How do I list credentials?

Nurses Career Support

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I have a question in regards to how to list credentials. I am a second career nurse. I work in a hospital per diem but also in a school district as a nurse. My credentials include: RN, BA, MSEd. How do I list these when signing my name? It is more a question for the school setting than hospital since that is where I use the signature more often.

Thanks!

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.
Here you go This link will take you to a pdf of the ANA brochure "How to Display Your Credentials".

coopman712

162 Posts

Thanks! I actually did check there first. Still kind of unclear about what sounds better:

RN, MSEd, BA

or

MSEd, BA, RN

or some other configuation?

Highest level of education usually first but RN is currently my highest nursing credential.

elkpark

14,633 Posts

Most healthcare people don't list degrees that are not directly related to their professional credentials. In that case, you would not list your MS in education or your BA in whatever it's in (I assume it's not a BA in nursing), just the RN. Also, it's conventional to only list your highest degree; i.e., if you list your MSEd there is no need to list your BA because having the MS implies that you have a BA (or BS).

I would go with just the RN, unless you really feel strongly that your education degree is somehow connected to your nursing credentials. I would certainly not list both the Master's and the BA.

klone, MSN, RN

14,790 Posts

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

For signature, I just sign My Name, RN.

The only time I use all my credentials is with business letters, my email signature file, and my business cards.

Like previously said list your highest degree first, the thing that is basically permanent and cannot be taken away from you. You can list your BA or MSEd if they are relevant to your job. Then you list your licensure (RN) and then certifications etc based on either which is more relevant to your work, order of expiration, or order of obtaining them with most recent first. For example after my name I put MSN, MSEd, RN, CCRN, TNCC. I use MSEd because it is in Health Promotion which is relevant to my job and I list CCRN before TNCC because CCRN is more relevant to my job and is sought out in critical care nurses more than TNCC certification. Hope this is helpful.

coopman712

162 Posts

I don't typically list all of my credentials but this job is in a academic setting as an RN so I thought to utilize my others. Thanks!

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