Is it ok to call CNA's nurses?

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this is not an offence to those who are cna's, were cna's or yet to become cna's. i was just wondering if it's ok to call a cna a nurse. i've heard a lot of educated people as well as non educated call then nurses, even on cnn, a few days ago, a gentleman was on tv who apparently was changing his career i think from a sales rep. to nursing, according to him, but during the interview i heard him say he's a cna and how he's aspiring to advance his education with an adn or even pa. however, during the conversation, he was been portrayed as someone who's changed his career to nursing. as said earlier, i've heard this time and again. just wondering.

Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
op: i saw this interview too; he is not even a cna!!!! he is a student trying to obtain his license to be a cna from what i could see. so it is not even ok to call him a cna.... i wish the news reporter respected titles with licenses. if i knew how to complain i would because that student was neither a cna nor a nurse. not to mention, the report did not mention that there is no nursing shortage in many areas of the country at this time so these students may not find a job when they graduate.

ah, but since when does the news media care about accuracy?

on our local news, there was a story about h1n1 in the schools and an interview with a school nurse. no listing of her credentials, so i honestly don't know if she was an rn, lpn or medical assistant---another group often erroneously called "nurses".

i agree with the other posters; it's one thing to say that someone is in the nursing field if he/she is a cna but completely wrong to refer to him/her as a nurse unless a licensed rn or practical/vocational nurse.

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They are in nursing. They shouldn't call themselves nurses, but I don't much care if the general public mistakes an aide in scrubs for a nurse.

Yesterday, I had a resident whose butt looked to be itching to develop a bedsore. I asked the aide, who has been on the unit, what she'd like to see for a skin treatment. I ran it by the charge and instituted her recommendation. She's been watching butts heal for 14 years. She might not have the initials but she sure does have the experience. I was grateful for her input.

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Specializes in Emergency Medicine.
Um, no. Only an RN, or LPN can legally be called a nurse.
Whatever

So many sensitivities here on the forum...

I see confusion all the time in identifying specific personnel in the healthcare team. Sometimes this can be a problem in some emergencies. Phlebotomists, CNA's/Techs, radiology techs, registration clerks all running around in scrubs get mislabled some of the time and all are almost always useless during a code.:chuckle

So many problems that some hospitals are bringing back the nursing caps to identify the nurses in the healthcare setting. I believe most have at least placed large tags behind ID Tags that say RN, LVN/LPN, CNA. One hospital I was working @ implemented a dress code policy that tagged certain colors with specific staff in order to tell everyone apart.

Now, that being said why are people so caught up in labels and titles? Is CNA a bad word? Like calling a Combat Medic "Doc" I feel that in certain environments people can get away with calling a CNA a nurse because they will in certain cases actually provide MORE care to patients than a "Nurse". Illegal though??? I think not.

I think the CNA should be proud of their role in healthcare and be self-confident enough to let someone know that they aren't a nurse but a CNA. There are tactful ways of letting families know the difference.

I love my CNA's, Medics, Techs. They are a valuable asset when used correctly. Mentor them and you have the ability to create an awesome future nurse. For all you stuck on titles you can then call them future nurses and feel better about it.

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Specializes in Emergency.
For all you stuck on titles you can then call them future nurses and feel better about it.

Following your logic, it wouldn't be a big deal to call a teacher's aid a teacher, or a car mechanic an engineer, or a physician's assistant a physician, and so on and so on. I think it's pretty important to call people their correct title and I expect people to do the same for me.

A lot of times the local and national media throw the title "nurse" around to anyone wearing scrubs without doing any research.

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Specializes in LTC.

No. They're not nurses. But I wouldn't say they weren't in the field of nursing..they are..

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The media are always calling people who do not hold a nursing license nurses. Debbie Rowe is always being called a nurse when she is an MA. Which is why I don't believe a lot of stuff in the press is 100% accurate.

We had a family at the weekend who kept calling the 17 year old private sitter that they had hired a nurse.

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Specializes in LTC.

No its not ok to call cna nurses. But now days in the hospital or anywhere else we all look the same. You cant tell a housekeeper from a doctor or a cna from a nurse.

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No, CNAs aren't nurses. I don't even consider LPNs nurses...the title even states practical nurse.

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Specializes in LTC.
No, CNAs aren't nurses. I don't even consider LPNs nurses...the title even states practical nurse.

You SO did not say that....I have a LICENSE as a NURSE. I am a nurse thank you very much.The State board considers me a NURSE..therefore I am one..ooooh.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
They are in nursing. They shouldn't call themselves nurses, but I don't much care if the general public mistakes an aide in scrubs for a nurse.

Yesterday, I had a resident whose butt looked to be itching to develop a bedsore. I asked the aide, who has been on the unit, what she'd like to see for a skin treatment. I ran it by the charge and instituted her recommendation. She's been watching butts heal for 14 years. She might not have the initials but she sure does have the experience. I was grateful for her input.

I agree with you that expertise is not necessarily related to the number of degrees or initials behind one's name. But it does concern me when the general public is so confused as to what nursing is that they misidentify UAPs as nurses and then make blanket statements about "nurses" when in fact they are referring to CNAs, med assistants and the like. People who don't know the difference wonder how someone can be a "nurse" when they only go to a six-week training program while others go for bachelor's and even master's degrees. And if someone gets bad advice or poor care from a "nurse" who is, in fact, an unlicensed worker, it can reflect poorly on licensed nurses who have earned the right to be called nurses.

BTW, I disagree with the poster who does not consider LPNs to be nurses. They may have different responsibilities and are utilized differently than RNs but they are still licensed nurses and deserve to be recognized and respected as such.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

The interesting thing is that the really good CNAs are the first ones to anounce that they are a CNA, while not so good ones will introduce themselves as nurses. It's not ok for CNAs to be called nurses, because the title reflects scope of practice. For the same reason, I like to introduce myself as LPN while at work. I do like to call the good CNAs "power CNA" or "ACES" and outside of work, you better believe I call myself a nurse.

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Specializes in SNF.
No, CNAs aren't nurses. I don't even consider LPNs nurses...the title even states practical nurse.

???wow???:down:

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