For those of you that are a nurse and those of you who call yourself a nurse!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

OH MY GOSH!!!!

I JUST GOT HOME A LITTLE WHILE AGO, WHEN I LOGGED IN TO FIND OUT THAT THE POST I POSTED ON SATURDAY HAS BECOME QUITE ENGAGING!!!!

I HAVE JUST GOT DONE WITH A 20 HOUR SHIFT!!!

I AM QUITE TIRED, BUT I HAVE TO REPLY!!!!

I WORKED A 20 HOUR SHIFT, ALL OF WHICH IS OVERTIME DUE TO CALL OFFS AND POOR STAFFING!!!

DURING THE PAST 20 HOURS I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FOLLOWING THINGS AS A RN:

--ASSESSING PATIENTS

--EDUCATING PATIENTS AND FAMILIES

--CRITICAL THINKING

--DELEGATING TASKS to unlcensed

--ADMINISTERING MEDICATIONS-IV, IM, PO, VIA TUBE, ETC

--STARTING IV'S

--MONITORING LAB VALUES AND REPORTING THEM TO MD'S

--ANSWERING QUESTIONS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS, ON THE PHONE OR IN THE HOSPITAL

--ASSESSING

--TALKING TO OTHER ANCILARY DEPT: LIKE SPEECH, OCCUP, PHYSICAL THERAPIES, NUCLEAR MED, ECHO, MRI, LAB, PHARMACY, X RAY, ETC

--GATHERING SPECIMENS, BLOOD, URINE, STOOL, SPUTUM, WOUND DRAINAGE, ETC.

--CHECKING THE CHART FOR NEW ORDERS, AND ENTERING THEM INTO THE COMPUTER. CHECKING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE UNIT CLERKS ORDERS ARE ACCURATE AND CORREST, AND FIXXING THEM IF THEY ARE NOT

--REPORTING TO DOCTORS, ANSWERING DOCTORS, ETC

--EKG's

--BLOOD DRAWS

--SUPERVISING UNLICENSED

--"HELPING" A INTERN

--ASSESSING

--ASSISTING WITH A BLUE CODE (CPR, AIRWAY, MEDS, ETC)

--DETERMING WHAT TYPE OF HEART RHYTHM MY PATIENTS HAVE AND MAKE THE RIGHT CALL TO FIX THE ARRYTHMIA

--DOCUMENTING WITHIN LEGAL TIMES ON IV SITES, RESTRAINTS, VENT SETTINGS AND PATIENT STATUS, I&O, MEDICATIONS GIVEN, SCHEDULED AND PRN, ETC

--DRESSING CHANGES WITH MEDICATIONS

--TRACH CARE ON VENT PATIENTS

--SUCTIONING TRACH Q 2 HOUR/ PRN

--ASSESSING

--PERICARE Q SHIFT/ CATH CARE Q SHIFT/PRN ORAL CARE PRN/ QSHIFT, ETC

--ASSIST WITH BATHS, (YES I GET MY HANDS DIRTY!! THAT IS NOT BENEATH ANY US!!!)

--CHECKING PLACEMENT OF DUO TUBES, NG TUBES, PEG TUBES, ETC

--ANSWERING CALL LIGHTS

--OBTAINING BLOOD SPEC. FROM CENTRAL LINES

--ASSESSING IV SITES Q 2 HOUR

--EDUCATING STAFF

--FIXING STAFFING PROBLEMSAFTER A CALL OFF (SOMETIMES IMPACTING ON THE LENGTH OF WORK)

--COMMUNICATING WITH THE NURSE SUPERVISOR

--COMPLETING PAPERWORK RELATED TO ANNUAL REVIEW (PATIENT CARE CONFERENCES, REEASRCH AN JOURANL ARTICLE AND EDUCATE THE STAFF, ETC)

--BEING A PRECEPTOR FOR NEW NURSES TO OUR FLOOR

--IS THERE A NEED TO GO ON AND ON AND ON??????????

I NEVER INTENDED MY POST TO CREATE SUCH RAGE .

