I'm sure this has been said.. MA's calling themselves Nurses

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So Monday I was in a system-wide orientation for my new job as an LPN. I just graduated (so technically until i take my boards and pass.. I'm a GPN). Anyway- there was a girl in our orientation that was an MA, and said she was a nurse at her Dr's office. I was a little taken a-back by this! Call me a brat but I went through a lot to get IN to nursing school, make the grades and graduate to be able to call myself a NURSE! Does this bother anyone else??

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
I have to be very,very careful here as I see this is a very sensitive matter. Possibly this is quite justifiably so. At any rate, I am sensing that there is a lot of animosity between "nurses" (and to be clear, I mean Registered Nurses) ~

Any reason in particular you mean Registered Nurses? :confused:

LPNs not mad about the situation, or don't count as nurses???

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
A flubbing a medical term is not equal to getting the name of your profession wrong.

There are thousands of medical terms and some are tounge-twisters. You typically only have one (maybe two) professional title. Like lawyer, dentist, nurse, plumber, electrician.

However, flubbing it in speech is different than flubbing it in written text. But, it is a very sore point to PAs to be referred to as Physician's assistants. Being nervous will make the mouth do all sorts of funny things, but I, personally, knowing how sensitive they can be about it, would have taken extra care to make sure it came out correct, as I would have serious doubts regarding a person who wishes to become a PA, but makes the same mistakes lay people make regarding their professional title.

But as you said, he applied late, so hopefully they didn't hold it against him.

Nope, SHE graduated last year. From a top school.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
lol thats so weird!!! that drives me nuts too "O2 stats"!!:devil: why and how do we nurses become so insane over this stuff. hehe

I don't know why we do it, either. I think with that one it means they got all the way through nursing school and well into their first job as a nurse without noticing that almost everyone else says "sat" and not "stat" and the same with spellings. I simply can't stop myself from wondering where the confusion comes in. . . are they calling it a "stat" as short for "statistic"? Are they calling it an "02 stat" because in their hospital most of the patients who need an 02 sat have turned blue and dyspneic a few times during their stay at the hospital so they need their 02 STAT! before they keel over? :confused: Guess we'll just have to wonder! :)

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.
In many states, this is ILLEGAL. Yours is probably one of them. Might want to mention this the next time someone who is not a nurse is calling themselves such.

On one of my jobs, the charge nurse would sometimes walk a CNA into a patient's room and tell them, "S.... will be your nurse tonight."

I have seen patients and others refer to CNAs and Home Health Aides as, "nurses," even if they know they never had nursing school.

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:nono:Re: Nurse that told pt that the nurses aid would be her nurse that night. Among other things; not right, and way not cool! Considering legal possible ramifications, pt's rights, and working out of ones job description why would an aid want to put their self into that position in the first place? Secondly why would a nurse do that considering any no of senario that could go wrong? Nurses are overworked and under paid, but pts safety comes first, and for most!:twocents:

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Specializes in General.
It is illegal to misrepresent yourself as a nurse in Texas. I always find out the credentials of anyone I speak to who identifies themselves as a nurse. i was a surgical assistance before i was an RN and patients would refer to me as a nurse all the time. I always corrected them and let them know I was an assistant to the doctor, not a nurse. Even though I wasn't a nurse yet and didn't know the law, i thought it was wrong to declare myself something I wasn't.
hey i am a 97 UTHSCSA grad and I feel the same way even now that I am a NP and the pts call me Dr I nicely tell then no I am not a DR but a nurse with a advanced practice degree.
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Specializes in retired from healthcare.
:nono:Re: Nurse that told pt that the nurses aid would be her nurse that night. Among other things; not right, and way not cool! Considering legal possible ramifications, pt's rights, and working out of ones job description why would an aid want to put their self into that position in the first place? Secondly why would a nurse do that considering any no of senario that could go wrong? Nurses are overworked and under paid, but pts safety comes first, and for most!:twocents:

What I suspect in this case is that if the CNA goes in and bathes the patient and only works inside the scope of a CNA's job description they can't be written up for it. Furthermore, if the patient also understands that this CNA is just doing her bath and changing their clothes, then they really can't get in trouble.

On some jobs, the CNAs are often called, "the nurse," especially in private care situations where they are doing meds and some LPN procedures and doing them in the confines of state law and under RNs orders.

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I found out that in many doctors offices MA's do everything a nurse would they are even trained to draw blood, but CNA's can be trained to do that to. So the doctors are to blame for a lot of this title exchange and for confusing the patients by referring to MA's as their nurse in my opinion.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
What I suspect in this case is that if the CNA goes in and bathes the patient and only works inside the scope of a CNA's job description they can't be written up for it. Furthermore, if the patient also understands that this CNA is just doing her bath and changing their clothes, then they really can't get in trouble.

On some jobs, the CNAs are often called, "the nurse," especially in private care situations where they are doing meds and some LPN procedures and doing them in the confines of state law and under RNs orders.

I've worked in private care (home care) for 6 years and I've never heard a caregiver called a "nurse". In fact, home care is more strict about titles because in my state they are reimbursed at different rates, have skilled nursing and unlicensed caregiver hours strictly designated ahead of time, and often are funded by different sources altogether. There are some procedures a healthcare aide can do that would normally be done by an RN or LPN, but they have to go to class and be certified for that procedure, such as inserting a Foley catheter or even changing a trach tube.

Also, in my state a person who is approved for a homehealth aide can hire that person themselves without being directed by an RN. The state itself pays to train the person to do the care. Sometimes the state pays relatives to act in that function if they are trained as well. They recently have tightened it up requiring social security numbers etc though. There were some people taking advantage of the system and bleeding the medicaid budget almost to death.

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Specializes in E.D..

If those who earn the degree of DNP (doctor of nursing practice) cannot refer to themselves as "Doctor" in the clinical setting due to the fact that "patients will be confused," then Medical Assistants should not be allowed to refer to themselves as nurses for this same reasoning. What infuriates me is that Opticians, Podiatrists, PhD. Psychologists, and Chiropractors get to refer to themselves as "Doctor" in the clinical setting (and no one is "confused"), yet NPs with a docotorate do not. MDs feeling a little threatened by a mostly female cohort of professionals? Hmm, perhaps.

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If those who earn the degree of DNP (doctor of nursing practice) cannot refer to themselves as "Doctor" in the clinical setting due to the fact that "patients will be confused," then Medical Assistants should not be allowed to refer to themselves as nurses for this same reasoning. What infuriates me is that Opticians, Podiatrists, PhD. Psychologists, and Chiropractors get to refer to themselves as "Doctor" in the clinical setting (and no one is "confused"), yet NPs with a docotorate do not. MDs feeling a little threatened by a mostly female cohort of professionals? Hmm, perhaps.

I doubt they are threaten by a female cohort when we have boo coos of female MD's.

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.

Homecare aides, have been told, "Oh you're a good nurse," by patients who feel safe in their care. When I worked in private home care, I witnessed private care aides referred to as, "the nurse."

It doesn't matter if they work in the confines of their job, list themselves as CNAs or HHAs on their documentation and set themselves up for aide level pay and tell the truth to those who ask, "What are you?" I also have heard the title, "certified nurse," for CNAs.

It can be insulting and a waste of time for an aide to argue with a patient who is confused or dying and under the care of R.N.s so that they are completely safe.

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