I am fully aware that it is illegal for one who is not a nurse to refer to him/herself as a nurse, but what about the credentials of BSN vs ADN?
A little background, I am an Associate's Degree Registered Nurse currently and will finish my BSN in May. I had a jacket embroidered to say my name and then RN, BSN... the embroidering took over a month for my appointment time to get set up and the cost to do it is the same no matter how many letters are applied.
If anyone asks, I would tell them that I am not yet a BSN for another four months and that I had the BSN preemptively applied to save time and money, but am I breaking any rules by doing so? I tried to Google the topic and looked through my institution's policy/procedure manual with no result so was wondering if any of you other nurses had some input on the matter.
I do too not understand why nurses like to post every credential they have on nametags, writing letters and emails (like really your emailing me about a car and you have to put Jimmy John BSN, RN?!) I have multiple national certificates and a BSN, but I don't put my credentials after my signature at all, just my name. Sure you should be proud of what you accomplished but those accomplishments mean nothing if you can't put them into practice and it shows to other people. You should let your work do your talking, not your credentials. I digress, in the end it would be more of a headache to explain everyday to everybody about your jacket. If you dead set on it and do not want that headache then get your jacket done and don't wear it until you have graduated with your BSN. If you don't care, then go for it, just tell people your a registered nurse because you are one and going back to school.
Allow me to remind you that one who posts questions on the internet does not have the luxury of restricting, monitoring or filtering the responses.
Allow me to remind you that saying 'allow me' is asking permission and that I have not mandated anything. I attempted to refine the questions to the ones I wanted answered - I restricted nothing, I can monitor ALL I LIKE, and as for filters - I'll let the forums do that as they have already established what will be filtered in their ToS.
Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.
I would not wear the jacket until you actually have your BSN. I couldn't even put BSN on my job applications until January 2 when my university did my final degree audit and officially considered me done with the degree, despite finishing classes in December.
As others have said there may not be legal infractions, but your employer and co-workers will frown upon you advertising you have a degree that you don't yet have, although I would think that actually would be illegal. If it wasn't anyone could say the have a BSN or masters degree without actually having one.
Even if it isn't illegal, you should consider advertising that you have a degree that you do not actually have in poor professional taste!!
As others have said there may not be legal infractions, but your employer and co-workers will frown upon you advertising you have a degree that you don't yet have, ...
Nah, the OP has already said that her/his boss is integrity-impaired, also.
I view it as wrong. Because it's not truth in advertising.
Where I work, we have "nurse of the year" awards. Last year's "nurse of the year" for our division/service line was not well received by my coworkers. The person who was nominated and picked was someone who doesn't embody professionalism most of the time (she very much expects to be treated professionally but will treat you like dirt because she can). Knowledgeable, yes, but interacting with her can be such a chore! Additionally, this coworker was in an ASN/ADN to BSN program, and weeks from finishing it, but was advertised by their own volition AND by administration as a BSN, RN. It didn't sit well with others in general. If they had said she was in the program or that her BSN was expected on (date), it wouldn't have offended me or many others at all.
Being recognized for something you haven't finished yet is just not right. It's like how I was promoted this year, but couldn't refer to myself as this new role until it was officially offered *and* all the paperwork was finished/HR changed my job class officially. My job is largely the same as before though...so there is that. It doesn't matter much, I don't get treated like I worked my butt off for my promotion anyways (I don't get treated like the others in my new job class).
I don't know... if I asked a question and got a bunch of responses that didn't answer it I'd try to redirect the conversation. That seems not only reasonable, but an obvious thing for someone looking for an answer to do. Being annoyed that someone who asked a question is still interested in getting an answer seems like the weirder position to me.
But I have zero interest in this topic. It's a jacket. Is it cold where you are? If so, consider wearing the jacket. I rarely even notice what people have stitched into them anyway. But maybe I'm a horrible person for not caring - I'm sure someone here has really strong feelings about my lack of strong feelings. :)
Sorry bro' but you asked a question and were given answers. You don't like it....? Tough.
At best taking credit for a qualification you don't actually possess is unprofessional and possibly fraud. Man up and wait until you get the right to use it.
Out of curiosity, why would you want to put your qualifications on a jacket?
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Since this discussion directly pertains to credentials and their relation to professional conduct, this thread has been moved to our Nursing and Professionalism forum.
I don't know... if I asked a question and got a bunch of responses that didn't answer it I'd try to redirect the conversation. That seems not only reasonable, but an obvious thing for someone looking for an answer to do. Being annoyed that someone who asked a question is still interested in getting an answer seems like the weirder position to me.
But I have zero interest in this topic. It's a jacket. Is it cold where you are? If so, consider wearing the jacket. I rarely even notice what people have stitched into them anyway. But maybe I'm a horrible person for not caring - I'm sure someone here has really strong feelings about my lack of strong feelings. :)
If it were, like, a lab coat that you wore while seeing patients, that would be one thing. But this sounds like its just a plain old jacket to wear when its cold outside. In that case, embroider it with "Phiir, RN, BSN, Prince of Stethoscopes, Esq." if you want. Doesn't really matter.
And I agree that trying to redirect and get a clear answer makes sense. But I think sometimes "tone" sets people off around here.
I.C.UNurse
55 Posts
I do too not understand why nurses like to post every credential they have on nametags, writing letters and emails (like really your emailing me about a car and you have to put Jimmy John BSN, RN?!) I have multiple national certificates and a BSN, but I don't put my credentials after my signature at all, just my name. Sure you should be proud of what you accomplished but those accomplishments mean nothing if you can't put them into practice and it shows to other people. You should let your work do your talking, not your credentials. I digress, in the end it would be more of a headache to explain everyday to everybody about your jacket. If you dead set on it and do not want that headache then get your jacket done and don't wear it until you have graduated with your BSN. If you don't care, then go for it, just tell people your a registered nurse because you are one and going back to school.