BUT AFTER I STARTED TO READ ABOUT HOW NA's believe that they are "nurses" since the term nurse is used in their job title, I WAS EVEN MORE MAD THAN WHEN I HEARD THE NEWS STORY THAT STARTED THIS HOT TOPIC!!!!!

HOW DARE YOU CALL YOURSELF A NURSE~!!!!!

CAN YOU STATE THAT YOU HAVE DONE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING THAT I HAVE JUST GOT DONE STATING FOR THE MOST PART!!!!

HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY NURSING EDUCATION? THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THE FIELD OF NURSING GETS NO RESPECT AND WHY WE ARE AT WIT ENDS TO GET MORE NURSES AND KEEP THEM IN NURSING!!!!!

I UNDERSTAND THAT SOME OF THESE THINGS ARE CARRIED OUT BY UNLICENSED BUT, YOU KNOW WHAT, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU DOING THESE TASKS!!!

IT IS MY LICENSE AND UNTIL YOU HAVE ONE, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW THE ENTIRE RESPONSIBLITY THAT WE AS NURSES HAVE!!! WE WILL BE THE ONES THAT GO TO COURT AND GET SUED!! YOU WILL ONLY LOOSE A JOB AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT IF THAT HAPPENS AT ALL!!! WE WILL LOSE OUR CAREEER, THAT WE WORKED SO HARD FOR!!!

I ALSO THINK THAT THOSE OF YOU ARE REFERRING YOURSELF AS NURSES, MAY SUGGEST THAT YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE BENEATH CALLING YOURSELF A NURSES ASSISTANT OR A NURSES AIDE!!!

IT IS YOUR JOB TITLE!! ARE YOU NOT PROUD TO BE ASSISTING THE NURSE AS WELL AS THE DOCTOR!!!

I TREAT EVERYONE I WORK WITH THE MOST RESPECT. THIS INCLUDES ALL NURSES AND ALL UNLICENSED.

I WOULD RECCOMEND THAT IF YOU HAVE ANY HURT FEELINGS OVER THIS, THEN GO TO SCHOOL AND BECOME A NURSE IF YOU WANT TO BE CALLED A NURSE!!!

IF NOT GET OVER IT AS THE SONG SAYS!!!

ALSO, IT WAS NOT INTENDEd in my first posting TO SAY THAT NURSES WOULD NOT MOLEST OR RAPE A PATIENT!!! We are all human!!!

I WANT TO CLARIFY THAT I COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT THE MEDIA DID IT AGAIN!!!! A NURSE???? A NURSE IS NOT A PERSONAL CARE AIDE!!!

IF YOU DO NOT GET IT NOW, PLEASE GET a "CLUE"

AND BEFORE ANY UNLICENSED WORKERS GET ANY RESPECT, NURSES WILL NEED TO GET SOME FIRST!!!

I DO NOT PRESENT MY SELF AS A 'GLORIFIED' (BECAUSE I HAVE A "LICENSE") "ASS WIPER" AS SOME OF YOU HAVE CALLED YOURSELF!!!

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT THAT YOU DO NOT EVEN RESPECT THE JOB THAT YOU DO ON A DAILY BASIS????

MAYBE YOU COULD START GAINING MORE RESPECT WHEN YOU STOP CALLING YOURSELF------------

AN "ASS-WIPER"

PLEASE REPLY IF YOU DISAGREE!!!

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU AND DEBATE THE ISSUE~~~!!!!

FOR ALL NURSES OUT THERE, I WOULD URGE YOU TO TAKE ACTION WHEN ANY ONE TAKES OUR CAREER FOR ADVANTAGE!!

WE NEED TO SHOW THE PUBLIC WHAT WE REALLY DO IN OUR CAREER!!! THIS WILL EVENTUALLY HELP THE NURSING SHORTAGE!!!!

:)

[ May 21, 2001: Message edited by: StaceRacer1 ]

I would think that not correcting the patient's erroneous perception would be the problem. Especially if the unlicensed person did something outside their scope of practice or something to further mislead the patient into thinking he or she is a nurse.

