Different Titles (initials)

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Hi All,

I am still trying to figure out all of the initials after peoples names. Obviously RN is Registered Nurse , but can people enlighten me as to what others are, perhaps after your name, and what it means to have those initials.

Ill start off

EMT-P= Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic

Specializes in Emergency.
Sadly no matter how many initials u put behind ur name, none of which will ever be MD, so my dear insecure nursing fellows, if you need a title so bad to help fight ur inferiority, u should have put more effort into studying when u were in high school

He was being facetious. And your comment is based on your 1 month worth of experience as a nurse, no?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the Nursing & Professionalism forum for more replies.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

You are always going to find a few people who are "overly proud" of their credentials and flaunt them in the extreme to try to appear superior to others. And you will find others who make a big about NOT respecting credentials, and taking great pains to belittle them and the people who have earned them. I will leave the reader to speculate as to what the motives are behind each group's behavior.

The bottom line is that a professional credential signifies that the bearer has met the qualifications that recognized experts deem appropriate for special recognition in that field. Those qualifications usually include a test of some kind plus some experiential learning and/or level of performance. It's the only way for society to know that someone is "legitimate" in their claims of professional preparation and/or level of expertise. Word-of-mouth can be good ... but it is very subject to bias.

Here's what my letters mean.

PhD = A Doctor of Philosophy degree. Yes, I have spent 11 full time years in nursing school. 4 years for a BSN, 2 years for an MSN and 5 more years for a PhD.

RN = Registered Nurse. I passed the NCLEX exam after graduating from an approved nursing school. I have to renew that license every 2 years by having a good "clean" professional record and meeting on-going education requirements.

BC = Board Certified. After getting at least 2 years of work experience in my chosen specialty and 30 hours of continuing education credit in that specialty, I passed a test demonstrating a high level of competence/expertise in my field. I have to renew that certification every 5 years by documenting that I have met certain performance and continuing education criteria. (Actually, I have about 25 years of experience in my specialty and am on the ANCC's Content Expert Registry for my field.)

Schools should be teaching this stuff so that students know who's who in the workplace.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
Sadly no matter how many initials u put behind ur name, none of which will ever be MD, so my dear insecure nursing fellows, if you need a title so bad to help fight ur inferiority, u should have put more effort into studying when u were in high school

But putting more effort into high school wouldn't have gotten MD behind my name either. That's just not how it works, my friend. See, my grades didn't keep my out of med school, it was my not-wanting-to-be-a-doctor that kept me out. Gosh darn it!

Oddly enough, I tutored some of the pre-med students in college. That didn't get MD behind my name either. Oh well. Guess it's a good thing the letters M and D don't impress me more than any other particular letters.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Guess it's a good thing the letters M and D don't impress me more than any other particular letters.
The 'MD' title doesn't blow me away, and neither does the sheer liability they have. However, I'd sure love to be earning what a surgeon earns without having to do what they do. I guess I can only dream.
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Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.
You're overthinking this. Just put as many letters after your name to make an alphabet soup so that people think your important. Ideally start with the most important and go on. I will list mine for example.

Boss Man CNP, RN, ACLS, CWN, LPN, TMA, CSW, CTW, BLS, HSG, WGS, RGSC, MSG, TFGS, ESG, FBR, FD, BB

Explanations (certified nurse practitioner, Registered nurse, Advanced cardiac life support, certified wound nurse; you may be getting confused so i will bring you back LPN=licensed practical nurse, trained medical assistant, chainsaw safety worker, CTW=certified trail worker, basic life support, high school graduate, worlds greatest son, runner-up grade-school soccer champion, middle school graduate, teachers favorite-grade school edition (**** dylan for taking middle and high school from me and not allowing me more letters!), ESG=Elementary school graduate, first bike ride, FD=first poop (my mom pinned it on me for first "dukie" hence the D), and of course BB is being born.

Don't worry about understanding the letters. Just focus on adding more to your name.

When I worked in the er there was a tech with "MST" after her name on her hospital badge. Wow a tech with some type of Master's degree". I was wrong. She laughed when I finally got around to asking her. "Multi Skilled Technician"! Turns out our boss had a sense of humor and had that badge made for her since she was the all-around could do anything from mopping the floor getting an EKG drawing blood starting IVs just about anything that needed to be done she could do it.

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Specializes in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine.

My letters:

ASN = Associate's in Nursing. I got a 2 year degree at a community college so I could take the RN boards.

RN = Registered Nurse. What I got after I graduated from the ASN program and took the nursing boards. I have to renew it every 3 years in NYS.

BSN = Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. I did this after I got the ASN and took the RN boards, but some people just get the BSN and then take the RN boards. By now, I've completed a total of 4 years full time of nursing school (2 full time years for the ASN and 2 full time years for the BSN).

MSN = Master's of Science in Nursing. Took me 3 years of part time study (2 summers, 2 falls, 2 springs) to make 2 full time years of study. Now I'm up to 6 full time years. My specialty is in adult health. This allowed me to take the ANP boards.

ANP = Adult Nurse Practitioner. I'm licensed to medically diagnose and treat people 18 and over. In NYS I got the license then took the boards. In most states you can't get the license without the boards. I have to renew this every 3 years. So, that said---

ANP-BC = Adult Nurse Practitioner-Board Certified. I had to take a national exam to become Board Certified. Without showing competency and expertise as an ANP by being Board Certified, I'd be locked out of accepting most insurances, including Medicare and Medicaid. I have to renew the Board Certification every 5 years. I have to have a mix of pharmacology and other continuing education to renew this certification.

DNP = Doctorate in Nursing Practice. I did a part time program that was the equivalent of another 2 years full time of school. I had to learn how to do research, analyze it, write it up, and present it. Everything had to be tied to a clinical outcome (I did the track for NPs going MSN - DNP) and had to show whether or not my intervention worked. So now I've got a total of 8 years of full time education. Not quite the 11 years PhDs have, but my goal was to implement research generated by PhDs.

So,

Isabel K., DNP, ANP-BC (or if you really want DNP, APRN, ANP-BC or DNP, RN, ANP-BC)

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Specializes in ICU, Emergency Department.

My alphabet soup: TachyBrady, BSN, RN, CEN

BSN - Bachelor of Science in Nursing

RN - Registered Nurse

CEN - Certified Emergency Nurse

...soon to be MSN, FNP-BC or FNP-C, so I hope! (Family Nurse Practitioner student graduating next May!)

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Wouldn't a nurse posting here KNOW some of these?

Hi All,

I am still trying to figure out all of the initials after peoples names. Obviously RN is Registered Nurse , but can people enlighten me as to what others are, perhaps after your name, and what it means to have those initials.

Ill start off

EMT-P= Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

How much education does it take for one to read and comprehend the part of the agreement when posting on AN not to use text speak, as it is against TOS (terms of service)?

Sadly no matter how many initials u put behind ur name, none of which will ever be MD, so my dear insecure nursing fellows, if you need a title so bad to help fight ur inferiority, u should have put more effort into studying when u were in high school
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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Wouldn't a nurse posting here KNOW some of these?

Sure, but Bill is a paramedic. Despite being called "allnurses," we're not all nurses. :) I was "just" a paramedic when I joined in 2005 and had nooooo clue about a lot of the acronyms.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.

I am amazed at the alphabet soup after some names. Do we really need to say we are LPN, RN, ADN, BSN, MSN, etc., etc.? How about KISS? Keep It Simple St*pid? How about RN followed by your most advanced degree?

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