Last week I had to take my father to an urgent care clinic while he was visiting me from out of state. We were both in the exam room when a woman walks in and introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Jane (not her real name) and I'm the nurse". Even her name tag said "Nurse" under it. After she got done taking my dad's VS, I asked her where she went to nursing school since I am currently in nursing school at a college close by. She started stumbling over her words and eventually told me that she had not gone to school at all and wasn't a nurse. She's not even a certified nursing assistant. She simply had received on-the-job training to be doing what she was doing.
As a nursing student who is working extremely hard to earn the title of "Nurse" I was furious! And if she's wearing a name tag that was issued from her from her place of employment, they should be ashamed for misrepresenting this woman as a nurse to their patients. Isn't this illegal, or at least unethical? Am I just over reacting here?
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I pulled over one day to a scene of a MVA. I was a EMT at the time and going to LPN school. A lady stopped and took over stating "I'm a nurse". Funny thing is that I found out that she was still in nursing school.
I don't get people that want to pretend to be more than they are. I like stating just what level I am at and what I am trained to handle. I would never want my ego to be the reason I hurt someone.
Be proud of what you are CNA, MA, PTC, LPN, RN, etc. But be honest about what you are.
BTW what's with the receptionists at MD offices now becoming triage nurses? That seems to be happening more often these days. And they are often wrong. Sorry to go off on a tangent.
I was curious about the "scope of practice" of MA vs LPN/LVN/RN in my state, so I checked our state laws on that subject expecting a lot of hoopla about who can do what. I was surprised to learn that there are two basic things an MA cannot do. Assessments and Triage. A receptionist has even less training than an MA. Very irritating.
I was curious about the "scope of practice" of MA vs LPN/LVN/RN in my state, so I checked our state laws on that subject expecting a lot of hoopla about who can do what. I was surprised to learn that there are two basic things an MA cannot do. Assessments and Triage. A receptionist has even less training than an MA. Very irritating.
and very dangerous. My husband has ulcerative colitis that is uncontrolled and had to be hospitilized to get a few units of blood. Upon discharge he was told to get an appt. with his GI doc within one week. When he called the receptionist to get an appt., she told him no, you already have one next month. He explained about the hospital, etc., she still stated that he already had one next month. He finally asked to talk to the nurse there and got an appt. He did tell the doctor about it and he was going to talk to her.
Perhaps some MDs ask their receptionists to screen people, but I think others take it upon themselves to do it.
Again, I'm not getting why you would want to work beyond your ability and risk hurting someone.
Have to say that, technically...a "future" nurse is not a nurse, either, and hasn't gone through or knows what a "real" nurse does, either. It's much more than what the "pathology of what the med does" or "what the blood counts mean."
Ya well thank you for the reminder that I am not yet a nurse, - not that I was confused on the matter...!? What I will say is that I do have 2 years of pre req's under my belt and 3 months of nursing school under my belt thus far! I know what it like to make the 4.0 GPA to get into my school... And the anxiety and rush of thrill of getting into an RN program in my city! Which is a lot more than the people who go to MA or CNA school in 3 mon time! I do appreciate your thoughts though!
Also I don't really understand how your negative input has anything to do with the topic at hand... (Typing on blackberry...sorry if all garbled!) Peace out !
It does tie into the topic since it deals with the misrepresentation of the title "nurse". I'm in the last weeks of nursing school with graduation on the horizon & boards soon to follow, however while in my preceptorship, I make sure the patients understand that I am still a nursing student, but I will graduate & take my boards to earn my title. I might be close to finishing, but still has some months to go til I'll be a licensed professional.
What chaps my hide even more is when a patient, or worse a family member, says they are a "nurse", usually as a way to try to either intimidate or get what they want. You can tell, within a short time, who the real nurses are and who aren't.
I've had patients say things like, "My relative works at my-hospital-system corporate office," like that's supposed to make me give them special treatment. As far as I know, your relative might be in housekeeping at the corporate office, not the ceo.
I try to treat all my patients the same (with dignity and respect), regardless of who their relatives are. The only thing that might change is how I educate. If you really are a nurse or in the medical profession, I may use more jargon and give you more technical information instead of trying to educate on a layman's level. (That's usually how you find out who the real nurses are, btw.)
it does tie into the topic since it deals with the misrepresentation of the title "nurse". i'm in the last weeks of nursing school with graduation on the horizon & boards soon to follow, however while in my preceptorship, i make sure the patients understand that i am still a nursing student, but i will graduate & take my boards to earn my title. i might be close to finishing, but still has some months to go til i'll be a licensed professional.
i totally agree... never have i ever said to anyone that i am a nurse. i always inform my pts that i am a student... and i always ask permission that i work with them and make sure they are comfortable with me working with them! maybe you didn't read my original post??
the point that i was "trying" to make is that it does upset me when i hear ma's calling themselves nurses b/c they are not it takes a lot of hard work and time to get to call yourself a nurse. don't really know what all the negative is about... didn't say i was a nurse... nor do i call myself one! thanks!!!
p.s this is a site for everyone not just nurses... that would include nursing students...a lot of people on this site are really negative towards nursing students ....i don't really get that???
No, it's not wrong to be furious! I also worked hard to become a nurse. My own family does this when in fact he is a medical assistant in a clinic but calls himself a nurse. I love my nephew but c'mon if you wnat that title go to school and earn it!!!!!
There was an interesting and even more egregious problem in California a few years back. One of our large HMOs operates call centers where patients call in for appointments. The people answering the phones are charged with deciding who needs an urgent appointment, who needs to come in emergently and who can wait for a routine appointment. The folks doing this were clerks trained on the job, but were misrepresenting themselves as nurses - on instruction from their employer. Our nursing union went to the state legislature and put a stop to that practice once and for all.
Ya well thank you for the reminder that I am not yet a nurse, - not that I was confused on the matter...!? What I will say is that I do have 2 years of pre req's under my belt and 3 months of nursing school under my belt thus far! I know what it like to make the 4.0 GPA to get into my school... And the anxiety and rush of thrill of getting into an RN program in my city! Which is a lot more than the people who go to MA or CNA school in 3 mon time! I do appreciate your thoughts though!
The theme I got from your original post, and this one as well, is about being able to understand why it upsets licensed nurses when people toss the term around and use it fraudulently. What I was saying is that, being early in nursing school, it's actually not something you can understand in the same way. It's not a knock at you. I understand the rush of getting in to an RN program, too, I was there once...but that's not the same as the feeling bred by years of experience. In this post, I don't know what you're comparing to MA or CNA school at this point (and some MA's are AD's, btw, meaning they have the same level of education as AD RN's), the feeling of getting in to the program? That doesn't make sense to me? Having 2 years of pre reqs and 3 months of nursing school doesn't give you the understanding of what an RN does, yet, at this point. I realize we're all on the same page, here, in terms of the illegal use of the term "nurse," I was only reading from the post that you're seeing it from the same level...and you're not. You will be, someday, and I hope you are successful in your schooling (you have to passion to be, at any rate), but it's not a personal affront, just an observation.
It does tie into the topic since it deals with the misrepresentation of the title "nurse". I'm in the last weeks of nursing school with graduation on the horizon & boards soon to follow, however while in my preceptorship, I make sure the patients understand that I am still a nursing student, but I will graduate & take my boards to earn my title. I might be close to finishing, but still has some months to go til I'll be a licensed professional.
nursel56
7,122 Posts
I was curious about the "scope of practice" of MA vs LPN/LVN/RN in my state, so I checked our state laws on that subject expecting a lot of hoopla about who can do what. I was surprised to learn that there are two basic things an MA cannot do. Assessments and Triage. A receptionist has even less training than an MA. Very irritating.