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

[AprilN]

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??

[CrazierThanYou]

Lying about being a nurse is unique to nursing as a profession. I have not run into anyone lying about their title as doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc... Since I've been enrolled in nursing school, I have come across quite a few people claiming to be an RN, (one of which I'm currently in school with who, ironically works as an MA in a doctor's office) . I agree with the OP. This is a huge slap in the face considering the amount of hard work, dedication, and effort I'm putting into nursing school. I can only imagine how those nurses already licensed feel about these imposters. Why is it that any and everyone working in the health care field without licenses have the audacity to represent themselves a nurse?!? IMO this is new phenomena is not only extremely annoying, but is also down right disrespectful to the individuals who are practicing LICENSED nurses.

This is kind of an aside but your post reminded me of this: Our local school system has started the rather bizarre practice of referring to cafeteria employees as "teachers".

[LoveMyDaughters]

I see your point people should tell people they're something they're not BUT as far as patients they don't care who is what. to the general public everyone in scrubs is a "nurse". Just the way it is.

I am part of the general population and have recently been a patient (as well as a nursing student), and I can ASSURE you that I care to know who is taking care of me and what their proper title is. If I am being cared for by CNA/MA or other unlicensed personnel, I do not want them to misrepresent themselves to me as a licensed professional. I was recently in the hospital for a few days for an operation. I had lots of questions regarding different medications that I was going to be taking and how to properly take care of my dressing changes, etc. I would have been a little upset if the tech that was working with me would have represented herself as my RN and began answering questions about medications that affect my heart/blood pressure.

I'm not posting this to say that techs or other unlicensed people don't know about medications, I'm just saying I care who I'm getting my information from.

[Nepenthe Sea]

At the hospital where I work there are dry erase boards in every room on which we write the date, room number, names of the nurse, charge nurse, RT, housekeeper, and any other staff caring for the patient each day. Maybe more places need these so that the patients can know who's who.

[guiltysins]

One of my good friends is a CMA and she identifies herself as a certified medical assistant. She said she would never identify herself as a nurse because she's not and she has no reason to. She went to school for two years and got her associates to be a certified medical assistant and she's very proud to be one. Some people figure they can call themselves anything they want as long as they don't go beyond their scope of practice and unfortunately some people don't know there are different levels of nurses (RN, LPN) and consider everyone in scrubs a nurse.

Especially with all of these commercials from career colleges showing someone in scrubs and saying you can be a nurse when in actuality they are only a med assistant or CNA.

[belgarion]

I have little patience with people who would misrepresent themselves. I've seen too many idiots who called themselves "engineers" and it turned out they had never set foot on a college campus in their lives.

That said, when growing up we had a young doctor move to town who practiced out of his home. He was the only MD for a pretty wide radius and his wife served as his assistant. Over time everybody in town started referring to her as "nurse" even though she wasn't and she NEVER called herself that. She is pretty old now but still helps out at the clinic occasionally and many people still refer to her as nurse. If anyone out there is interested in attempting to "re-educate" a small Texas town, be my guest.

[AprilN, BSN, RN]

So i looked it up, and my state is under that "Nurse" protection law...

And to make it clear I can't really confront her, cause I don't work in the same office, but a friend does.

[redessa]

Originally Posted by MInurse.st

.......I can't imagine someone walking around calling themselves a doctor and getting away with it.

DNP anyone?? sorry couldn't resist...

What do you think the D stands for? Someone who has earned their doctorate should have the right to be called Dr. Just like an MA is not a nurse, a nurse practitioner is not a physician and they should not try and pass themselves off as physicians, but they ARE doctors. I understand how this can be confusing to the general public in a medical setting, but that's what education is for.

[thats absurd]

Offensive? Now you have an idea how physicians feel when nurses (read: DNP's) refer to themselves as "doctor".

[AOx1]

A DNP is a doctor. The term "doctor" refers to someone in possession of a doctoral degree. If one has a doctorate in English, that person earned the right to be called Dr. Now the term "physician" is an entirely different matter.

[MInurse.st]

Offensive? Now you have an idea how physicians feel when nurses (read: DNP's) refer to themselves as "doctor".

Seriously?

Many of my professors (first degree) identified themselves as Dr. _____. This is because they had PhDs, and, therefore, were doctors. They are not impersonating physicians, they are accurately describing their educational titles.

[AprilN, BSN, RN]

You better believe if I get my doctorate in Nursing I will be Dr. ___! just like my brother in law is a "Dr." of math. like other's said, that is an earned title..

[HyperSaurus, RN, BSN]

People misrepresenting their 'title' irritates me. Once, I went to see my doctor for my yearly, but I was on my period. I told that to my nurse, and she said, 'Oh, that'll be fine. He can do paps even during periods'. I asked the doctor, and he said 'of course not'. Turns out that 'nurse' was an MA. I once went off on an aquaintance for calling herself a nurse. I was talking to a friend about my stethoscope and she piped up that her's was purple. Knowing she was an art student, I asked why she had a steth. "Oh, I'm a nurse." "Really..?" She replied, "Yeah, I'm a CNA." It wasn't the first time she said that, so I might have lost it a little. I told her a CNA is not a nurse and she shouldn't be calling herself that--it is illegal in some states. She replied that yes, she is a nurse, a nurse assistant. "Yes, a nurse ASSISTANT. I can't even call myself a nurse--I'm a student and not licensed to practice as a nurse, and neither are you." To be fair, I was getting ready for my last clinical of a very hard semester and I was a bit stressed out.