Nurse is a nurse is a nurse

nursenatalie, ADN, RN · May 17, 2003

I am so glad someone brought this up. My sister-in-law once worked as a medical assistant (not even certified) and gave shots and yada yada. She has on more than one occasion commented that she used to be a nurse. It burns me up to hear her say this and she believes that she was a nurse because that is what the md referred to her as!! I also went to high school with this girl and she barely graduated, much less attended college. I think I will print this whole thread and show it to her, or maybe just refer her to the allnurses website! I have needed to vent this for a long time...my husband doesnt understand why it upsets me so. This IS a legal issue, the Nurse Practice Act states that no one can refer to themselves as "nurse" unless they are a registered or licensed nurse!

nursenatalie, ADN, RN · May 17, 2003

Originally posted by nursebucky
I understand your vent, but as a Phlebo working through nursing school, I am almost always mistaken for the nurse...

Sounds to me like you are awful big for your britches considering you havent even started your nursing program yet!!! I recommend you knock it down a few notches or you will have a hard row to hoe with that attitude:(

dbscandy · May 17, 2003

We need more companies like Johnson & Johnson who will make commercials recognizing the nursing profession, but the ads ran too infrequently and not for long enough.

And yes, doctors do need to stop saying "the nurse" when they in fact DO NOT have one. The MA/CNA needs to stop letting people call them nurses!! If there is one RN/LPN who values their profession in that place, he/she has to speak up loudly and often as to this person's title!!!

So what if you p---off someone??? I used to do it around the PA's that were called dr's!! In the other vein, I do it for the ARNP's when they are called nurses. They deserve their props too!

dbscandy · May 17, 2003

Uh-oh!!!

I just read more the letters about J&J; I was an LPN and in my mind, I think of nurses as nurses, we the LPN's AND RN's...the LPN's I work with in the NICU and in my old Dialysis unit are and were the very BEST!!! Some of them were more worthy of being called nursing professionals than some RN's I have worked with, then AND now!!!

And when I was one, so was I!!!

Agnus · May 18, 2003

Agnus · May 18, 2003

Originally posted by liberalrn
, how does this image of nursing "help" our culture? Does it persist b/c people in general dislike thinking about disease and death and by elevating nurses to a "special" status, it distances them from the harsh reality of disease and death? I mean, if we are perceived as angels of mercy.....angels have no needs (well, human ones anyway).....does anyone see what I'm getting at?

Yes.

The image may help our culture but it does nothing for our profession which is made up of living breathing flesh and blood humans who really do deal with "the harsh reality of disease and death."

Agnus · May 18, 2003

I am going out and renting WIT.

In reference to the posts about not being able to identify who is a nurse.

A Doc, asked for a particular patient's nurse.

The charge nurse said that she believed that the nurse was in that patient's room.

The Doctor responded, "Oh, that was the nurse? She was wearing all white. So I didn't think she could possibly be a nurse."

liberalrn · May 18, 2003

Agnus--thanks for the reply. "Wit" is fantastic--I keep thinking about it. Will most likely rent it again...there is alot there and not jsut about nursing. I think you will appreciate it!

As far I can tell, no-one on the thread has said that LPN's cannot call themselves nurse. I noted that most of us got our knicker twisted w/ MA's, CNA's amd techs calling themselves nurses. I think in my pediatrician's office that maybe there are 2 RN's, the rest are all techs (hwat the flip is a tech anyway--do they have CNA training? Just how accurate are the BP's they're taking?)

prmenrs, RN · May 18, 2003

If you rent WIT, be sure there's plenty of Kleenex in the house!! That said, it is an amazing movie.

RN2007 · May 18, 2003

Imenid37, You are right. But, another thing, - the CNA's, MA's, etc...., who are wrongly doing nursing duties not only do not have extra education and a nurses license to further confirm it, but also would not be legally responsible if they did something wrong that caused a lawsuit that hurt or even killed a patient. I bet the dr. would get in BIG trouble if the licensing boards knew what he was having the MA's do.

But on the other hand, I can probably see where nursing assistants who are referred to constantly by their patients, drs., etc., at some point quit correcting people, because on their own badges that they wear, part of the name of their occupation says Nurse. And by the way, I have never been a nursing assistant, so I have no reason to say this other than it is my opinion.

I know there are sooo many occupations that the licensed professionals become upset by non-licensed people in their field calling themselves the real thing. For instance, a paralegal is not a lawyer, PA is not a Dr., etc. etc.... A personal example I have is that my husband has been a licensed architect for over 18 years and there are many misconceptions regarding what an architect is. Some "architectural drafters", engineers,

home designers, etc., etc., call themselves architects. However, with the exception in just one or two states, an architect is a person who is licensed and registered to be an architect, has had a minimum of a Bachelors Degree in Architecture if it was a degree that was obtainied many years ago, or today the new students graduating from college must have a Masters Degree in Architecture before fulfilling all the manyother requirements it takes before you are allowed to sit for a several day architecture exam. Then, if you pass the exam of which has a very high fail rate the first time, you are an architect. Also, to confuse things further, there are really "landscape architects" but of course they do not deal with the architecture of residential and commercial buildings like an "Architect" does.

Anyway, sometimes I really think that just the name of jobs sometimes implies something about the job that causes confusion, and of course we were not the ones who made up the names for all of these jobs. Also, I bet sometimes people get tired of explaining to others that, "No, I am not a nurse, I am a ............." However, I think if an employer asks us to do something that we are legally not supposed to do and it is also something that we have not been trained for in school, that we need to let our employers know that we cannot do that because we do not want to be held liable in the future in case of problems. After all, we are talking about peoples lives..

SandySummers · May 19, 2003

Replying to many of the posts...

The muscular African-American guy on the J&J campaign is an LPN--The director of the J&J told me.

I am really loving all of this concern about the nursing image on this thread. I believe that a more positive image is very useful. It will help recruitment and retention of nurses. Once society understands what nurses do, money managers will direct more resources toward nursing and improve our staffing and they will also funnel more money toward nursing education and research--all necessary for our profession to grow.

Our organization exists to improve public understanding of nurses and to improve the image of nurses. Please check out our extensive (and very nurse-empowering) media reviews of:

ER

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/media/tv/er.html

Wit

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/media/films/wit.html

One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest:

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/media/films/cuckoos_nest.html

MDs

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/media/tv/mds.html

and others.

Also, regarding an empowering television show about nurses...we have commissioned a pilot of a television show about nurses that is so empowering to read, it will make you feel wonderful to be a nurse:

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/create/human.html

We are working to find Hollywood connections to get it produced. If you have any leads, please send them along.

And please let us know what you think! Thanks,

Sandy Summers, MSN, MPH, RN

Executive Director

The Center for Nursing Advocacy

flashpoint · May 19, 2003

If the guy in the J&J commercial is an LPN, why doesn't the commercial identify him as an LPN at the end when they show everyone's name and title? Every nurse on the commercial is identified as an RN.