How do you feel on displaying your certification credentials on your badge?

[choksantos, BSN, RN]

Nurses, How do you feel on displaying certification credentials on your badge or nurses who displays them on their id/work badge? I am proud of them because they were a lot of hard work and time but I also do not want to seem like a show-off.

[beekee]

Take the pulse of your unit. Does everyone display their certifications on their badge? Only the “know-it-all’s”? No one? Do whatever is the practice in your unit.

Or, do what you want, you earned them. I seriously never look at my coworkers’ badges. They could say their name is Big Bird, MSN, CCRN, and I would probably never notice.

[Nurse.Kelsey, BSN, RN]

100% not showing off. Be proud and happy to share your experience/recommendation if and when someone asks about your certifications!

[choksantos, BSN, RN]

2 minutes ago, Nurse.Kelsey said:

100% not showing off. Be proud and happy to share your experience/recommendation if and when someone asks about your certifications!

Thanks! ?

[caliotter3]

Most nurses I noticed keep their badges turned around on the lanyard so the front can’t be seen, so it doesn’t matter what is printed on them. It must be hospital policy during orientation to tell them to turn the badges backwards to prevent the public from identifying their ‘caregivers ‘.

[choksantos, BSN, RN]

4 minutes ago, beekee said:

Take the pulse of your unit. Does everyone display their certifications on their badge? Only the “know-it-all’s”? No one? Do whatever is the practice in your unit.

Or, do what you want, you earned them. I seriously never look at my coworkers’ badges. They could say their name is Big Bird, MSN, CCRN, and I would probably never notice.

I would be the first one certified, that's the thing. no one has ever given certifications much importance till recently when my manager started talking about it.

Just now, caliotter3 said:

Most nurses I noticed keep their badges turned around on the lanyard so the front can’t be seen, so it doesn’t matter what is printed on them. It must be hospital policy during orientation to tell them to turn the badges backwards to prevent the public from identifying their ‘caregivers ‘.

they give us 2 id's one for the front and back in case they get turned around. which is okay but my work also displays our last names.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I think we should include the "major ones" on our badge -- the ones from major organizations that indicate experience and expertise in the specialty. However, I am not one for "overkill," where some people want to add letters to their names for every single course they attend or degree they got on the way to their highest level degree.

I believe that a lot of the resistance to the recognition of nursing credentials is rooted in people not wanting their own lack of credentials to become evident. The older I get, the less I care about what those people think. If they are embarrassed by their lack of credentials, they should do the work and get some.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I find it rare that nurses have the certification credentials in their actual badge and I'm assuming hospital policy dictates that only letters such as RN, NP, MD, PA-C and degrees such as PhD or PsyD are allowed to follow one's name in the hospital badge. But I've worked in various specialty units through the years where certified nurses' names are prominently displayed such as this example of a plaque:

https://www.aacn.org/store/apparel-and-recognition-products/402156/ccrn-roster-plaque

I've also seen nurses with certification pins on their uniform or jacket such CCRN or CEN. That's another way to display your certification. I don't see it as being a show-off. While it displays your accomplishment primarily, it also allows others who might be interested in the certification to ask you questions about how you achieved it.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Our hospital put in a policy where we wear a "dummy" badge over our "real" badge. The dummy one has our first name and "RN" Our real ones, the ones that we swipe with have our full names and credentials (up to 4, I believe). So mine has MSN, RN, ONC (ortho certified), CNIII (we have clinical ladder status). We also have pins designating certification, clinical ladder pins, "champion" pins (many of us are unit experts is an area-mine is diabetes and EPIC).

Some people were very uncomfortable having their names on full display.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I only have "RN" on my badge, only because HR didn't ask me if I wanted something different when I started, and I'm too lazy to change it. If I had been asked, I probably would have put my RNC and IBCLC credentials. I think you should be proud of your credentials, and display them if you so choose.

The floor nurses just have their first name and last initial on their badges. As someone in leadership, I get my first and last name on mine, so they know exactly to whom to send the disgruntled email. ?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

1 hour ago, mmc51264 said:

Some people were very uncomfortable having their names on full display.

I take it you live in a state that doesn't require full name to be shown? My state requires full name displayed with the exception of those working in psych units and ERs.

Regardless, I feel covering the last name is a moot point. The patient only has to request access to their medical records to learn full names.

As for the OP, my facility only allows job title on the badge. However, they do have badge tags for degrees (BSN, MSN) and one that generically states "certifiied nurse"

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

On 9/9/2019 at 8:24 AM, juan de la cruz said:

I find it rare that nurses have the certification credentials in their actual badge and I'm assuming hospital policy dictates that only letters such as RN, NP, MD, PA-C and degrees such as PhD or PsyD are allowed to follow one's name in the hospital badge. But I've worked in various specialty units through the years where certified nurses' names are prominently displayed such as this example of a plaque:

https://www.aacn.org/store/apparel-and-recognition-products/402156/ccrn-roster-plaque

I've also seen nurses with certification pins on their uniform or jacket such CCRN or CEN. That's another way to display your certification. I don't see it as being a show-off. While it displays your accomplishment primarily, it also allows others who might be interested in the certification to ask you questions about how you achieved it.

After many years as an LVN, I took the CCRN exam as soon as I had the required hours of experience about two years later. Most of our nurses were also certified. Our badges included "CCRN". I earned my BSN eight years later and that was on my next badge.

I don't have "CCRN" on my allnurses info because I was certified from 1988 to 2003.

For couple years I was "rare Per Diem" at a different hospital many nurses were also certified. Both hospitals had a plaque like on your link. Our names were on the plaque like in the photo.

People who already knew or had asked felt confident knowing their nurse had the knowledge and experience required for certification.

Some truly excellent critical care nurses were not certified.