How do you deal with it?

I should add that the reason I state all this is because of the reaction and treatment that ensues after. I have never tried to come off as being on a high horse, but man a couple times it was not received well by the other party.

As my donation date nears and I prepare for my hospital stay.. well, I'm wondering how to go about this.

I'll mention my nurse status when I'm the pt, and you'll hear it from your medical staff pts also.

At some times i would rather not, but in my special case: ER trip, bone marrow donation to name a few, i felt it best and was eager to announce my status for my personal reason. But, on other things im not so sure of and like i said it becomes redundant.

When i go to my donor place i will probably not say anything.

Unless asked what I do for a living, I do not mention being a nurse. Even when I go to the ER etc. Announcing your occupation before hand can work for or against you. I don't want someone who is caring for me or a family member to assume - because I'm a nurse - that I know what they are doing and why. There are many, many flavors of nursing and NO nurse knows everything about every specialty or donor program etc. Also, not announcing your occupation also allows you to assess the care and competency of care you or your family are being provided. Just because some passed the boards doesn't mean they are clinically competent. Taking the test and putting the knowledge into practice are two different things.

I'm still not clear why you feel it necessary to tell everyone but like the other posters on here, I prefer not to let a lot of people know in the general sense.

I'm not even a nurse yet but I sometimes want to interrupt practitioners' third-grade level descriptions of procedures and say "I'm not a grade-school dropout!".

Like now I'm trying to get Aetna to approve a new Rx for testosterone for me, and spending time on the phone with some of their reps is grating on my nerves. Not just because of the sophomoric explanations, but because of misinformation like this gem, from an actual pharmacist: "You cannot get the 22 gauge needles your doctor prescribed because the testosterone is too thick to go through them"! Hmm, I used 22ga needles for several years without a problem and one pharmacist even gave me a couple 28ga needles, I think they were - pediatric anyway, and the oil went through those fine; slow but it worked. (used the 18ga originally rx'd to draw it up).

So, OP, I feel your pain. How and when do nurses "reveal" to other medical professionals that they are a nurse?

Time and place really. And just because of the circumstances I feel i needed too. I will forgo announcing my status unless asked.

There is a time and place when it's appropriate but consider the following-there are times when you need to be treated as the family member instead of the nurse...And when you are the patient it's common for the medical and nursing staff to assume you don't need support,education etc because "you get it" .Alot of that goes right out the window when you put on that hospital gown (it's the great equalizer)

I don't talk to strangers in public so I don't have this problem. My doctors know I am a nurse only because they have asked my profession. I don't talk about it when I'm the patient or feel the need to remind them of such. If I were going to be a bone marrow donor, I doubt I'd bring it up as I can't see the relevance. They should explain the procedure to me as if I were any other patient.