Displaying credentials

There are numerous direct entry MSN programs that allow one to earn a MSN as the first degree into nursing. Therefore, a BSN is skipped.

I, for one, happily skipped BSN after ADN en-route to MSN.

For me only cold hard cash would encourage me to climb the ladder etc, not here's a one time raise that we reserve the right to take away from you in the future if you don't jump thru all our ever changing hoops each year! I'm happy just being known as RN, don't need any extra credentials on view. It's the RN that pays the bills, the rest is just fluff.

Haha, I remember this one patient the other day. Their family was at bedside. The patient asked me something and I said "I don't know, that's a question for the doctor." They looked confused. The family told them "that's not your doctor. That's the nurse." Then a few sentences later "that's the tech." I think they settled on calling me their tech. I don't knkw. Regardless it didn't impact either care or compensation and everyone was hapoy. Why care what title you have ?

I almost care enough to get up and find a business card . But there are different styles in different countries.

went to check my CV, and whew, I have it correctly ordered.

Why do I choose to display my qualifications on my CV? I worked damm hard and I'm proud of them. I came from a very challenging background prior to nursing and its a wonderful way to show the health professionals who said it would be unlikely if I made it to 25. I'm now 37 with a double degree, and being a registered nurse.

OP, get over it. People are allowed to be proud of their achievements and gasp heaven forbid show off a little. The proof of a good nurse remains rooted in their clinical skills not the degrees they have.

Can anyone name another profession that wears this alphabet soup (correctly or incorrectly ordered) on their chest?

The only person who knows about or cares for your certs are you and your employer and they will verify by checking your documents.

I disagree. My certification is IBCLC. A knowledgeable consumer will know that if they need breastfeeding assistance, they should look for that credential, not the handful of other credentials (CLC, CLE, etc). So yeah, that's on my business card. If I'm giving lactation assistance, I will also sign my documentation with my credential.

I never gave much (any) thought to this and didn't even realize there was an etiquette to listing credentials

For me only cold hard cash would encourage me to climb the ladder etc, not here's a one time raise that we reserve the right to take away from you in the future if you don't jump thru all our ever changing hoops each year! I'm happy just being known as RN, don't need any extra credentials on view. It's the RN that pays the bills, the rest is just fluff.

I am interested in the ladder only because I am interested in changing things where I work-for the better. I like learning about how everything works and you have to play the game a little to gain access. I am actually interested in those nurses that come to work, punch in, do their 12 hours and punch out. They serve on no committees or don't participate in unit specific or even hospital events. THEN they complain about stuff, not knowing why certain things happen for a reason. They aren't necessarily part of the problem, but they aren't willing to be part of the solution.

The only time it bothers me is when several people are presenting together and they don't match. For example, I gave a presentation at a nursing conference and our first PPT slide read: NAME, RN, PhD; NAME, PhD, RN; NAME; RN, MS; NAME, MSN, BSN, RN.

That kinda drove me crazy but normally I don't really care. I do mine according to the AANC standard: NAME, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CNE.

Meh. The alphabet soup thing is pathetic if people feel the need to wear everything on your chest. (This stuff is for resumes and CVs.) Stick to the basics- name and licensure.

I agree that it is kind of silly to say both BSN and ADN, for example because once you have the higher degree, it assumes the knowledge/education of the previous (whether or not the degree was conferred on the way- BSN-to-DNP

I've always known how to electronically sign my name for things like professional emails such as after my signature it goes: BSN, RN, CMSRN and then below that "Clinical Ladder III" etc but when AN gave us a choice to list our education and licenses and such I chose to display both my associates and my bachelors simply because I worked hard for both education levels. I also feel that by listing both, other readers can sorta see a little bit of my personal path in nursing without needing to guess or dig.

Ehh, it's good to be a stickler for attention to detail, but I have bigger fish to fry instead of how someone presents their credentials. After all, as far as I am concerned, the only important one's are RN, LP/VN, CNA, NP. All the rest is chest puffing most of the time.

Totally disagree with the above statement. Some people got no idea what others have been through to earn their degree. For instance it took me 6-8 years of hard work, with 4 of those years working fulltime 50-80 hours while I was earning my prerequisites. I been a member of allnurses for 8 years and I been planning my path for almost 10 years.

I'm appalled that people would call a hard earned degree "chest puffing". Its ludacris and filled with envy or jealousy. Its being recognized for the hard work we EARNED. My BSN was not cheap either. Hey if you don't like all of the initials thats fine, but I think respect and credit given where credit is due. Why should I not have in BSN listed next to my RN, I earned it. Other professionals do the same, so there really is no need to have such hints of jealousy or whatever it is.

Earning a higher degree says that that person took time and commitment to take steps to improve the quality of care our patient receive. The data and studies on this is irrevocable.

A BSN is not the same as an ADN, and a CNA does not have the same knowledge as an RN and an LPN is not the same qualifications as an RN. What's the big deal? and I've been a CNA so noone can give me crap that I don't know what it like cause I do. Its just facts not "chest puffing". We are not all equivalent and we are not all one big pool of nurses just because we all wear scrubs. And yes we can all learn from each other, learning never stops.

Yes, OP, there needs to be some coherence in the way our initials are displayed and thanks for bringing this up.

EDIT: My first job in USA was at a grilling and frying chicken at a gas station chicken diner...that was 10 years ago. So noone has the right to deny me the work I put in becoming a nurse and earning my BSN.