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

Nurses General Nursing

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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.

Specializes in ICU.
34 minutes ago, mene19 said:

What I object to is this:

An NP/PHD works in our ER. His Badge gives his name as Dr. "John Doe". He introduces himself as "Dr. John Doe". The patients think he is a Physician and he does nothing to dispel that falsehood. If he wanted to be known as a physician, he should have gone to medical school,, not NP school. It's not the same game and Its not even the same sport. I'm not saying he is not highly educated; I'm saying he is not educated as an M.D. or D.O.. He is educated as a Nurse Practitioner and he should claim it proudly or go to medical school.

I worked with a pharmD and a DPT, who both referred to themselves as "doctor." Physicians didn't have a problem with them doing it, but they verbalized unhappiness when the DNPs did it. I have a problem with misleading a patient about the type of doctorate, but they earned their degree just like the DPT and the pharmD. If the pharmacist and physical therapist can do it, why can't the nurse who earned a terminal degree?

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Specializes in Cardiac TCU /tele/SDU.
5 minutes ago, Pixie.RN said:

Badges shouldn't say "Dr." especially when it's an academic degree like PhD. Every physician I have ever worked with has "MD" or "DO" after their name. I don't think that is a gray area at all because it is in a clinical setting and is potentially misleading.

Not where I work at, It's the highest degree that one earned therefore it ends in your badge, John Doe Ph.D NP etc. It is within his right if he has the doctor's degree to back it up regardless of what it is. It does not actually delineate whether or not you can use it if you are in a clinical setting or not. People don't get rewarded Ph.D's and get told where and when to use them. It's something that they are earned, but it can be gray as it can confuse patients without actual differentiation between a physician and an academic doctor in a clinical setting, although tags that specify like Nurse,Physician or NP can be used to clear the muck up.

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
Just now, choksantos said:

Not where I work at, It's the highest degree that one earned therefore it ends in your badge, John Doe Ph.D NP etc. It is within his right if he has the doctor's degree to back it up regardless of what it is. It does not actually delineate whether or not you can use it if you are in a clinical setting or not. People don't get rewarded Ph.D's and get told where and when to use them. It's something that they are earned, but it can be gray as it can confuse patients without actual differentiation between a physician and an academic doctor in a clinical setting, although tags that specify like Nurse,Physician or NP can be used to clear the muck up.

That’s exactly what I said — PhD should be after the name, just like MD and DO. Not "Dr. John Doe" as the other poster said was on the badge. That is misleading. I will refer to a person who has earned a doctorate of some sort as "Dr. Whoever," and I never said otherwise. However, when it confuses patients (and it does), then I object to that behavior.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.
1 hour ago, mene19 said:

What I object to is this:

An NP/PHD works in our ER. His Badge gives his name as Dr. "John Doe". He introduces himself as "Dr. John Doe". The patients think he is a Physician and he does nothing to dispel that falsehood. If he wanted to be known as a physician, he should have gone to medical school,, not NP school. It's not the same game and Its not even the same sport. I'm not saying he is not highly educated; I'm saying he is not educated as an M.D. or D.O.. He is educated as a Nurse Practitioner and he should claim it proudly or go to medical school.

I can't cast aspersions, but you are ignorant of facts, or are biased. A Doctor is a Doctor, period. DO, MD, PHD, DNP, etc. There is no falsehood here. Check yourself.

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My D just received her Ph.D in clinical psychology. It took 7 years full time post bachelor's degree. She has worked her *** off. She has been published in journals as first author over 35 times-each of those involved an incredible amount of work. She spent a year writing her dissertation, which was the result of years of research. She had to TA, she did research for her Advisor, she has done presentation after presentation at conferences. She has worked in hospitals, she has worked in the community, she has worked, worked, worked. She has spent hours and hours and hours and hours working with patients.

I would put her education and effort next to that of an MD any day of the week. There is NO way a med student/doctor in training has made more of an effort, learned more about their field, put more of their life, mind, and soul into their field of study. I'm not saying her effort is superior-it's every bit as involved though.

I respect MDs, but they are not Gods of learning. My D has EARNED the title of DOCTOR, just as an MD or DO has. I think this elevation of medical education over all other study is complete and total BS. I respect all people who advance their education to this degree.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I get the frustration that physicians have usurped the term "Doctor" in the clinical setting as a term for a physicians licensure rather than as an academic degree reference, but as frustrating as that is it's still highly unethical to tell patients, either directly or on a badge, that you are "Doctor so-and-so" without somehow clarifying that is your academic degree level and not your type of licensure. Patients have a right to not be misled about the licensure of those caring for them.

