Does this make me an "RN snob"?

[BuckyBadgerRN]

My BFF has started a new job recently and we were visiting about it last night. (We both work in dentistry, I graduated from an accreditated program, and sat for the national boards for certification in 2 specialites b/4 I decided to go back to school for nursing, I am now an RN. My GF was trained on the job (as SO many dental assistants are, and therefore was not eligible to sit for boards. She has a buttload of experience, as have I, and she definately knows her stuff orally. I love her to death and in essence this post is not about HER, but the practice where she works)

She's employed by an oral surgery group. They have NO RN's on staff---a few LPN's and the rest are assistants, I do not know the level of education or training that any of them have, there is no licensure for dental assistants. Anyway, the Dr's call ALL of the staff "nurses" and most of the staff do not tell patients any different. Yesterday she tells me that she pushes drugs into already established IV's. I must have had a horrified look on my face b/c she assured me that the Dr "is right there". We're talking Narcan, Atropine, "milk of amnesia"----everything!!!

Again, I love my BFF to DEATH, but am I wrong to feel a "little bit" irked that essentially untrained, unlicensed people are being allowed to do what I worked my tail off for the right to do?!

[NursesAreAngels2]

Exactly. Maybe it should be illegal. But a random person walks in off the street and starts working in a doctor's office, and pretty much the only thing they can't do, if the doctor lets them, is call themself a nurse.

So basically what your saying is they can perform surgery under a MD as long as they don't call themselves one . Something needs to be done about this, it needs to be illegal.

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

The Dr. I work for (an oral surgeon) is also an MD. He is a DDS, MD. So it just depends on their education as if they are DDS, DMD. DDS, MD etc.

Then your Dr must have also attended a 4 year medical school...he has a dual degree...I am just saying that the vast majority of oral surgeons are DDS, or DMD...which by the way, DMD does not mean they are medical doctors...the DMD is still a dental degree, some of the dental schools confer a dental degree that is the DMD, most are DDS....

Your guy is unusal...and is truthfully a medical Doctor....:)

(I have seen some try to equate a DMD with a DDS, MD...not the same...)

[CAPPYBARA BREAKFAST]

I think the problem here is interpretation of the role of the non-licensed personnel. It looks like many posters are under the impression these individuals are "acting" like nurses. If there are hired as assistants, i.e. medical assistants, they can perform and assist in any capacity the doctor or surgeon deems appropriate. That's just the way it goes. A few states have very specific guidelines for these types of employees but most do not because they are not licensed.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

I think the problem here is interpretation of the role of the non-licensed personnel. It looks like many posters are under the impression these individuals are "acting" like nurses.

*** I don't think so. I think very few nurses would go along with pushing propofol in such an environment unless there was all the proper equipment and a CRNA on scene. If an RN agreed to push propofol under the circumstances described in the OP they would be likely be violating the nurse practice act of their state and would CERTAINLY be acting in an unethical manner, like those OMF surgeons are doing now.

All they need is just one bad outcome and a malpractice lawyer will own them. Especially with all the recent media surrounding Micheal Jackson's death, apparently cause by pushing propofol by unqualified personal in an appropriate environment.

[KrysyRN, BSN]

You can do pretty much anything the MD allows you to do in an office setting. It's all under the MD's license.

This is so not true. States have scopes of practice for most medical specialty areas. When you work outside this scope in a clinical setting, you may be committing an illegal act. You are not automatically cleared or safe from wrong-doing because of working under a physician's license.

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

Especially true if working under the license of a dentist...

but again, if one is a RN or LPN, they are working under their license and must not exceed their scope of practice.

[glutton4punishment]

Milk of amnesia!!! funny