Who is a "Nurse"?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Who can use "nurse" as thier title?

    • 121
      Only RN's and LPN's should use "Nurse" as thier title.
    • 1
      CNA's can use the title "Nurse".
    • 1
      Anyone in healthcare that has patients to care for should be called "Nurse".
    • 2
      Anyone who gives care to others should be called "Nurse".

125 members have participated

This is a spin off of a thread I recently started. I thought it would be interesting to see the results of a poll on the subject of:

Can anyone use the term/title nurse to describe thier job?

Specializes in correctional, psych, ICU, CCU, ER.

We also have laws in Calif, that you can't be a "nurse" if you're not an RN or LVN(LPN)

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

I voted that only RNs and LPNs should use the title "nurse".

A CNA should use the title "CNA" or Certified Nurse Assistant...

A "PA" cannot legally be referred to as a Medical Doctor.....so, a "CNA" cannot legally be referred to as a Licensed Nurse.

A "PA" is to doctors as a "CNA" is to a nurse. :)

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Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU,.

my vote is, lpns and rns.

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Specializes in Clinical Risk Management.
Originally posted by cheerfuldoer

I voted that only RNs and LPNs should use the title "nurse".

A CNA should use the title "CNA" or Certified Nurse Assistant...

A "PA" cannot legally be referred to as a Medical Doctor.....so, a "CNA" cannot legally be referred to as a Licensed Nurse.

A "PA" is to doctors as a "CNA" is to a nurse. :)

Renee, that's exactly what I was thinking!

To that one who voted "the other way," I say this:

:p :p :p

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I voted for only the licensed people to be called "nurse" as well. I live in TN and I was shocked (shocked! I tell you) to find that the word "nurse" is NOT protected in TN. People are not allowed to call themselves LPN or RN, but anybody can just decide that he or she is a "nurse."

I told my sister that, and she said "Oh! I wish I'd known that YEARS ago!" LOL - she kills me

Love

Dennie

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It is clear in the facility I work in that nurses are nurses because we are the only ones allowed to wear all white. The aides wear royal blue, dietary wears navy and white, matinence wears all navy, activities wears lavendar, etc, etc.

I have residents say to me all of the time, "Can you tell my nurse I am ready for bed?" I tell them, "She is not your nurse. I am the one wearing white, I am the nurse. But I will be glad to tell your AIDE you are ready for bed." And I always say it with sincerity and a smile.

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I'd like to know just when in the murky past of the nursing profession this sematical foofa started.

It absolutely incenses me that any State should feel compelled to have any law whatsoever regarding this...this is just plain stupidity.

Jeez, anymore the average patient Joe out there doesn't seem to know the difference between a housekeeper, a nurse's aide, a nurse or the garbage man. Whatever happened to common sense and professional respect?

In my day when I worked as a nurse's aide the thought of calling myself or allowing another person to call me a "nurse" was unthinkable. ( Actually, it's because it was unthinkable that I decided to become one- among other reasons).

In those days our patients seemed to know the difference. What's changed?

Just try to convince a patient that the PA they see at each check up is NOT a doctor! Could it be because the PA does not remind his/her patients about the difference? What's so bad about saying, "I am not a doctor?" This is bad enough, but cripes what kind of craziness is it out there when there has to be debate over who is a nurse and who isn't?

I get tired of reiterating all of the time that I am the nurse. I am not their "girl or lady". I say, "Hey, I'm not a girl and I'm no lady, I am your NURSE and here's why I am your nurse."

I get even more exasperated when I call the LTC where my Mom is at and have to ask the person answering the phone if she's a nurse or not. There isn't one time that I've called there and the person at the station who answers the phone sez, "Hi, this is Mary" or "This is Jane"; I say, "So, Mary, so Jane, what exactly is your position there?" She sez, "I'm the charge nurse". I say, "What's the matter, are you ashamed to say so?"

Sometimes I think LPNs and RNs should wear big signs around their necks which state: I AM A NURSE. I AM YOUR NURSE. HERE IS WHY I AM A NURSE: And then have a list of all the things that make us nurses right down to our license IDs.

This sematic nonsense really disgusts me.

Peace- I'll get mine back in a minute.

Lois Jean

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If I give a pt a resperatory treatment, can I call myself a Respiratory Therapist? NOpe. So even though we make beds and do bedpans at times we are still nurses, not CNA's. They in turn are NOT nurses, unless they are RN/LVN's.

and I am SOOOOO sick of those MA's who think they are nurses and mislead the public into that. I WAS a MA and I always told the pts I was their Medical Assistant...

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I have been a medical assistant for four years and I am now in my first semester of nursing school. I never in my life realized everything that a nurse needs to know. It takes a lot of work to even learn the stuff a nurse needs to know let alone apply it.

As a medical assistant I would never have thought to introduce myself as a nurse. I was always a medical assistant, if someone asked for a nurse, I would go get the RN. To be called a nurse is a form of respect that you must earn, and you work hard to earn. I believe that if you have not done the work you do not deserve the title. CNA's do a lot of work and I respect them, but they are not a nurse.

RIght now I am extremely proud just to carry the title as a student nurse! At least I get nurse in their somewhere even though I do have to put student in the front. I look forward for the day I can drop the student and keep the nurse, I will be very proud, and I will know I have earned it.:nurse:

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Just wanted to say thanks to be included. I have been hurt so many times when "the nurse" was the RN. I know I do not have the training and knowledge an RN does, but I am a LICENSED PRACTICAL NURSE and feel like I should be included as a NURSE. I guess it upsets me because this is a new thing for me, I never experienced this in home care, only hospital.

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I'm in complete agreement that RN's/LPN's should hold the title Nurse, exclusively.

CNA stands for Certified Nursing ASSISTANT/AIDE....

I don't see a thing wrong with calling oneself a "caregiver" if that's the service they are providing.

I think the 1 posted for each of the other answers is just trying to get a rise out of everyone else here. There's always one clown I guess. :clown:

Peace:)

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RN/LPN only....

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