When someone asks you what you do for a living, do you say "nurse" or "RN" or "LVN"?

Published

I always say "I'm a nurse" and only today has anyone asked me "RN or LVN?" When I worked in the hospital it seemed nobody thought there was a difference and we are all just nurses, as we are, but in the community people seem more curious.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Those that ask either need to know for clarification (such as the school nurse where I accompany my patient as his 1:1 skilled nurse) or are curious as they are interested in the profession. We were asked all the time when in clinical rotations as it made a difference in the types of skills permitted to do with the precepting nurse as per facility policy and scope of practice.

Even if someone asks out of curiosity I have no problem clarifying as I am proud of my eduction and credentials. Its so much easier to say I am a nurse than some of my previous "creative" job titles such as clinical conduct specialist or clinical resource supervisor that were company specific titles.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I either say "I'm a registered nurse" or "a nurse."

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

I say nurse, then sometimes they ask if I'm an RN. Like being an LVN isn't a "real" nurse. Then when they hear I'm an LVN I always get the "Oh". Ugh!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

When I was an LPN I couldn't wait to be an RN so I could answer RN. Now that I am an RN what do you think they ask me? Two year or four year? Grrrr.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

When I say I'm in nursing school, I am almost always asked "RN or LPN?" And it's usually by people who do not work in a health career.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pedi.

I just say I'm a nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER, Trauma, Med-Surg/Tele, LTC.

I've found that most people outside of healthcare don't even know what an LPN is. People I've encountered at least. When I refer to myself as an LVN, I usually have to follow up with an explanation about the different levels of nursing. So I just refer to myself as a nurse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical Oncology, Alzheimer/dementia.

I say I'm a nurse. If they probe further I will say RN. Nobody asks me if I'm an RN or LPN now, but when I was an LPN for some reason they seemed to ask that question a lot.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac step-down, PICC/Midline insertion.

I always say RN. Firstly, because when you say nurse the next question is usually RN or LPN?. It has a more professional ring to it and I absolutely can't stand anyone in our profession being thought of as "just a nurse". We are not "just" nurses, we ARE nurses. Nursing is it's own profession, it should not be considered the gateway job into the medical field, or that we settled for nursing because we weren't smart enough to be a doctor or PA. Ok...getting off my soap box on that. haha.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I say that I'm a nurse in a telemetry unit, because the next question I get asked is, "What kind?" I've never been asked if I'm an LPN or RN, and definitely never had anybody ask me if I got a two or four year degree.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED.

I say that I am an ER nurse. I am an RN but that is irrelevant, IMO. Our LPNs are the bomb and as far as I'm concerned, they are the smarty pants in my ER, the RNs are always looking to our LPNs. We're all nurses and that is what is important.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion