Impersonating a nurse

Nurses Professionalism

Published

So I'm a new grad vn (taking nclex 4/2) I decided to go back to medical assisting in the mean time since jobs are hard to come by for new vn's. So I landed a job at a Urgent care and didn't tell them I was a new grad because they wouldn't have hired me. On my first day they introduced me to the head nurse and then she took me to nurse's station and I met the rest of the nurses at least that's what they called themselves, I asked them "Are u lvns or rns?" And they replied "we're ma's" I was shocked they even had business cards that said nurses they tried to give me some to give my pts in case they needed to call me, that's not even the worst of it even the docs says "my nurse" this is a huge practice 10 + docs and not 1 licensed nurse. These ma's are giving Demerol and I.V's I really don't know what to do, who can I anonymously report this to?

Specializes in Critical Care.

RN1980 is so right, hope you do the right thing and Call BON .. if someone else does and you get caught up in that group .. you're toast!! And you have too much to loose

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Really?? Have you ever worked with a Physician Assistant? Ever researched, not only the role, but the education and competitiveness of even getting in to a program? I agree that the office staff using the title nurse is wrong and illegal in the state of California but no where during this thread did it discuss or attempt to discredit the education and training of Physician Assistants. My BSN along with 19 years of Emergency Room nursing at 30 different hospitals, 10 level 1 trauma centers from Virginia to Hawaii did nothing to prepare me for the amount of material that is pressed upon us in PA school right now. 36 hours physically spent in the classroom, 40-50 hours of study time outside class, giving up weekends, holidays and vacations for 2 years, the 1700 hours I will spend next year on clinical rotations all done so you can compare me to medical assistants, really??

No, I think you missed the point. The point was that MAs in no way compare to PAs, so to refer to themselves as such would be blatantly egregious and MDs would probably take umbrage (as they should). It is no less egregious for non-nurses to call themselves nurses, but doctors don't seem to get that.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Okay, I completely agree this is totally wrong, and you need to get far far away. It is illegal for them to be performing nursing tasks, BUT since they aren't putting Registered Nurse on the cards or referring to them as REGISTERED nurses, I don't know if that would be illegal. The word nurse is not reserved solely for the professional title unless the word registered precedes it.

Wrong. The California Nurse Practice Act specifically states the word "nurse" can only be used by an RN or LVN who has an active license.

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It has been 4 years since the OP posted this. Wonder what ended up happening?

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.

The title RN is a protected entity, it's literally against the law just to REFER to yourself as one if you aren't ... but this giving injection nonsense???? 🙄🙄🙄 Oh dear God, this crap actually HAPPENS???!!!

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Specializes in lots of specialties.

You can actually post a complaint to the board of nursing and medical board. You do not have to call. Anyone can make a complaint

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Specializes in NICU, ER, OR.
On 3/19/2011 at 10:48 PM, Chin up said:

Aww, so it gets even more shady. Unbelievable. But they will continue to get away with this, unless reported, or God forbid, MA's stop going along with this farce. I don't understand how the MA's aren't in fear. To impersonate is a felony.

Do you actually think these MAs have a CLUE that what they are doing is illegal? Highly doubtful...

Hey it’s the new thing- put on a pair of scrubs - VOILA!! You are now a

“ NURSE “

It enrages me. Bad.

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

Never mind...didn't notice the age of the thread at first.

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Specializes in Ambulatory (Urgent care) & Home Health.

*UPDATE *
Wow! I was just looking through my old threads and I found this from 2011.
I actually left that practice August of that same year. Nothing was ever done and I never heard from the BON.

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On 11/4/2019 at 10:28 AM, Elleveein said:

*UPDATE *
Wow! I was just looking through my old threads and I found this from 2011.
I actually left that practice August of that same year. Nothing was ever done and I never heard from the BON.

Wow. Thanks for the long- term update. Kind of amazing how little accountability there is above the level of individual licensed practitioners.

I wonder if anyone could shed some light on more effective ways to report this kind of thing than going through the BON.

Glad you found your own (hopefully) greener pastures since then though.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
On 11/4/2019 at 7:28 AM, Elleveein said:

*UPDATE *
Wow! I was just looking through my old threads and I found this from 2011.
I actually left that practice August of that same year. Nothing was ever done and I never heard from the BON.

Thanks for the update! Sounds like moving on was a wise choice. Best wishes!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

This is all over. MAs where I’m from that work with doctors often call themselves a doctors nurse. They aren’t doing it to mislead, but as an identifier tying them to a doctor. I guess it’s better than “doctors assistant”, leading one to think they were a PA?

The ones I’ve dealt with will advise others that they aren’t a registered nurse and that advice of that sort is out of their scope, but in primary care offices, cardiovascular, etc I have seen it used like I said as an identifier of which doctor they “belong” to. Even in some places that are staffed by both LPNs and MAs.

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