital's attempts at distinguishing nursing staff by having them wear a different color of scrubs. You know, housekeeping in green, nursing in navy, CNA's in burgandy...etc. It's too much for the patient's and families to keep track off if they do care. I like Mayo's solution. Nursing staff wears white (thick fabric please!) and have a patch that says 'RN'.

Does anyone know if Mayo still does this? I know they used to.

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Specializes in ER.
I wish RN's in the hospital setting looked different. You know, it's a sea of scrubs out there. I don't even like some hospital's attempts at distinguishing nursing staff by having them wear a different color of scrubs. You know, housekeeping in green, nursing in navy, CNA's in burgandy...etc. It's too much for the patient's and families to keep track off if they do care. I like Mayo's solution. Nursing staff wears white (thick fabric please!) and have a patch that says 'RN'.

Does anyone know if Mayo still does this? I know they used to.

Yikes! Could we atleast have blue with a patch saying RN? Ya know, more of a slimming color:lol2:

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