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3 hours ago, tacticool said:

I can't cast aspersions, but you are ignorant of facts, or are biased. A Doctor is a Doctor, period. DO, MD, PHD, DNP, etc. There is no falsehood here. Check yourself.

The words may be the same, but the training isn't. What about A Dr. of Law? Is that the same thing? The training for NP is not even the same sport as medical school.
NP doctoral program sample, last year of education:
NUR (0302) 679 - Curriculm Dev, Implementation and Evaluation Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 789 - Educational Theories and Application to Learning Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 804 - Instructional Design in Nursing Education Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 792 - Assessment and Measurement in Teaching Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 793 - Seminar and Practicum in Nursing Education Credits: 2.00NUR (0302) 814 - Nursing Education and Diverse Learners Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 815 - Research in Nursing Education Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 816 - Technology in Nursing
Education Credits: 3.00NUR (0302) 817 - Precepted Experience in Nursing Education

The last YEARS in Physician training come after the book learning, and it is clinical, and it is brutal. If its all the same, have that NP or J.D. take out your appendix. Let me know how that works out for you.

I will stick with the D.O./M.D.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

I agree that education is important, but experience is importanter (kinda scared autocorrect didn't come on) and from a patient standpoint, I would want to see RN, no letters. Bedside, give me the nurse who had thousands of hours bedside before graduation than one with a hundred or so. That is the downfall, those nurses who worked at their education through their career may be viewed as less experienced than others by informed clientele. Other than advanced practice, little taught at BSN levels matters to knowledge base.

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Specializes in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology RN.
10 hours ago, mene19 said:

The last YEARS in Physician training come after the book learning, and it is clinical, and it is brutal. If its all the same, have that NP or J.D. take out your appendix. Let me know how that works out for you.

I will stick with the D.O./M.D.

You are so salty! NOBODY is saying that a Doctorate of Nursing and MD can do the same thing. I am sorry you have such a problem with the earned title of "Dr. Jane Doe" - doctorate of nursing but get over it. Like any doctorate degree it is an earned title.

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30 minutes ago, MrNurse(x2) said:

I agree that education is important, but experience is importanter (kinda scared autocorrect didn't come on) and from a patient standpoint, I would want to see RN, no letters. Bedside, give me the nurse who had thousands of hours bedside before graduation than one with a hundred or so. That is the downfall, those nurses who worked at their education through their career may be viewed as less experienced than others by informed clientele. Other than advanced practice, little taught at BSN levels matters to knowledge base.

The CCRN designation DOES imply experience. You have to have worked as an RN for 1750 hours in direct bedside care of acutely and/or critically ill patients during the previous 2 years, with 875 of those hours accrued in the most recent year preceding application.

OR

practice for at least 5 years with a minimum of 2,000 hours in direct bedside care of acutely and/or critically ill patients, with 144 of those hours accrued in the most recent year preceding application.

And that’s just to get permission to take the exam.

https://www.ccrnreview.com/faq

I don't have any certifications other than RN, but I completely disagree that having them on a name badge is "showing off." Only in nursing have I observed such disdain for those who choose to advance their educations. It seems like some nurses are threatened by their peers who further their education-these people go out of their way to make sure these nurses know that they are NO BETTER than someone who doesn't advance their education. It doesn't matter how many degrees they get-these folks will insist that those who furthered their formal education don't know any more than any other nurse. I guess they believe these nurses just sit around learning nothing but "fluff" for years and years. I see that word used a lot to denigrate someone's advanced education.

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4 minutes ago, Nurse.Kelsey said:

You are so salty! NOBODY is saying that a Doctorate of Nursing and MD can do the same thing. I am sorry you have such a problem with the earned title of "Dr. Jane Doe" - doctorate of nursing but get over it. Like any doctorate degree it is an earned title.

Sorry for the salty. My issue is NOT the title; it ist how the title is used disingenuously by an NP, who refuses identify himself as such when patients make it clear that they think this person is a physician. It is unethical.


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People, some excellent NP's treat me, some excellent Dr.'s treat me. I would think that an NP would want to stand up and shout from the rooftops that that is their profession, because the training they receive as nurses often brings a different, wider skill set. Nurses need to embrace our skills--especially our outstanding assessment skills--and say "I'm not a physician, I am a Nurse Practitioner, with all my fantastic skills, which in some places overlap with physicians and always something extra."

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