Is it ok to call CNA's nurses?

[jean36]

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.

[belgarion]

I've noticed a trend in some hospitals in my neck of the woods to make the change from Certified Nurses Aide to Patient Care Tech or Patient Care Attendant. Personally I think these better describe what they do. It also take the "nurse" out of their title. Could help avoid confusion on the part of lay people.

[Moogie]

Isn't the "LPNs not being nurses" thing some old belief? We have a resident at my LTC who used to be an LPN and I said something to her one day like, "well you already knew that because you were a nurse" and she really downplayed it, saying she "just passed meds and such" and that "practicals" didn't really get any respect back then.

It's sad to see, as evidenced by so many threads on this forum deriding the importance of LPNs, that the "practicals" often don't get a lot of respect even today.