I did a search for laws about impersonating a nurse and got a ton of hits about child abductions. That's just great...apparently a lot of people who take kids dress up to look like nurses to do it :( Still looking for the actually wording of the law though

Originally posted by RoaminHankRN

It's nice to see people working 20 hour shifts, doing there part, taking one for the team, yada yada yada. But guess what... that's your job and you choose to do it. If you don't like what you do.. Taco Bell is hiring:)

As for the CNA/RN relationship... we need to treat everyone equally and with respect. There are too many nurses who crap on techs. RN's don't forget where you came from.

There are people who were kick A$$ techs and go on to be RN's and think their you know what don't stink. You've seen em.. maybe your one of them.

Quit asking people to respect nurses and start respecting yourself and others. Good things will come to you in return. [/QUO

1st let me say that I don't think that this thread was meant to flame cnas She wasnt even really complaining about her workload so to tell her to go to taco bell was IMHO uncalled for. She said that she respects the cnas that she works with. She never made any remarks about bad or good cnas, she was simply stating that cnas have not earned the right to call themselves nurses. With that said may I add that I personally respect the nursing assistants that I work with (except the ditz I had today) Most nurses appreciate the help they receive we just dont always say "thanks".

This thread is 2 years old.

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

IN PA, nurse is a protected title under: "The Professional Nursing Law." Not all states have this legal protection of their practice.

3. Registered Nurse, Use of Title and Abbreviation "R.N."; Credentials; Fraud.--Any person who holds a license to practice professional nursing in this Commonwealth, or who is maintained on inactive status in accordance with section 11 of this act, shall have the right to use the title "registered nurse" and the abbreviation "R.N." No other person shall engage in the practice of professional nursing or use the title "registered nurse" or the abbreviation "R.N." to indicate that the person using the same is a registered nurse. No person shall sell or fraudulently obtain or fraudulently furnish any nursing diploma, license, record, or registration or aid or abet therein.

http://www.dos.state.pa.us/bpoa/lib/bpoa/20/nurs_board/nurseact.pdf

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Where I work, our advice "nurse" is a md from the phillipines who has not passed the us boards twice. I have tried numerous times to get everyone to quit calling us nurses, and if asked i say we do not have any nurses in this office only medical assistants, and 1 EMT. But I am not going to loose my job over it, I just correct people when I hear it.

Specializes in Emergency Room/corrections.

Thank you, NRSKarenRN, I was looking for that when I noticed you had already posted it. I think the bottom line here is just that we have all worked very hard to be a "nurse" and we take pride in that job title.

I work with some very very good Er techs, one of them has been heard telling people she is an RN...not a good thing. Not much we can do unless we catch her again.

I suggest we all take pride in what we do, not what the letters say behind our name.

Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

I am a nursing assistant, and I would never refer to myself as a nurse. I will not refer to myself as a nurse until I am one. I hate it when CNA's refer to themselves as nurses.

I agree that the 'ass wiper' term has to go! CNA's and nurses are a team. CNA's are part of the nursing team although they are not yet nurses. I plan on becoming an RN, and still, I will not see CNA's as ass wipers. Us CNA's work hard for our money, and so do nurses.

CNA's have not had nearly as much education as nurses, and I will wait until I am a nurse to say "hi, I'm Amanda, I will be your nurse tonight."

I have even found myself correcting paitents who have said "Nurse, can you help me?" I just say "Actually, I'm a CNA."

I agree with you totally

Some states require that all health care professionals wear identification badges when interacting with patients. Staff are to have their educational status and training on their badges. When a CNA has "nurse" on his/her ID badge, that is considered to be false representation and can lead to legal disputes. The patient has the right to know who is taking care of them and exactly what their credentials are. I began as a candy striper-CNA-RN-BSN and am now working on my masters to become a CRNA. Everyone deserves the appropriate title on their ID badge, because when that title is earned, it is respected. Leslie.

Why do some nurses put all their degrees after their names? I can understand BSN as it relates to nursing, but I have also seen BA, MA, MS, MBA etc. Wouldn't LPN or RN or BSN be sufficient?

If I had spent so much time earning the above degrees, I think I would want people to know about them. Yeah, LPN or RN is sufficient, but I think those who have earned advanced degrees deserve to wear them proudly.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

note: this thread was started in 2001!!! the last post was 2003.

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