I was at my college getting ready to go into a club room for studying when I saw one of my friends talking to this guy who had several books and papers on one of the tables(Not nursing books). He was in scrubs, and I decided to strike up a conversation with him. He claimed he was in a nursing program, BUT I highly believe he was lying, and I want to see if I called his bluff:
First, I asked him what nursing program he was in and the first time he avoided the question and said something else unrelated, then, the second time I asked he said "oh that's bragging" and then I said "no it's not, I asked". Now, this is not the part where I suspected he was lieing, I decided to test him and see if he knew basic CNA skills.
I then asked him: Have you taken any vitals or changed any bedpans?(I ask because from my knowledge, the CNA program is equivilant to the first class in a nursing program and from what I hear, nurses learn these basic skills within the first weeks) He laughed, shook his head then said "no" and I said "Gee, that's strange, because I am a CNA and that's the equivalent to the first class in nursing school and I know how to change bed pans and take vitals, if your halfway through your nursing program, shouldn't you have done that by now?". He IMMEDIATElY tried to change his story and claim that I jumped to conclusions and that he never said no, and that I "imagined" him saying that because that's what I wanted to hear.
He also appeared to be on drugs, and last time I checked, you can't test positive for drugs and be admitted into a nursing program.
I suspect he is lying for these reasons:1.He can't tell me what nursing program he is in (probably because he isn't in one) 2. He also claimed he was all these other things that I doubt he would have time for in nursing school (He claims he's also a motivational speaker, taking classes at some other college that aren't nursing classes, works a full time job) 3.He has not even done any basic CNA skills half-way through his program.
Did I call this guys bluff or am I wrong and nurses don't do pratice simple skills such as bedpans and vitals by the time they are half-way through the program?
If they agree they could have just liked your post or simply put "I agree". No need to waste words. I did not ask for a consensus, I asked for a person by person answer to see what they thought of my speculations-there is no "wrong" answer. In that case, I would be right because he turned out to be lieing.Unfortunatly, I can tell you did not read any of my posts fully as you would I am not yet a nursing student but only a CNA. Please fully read my posts before posting back so you can fully understand them. I am not upset at being told that I shouldn't be concerned, I am shocked that pretty much none of the ns/n on this site were concerned that someone with possibly fake credentials could be doling out advice to people that could get them hurt. You may think that it's common sense to ask a doctor for medical advice but there are plenty of niave people who will take things at face value in leu of seeing a doctor. As for "not being able to handle things", the only thing I "can't handle" is the fact that safety was not brought up at all as an issue at until one of my last posts. It's kind of hard to think that safety would be at the back of people's minds who work within it's concept everyday.
I went back and read your post "fully" and can say that nowhere in that post do you state that he was handing out advice to anyone before you started to "call his bluff". According to your post, he was sitting at a table talking to one of your friends. So, you didn't give anyone this information that they are supposedly not reading. There's no need to keep telling people they aren't reading your original post when you didn't put all your info in there.
Also, you don't have the right to tell people how they should respond to your thread. As long as they are within the guidelines of the forum, they can respond however they see fit. You asked a question, you got answers that you didn't like. Sorry. If a consensus was formed because every single person was in agreement with the original responder, that's just the way it is.
And, just for the record, I agree with everyone too.
Maybe I was being nosey, but I find it hard to hear him say "ask me anything" and then hear him avoid my qeustions about ns. He seemed to be an open book on every other subject so I felt safe asking him these qeustions. I promise you, I was not trying to be catty or combative but I felt like something was wrong. It turned out I was right and I was told later on by a friend that he admitted he lied. I tend to think my friends who could possibly be hurt by a phoney ARE my business. He was handing out his number encouraging them to call him for advice. I think it becomes everyones business when someone is running around with fake credentials that could possibly hurt someone who takes their advice. Just my 2 cents.
I'm sure you feel accomplished in having sussed him out.
I still stand by my original advice though: you should focus more on your own issues than worrying about what other people are doing (unless it directly affects you of course), and you should temper your "interrogations" because I can see it making you more enemies than friends. Word of mouth travels faster than we like and it's hard to shake reputations--whether earned or not--once you have them.
First off, thank you ALL for the original posts. way to think outside the box.WHY DO I CARE? Well, gee, he handed out his number to everyone in he room and said to call him if the needed advice on ANTHING.I happen to associate with many mentally handicapped people who are niave and would not be able to discern the truth from fiction. Since he brought up the fact that he was in ns several times, I would not doubt that one of these individuals would call him for medical advice. GEE, I GUESS THERES NO PROBLEM WITH A POSSIBLE NON-MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL GIVING OUT MEDICAL ADVICE.
I guess it's bad to start a conversation with someone who was attempting to start a convo with the whole room to promote his motivational speaking business. I guess it's wrong of me to want to be curious of someone elses success so that might use in creating my own.
I'm really confused by all your posts, but in particular what you wrote above. Was he handing out medical advice to everyone in the room or was he soliciting customers for his motivational speaking business?
When you said he told your friend that he was "just pulling your leg," I suspect he found your interrogation of him quite odd and very forward and just took off with it. I might do that, too, given the same situation. I really don't think the public at large is in any danger of this unqualified guy giving out free medical advice.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I didn't realize he had announced to the people there in the club room if they needed medical advice about anything they should ask him . . maybe that was in a later post. Was anyone there just sitting there quietly studying? (any subject?) Seems like it would be hard to concentrate with all of that going on
ETA: OK I guess I should elaborate on that, lol. It just strikes me as odd how the OP states one thing, then when that is met with responses she does not like, suddenly the story gets more complicated in an apparent attempt to justify her engaging this person. Bizarre.
Much has been said here and all I have to say on this is you are worrying about the wrong person. Almost disturbing how one can be so hung up on whether your "friend" is in nursing school or not. Immature much? Your post was entertaining, I'll give you that. And, we all can see that this issue is a problem for you since you felt the need to "vent" it out. We all need to do that now and again.However, there are more important things in life you should be worrying about, not some guy who may or may not be in school and whether he's lying or not.Get your priorities straight. :)[/quote']Ok, great job skimming my post, if you had actually read it you would have known this guy was not my friend. I will be sure to "reprioritize" when someone ends up hurt by "taking medical advice".your post very intertaining as well to say the least, it's very great to see "original" thinkers on AN. I guess it's silly of me to expect a bunch of adults to not beat a dead horse with a stick.Is it dead enough yet?:)
ETA: OK I guess I should elaborate on that, lol. It just strikes me as odd how the OP states one thing, then when that is met with responses she does not like, suddenly the story gets more complicated in an apparent attempt to justify her engaging this person. Bizarre.
LOL, I'm calling the OP's bluff. The story changed when she didn't like the responses.
rubato, ASN, RN
1,111 Posts
I went back and read your post "fully" and can say that nowhere in that post do you state that he was handing out advice to anyone before you started to "call his bluff". According to your post, he was sitting at a table talking to one of your friends. So, you didn't give anyone this information that they are supposedly not reading. There's no need to keep telling people they aren't reading your original post when you didn't put all your info in there.
Also, you don't have the right to tell people how they should respond to your thread. As long as they are within the guidelines of the forum, they can respond however they see fit. You asked a question, you got answers that you didn't like. Sorry. If a consensus was formed because every single person was in agreement with the original responder, that's just the way it is.
And, just for the record, I agree with everyone too.