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

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2019

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.

Yep. These people are downright hostile to anyone who furthers their education, whether it be with degrees or advanced certifications. Those are the ones who are always crowing that they "can run circles around those nurses with all the book learning." As though advanced knowledge somehow translates into no common sense or the sudden inability to perform physical skills.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Sep 20, 2019

1 hour ago, Horseshoe said:
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.

I am referring more to degree designation, but, let's run with the criteria for CCRN. I am critical care, so I have experience in the process. I have seen a nurse get this certification after one year experience because she is a great test taker. Now let's tear down those "experience" requirements. FT employment at 36 hours time 52 weeks = 1878 hours. So a brand new nurse who retains information well can have initials behind her name that indicate experience ( I would prefer a nurse certified in a specialty, truly) who honestly is still a nursing novice. I don't begrudge the degrees per se, I begrudge how woefully unprepared they are for the real world. This is on the universities, not the individual. They are preparing many chiefs and few warriors.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2019

6 minutes ago, MrNurse(x2) said:
I am referring more to degree designation, but, let's run with the criteria for CCRN. I am critical care, so I have experience in the process. I have seen a nurse get this certification after one year experience because she is a great test taker. Now let's tear down those "experience" requirements. FT employment at 36 hours time 52 weeks = 1878 hours. So a brand new nurse who retains information well can have initials behind her name that indicate experience ( I would prefer a nurse certified in a specialty, truly) who honestly is still a nursing novice. I don't begrudge the degrees per se, I begrudge how woefully unprepared they are for the real world. This is on the universities, not the individual. They are preparing many chiefs and few warriors.

Hmm, the way the requirements are worded suggests that you still must have those hours of experience spread out over 2 years, not one, even if you worked all those hours in one year.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Sep 20, 2019

10 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:
Hmm, the way the requirements are worded suggests that you still must have those hours of experience spread out over 2 years, not one, even if you worked all those hours in one year.

Remember, I have a lot of career to look back on, the specifics may be off, but I know I worked with a nurse who got her CCRN as soon as you could. I also worked with a valedictorian from a prestigious university who gave a pt 100K units of heparin subQ first week off orientation. The point remains that a nurse with two years is still a novice. I realize for all the new nurses on here who work in units with 90% turnover that you may be, God forbid, orienting new nurses after a year, but you are not experienced. This is a career and takes a bit of time to be considered experienced.

choksantos, BSN, RN · Sep 20, 2019

2 hours 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.

But education and experience can go hand in hand. Just because you have an extra credential does not mean you are less experienced and vice versa..

MunoRN, RN · Sep 20, 2019

Certifications don't convey your level of practice, using Benner's stages of nursing practice model, the most a certification by itself gets you is to the "competent" stage, which is halfway up the level of practice ladder. Knowledge is certainly a critical component of moving up to the upper levels of nursing practice, but it's a relatively small component. If you want to convey to a patient the quality of nursing care you provide, then the best way to do that is to provide quality nursing care, which patients are far more likely to understand and recognize than an acronym that's relatively unknown outside of nursing.

tammymize · Sep 20, 2019

I have them but they aren’t posted. CCRN isn’t on my badge, it’s no ones business. The Pyxis says I’m a new grad I’m ok with that too, I’ve been a nurse 20 years. I’ve noticed that usually it’s the new ones that want everything listed. That’s fine too, no one pays attention anyways.

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 20, 2019

As for physicians not liking people with other doctoral degrees using the title "Dr." ...

Physicians would do well to remember that the academic doctoral degree (PhD) was around and commonly used by academicians long before physicians had a doctoral level practice degree. Physicians have tried to usurp the Dr. title from the academic doctorates for decades. The academics owned that title first -- and it is the physicians who have muddied the waters by telling people that the title really belongs to them and only them. They wanted the prestige of the academic doctors to rub off on them (with their practice degree) and so they started using the doctor title.

If physicians want a title that is theirs alone -- they should come up with their own title and stop trying to derive their prestige from the respect that the academicians developed over centuries by using the same "Dr." title that historically belongs to the academicians.

llg, PhD, RN-BC

tammymize · Sep 20, 2019

2 hours ago, Horseshoe said:
Yep. These people are downright hostile to anyone who furthers their education, whether it be with degrees or advanced certifications. Those are the ones who are always crowing that they "can run circles around those nurses with all the book learning." As though advanced knowledge somehow translates into no common sense or the sudden inability to perform physical skills.

That’s terrible- i have my CCRN, and want to be a flight attendant also. I bet they would hate that!!

Subee2, BSN, MSN, CRNA · Sep 20, 2019

On 9/13/2019 at 3:48 PM, Divine-LPN,BSN said:
I'm proud and satisfied with my credentials. It wasn't a waste for me. I can earn a high salary and work anywhere with my degree and nursing license combined. The earning potential and opportunities are so vast that I am back in college working on a graduate degree. There are many misconceptions about my nursing license. For any additional information regarding my credentials feel free to read content in my profile.
Kindly,
Divine-LPN, BSN

If I were just the regular everyday Joanna, I would think from your initials that you are an LPN. Only nurses know what a BSN is for the most part. Are you a fancy LPN with some other degree? Why wouldn't you want the patient to know that you are an RN? No one presses the call bell for a BSN to my room, please.

tammymize · Sep 20, 2019

35 minutes ago, llg said:
As for physicians not liking people with other doctoral degrees using the title "Dr." ...
Physicians would do well to remember that the academic doctoral degree (PhD) was around and commonly used by academicians long before physicians had a doctoral level practice degree. Physicians have tried to usurp the Dr. title from the academic doctorates for decades. The academics owned that title first -- and it is the physicians who have muddied the waters by telling people that the title really belongs to them and only them. They wanted the prestige of the academic doctors to rub off on them (with their practice degree) and so they started using the doctor title.
If physicians want a title that is theirs alone -- they should come up with their own title and stop trying to derive their prestige from the respect that the academicians developed over centuries by using the same "Dr." title that historically belongs to the academicians.
llg, PhD, RN-BC

That’s funny! I have never heard any physician say that!

why would anyone care??

tammymize · Sep 20, 2019

5 minutes ago, Undercat said:
If I were just the regular everyday Joanna, I would think from your initials that you are an LPN. Only nurses know what a BSN is for the most part. Are you a fancy LPN with some other degree? Why wouldn't you want the patient to know that you are an RN? No one presses the call bell for a BSN to my room, please.

When I read this I didn’t even see the LPN part. I’m just programmed to read the last one. Ya no one cares who answers the call light as long as you give them whatever they want lol!