why do many MAs and CNAs call themselves nurses?

[murseforever]

As I was taking care of a pt, she mentions she's also a nurse. I asked what her specialty is and where she works at. She says she works at a clinic as an MA. In my head, in what universe is an MA a nurse?!

[pixiestudent2]

I got a good one for you guys. My girlfriends exfriend who was in MA school claimed to be in medical school to get his MD. 😒

I know a girl who post about being in medical school all the time too. She goes to a for profit MA school.

Lol she looks ridiculous.

[bunnysanford]

Not quite the same, but my uncle (from a branch of the family that tends to embellish their life stories) found out I was enrolled in nursing school, and told me about how years ago he "had to quit nursing school because [he] was becoming too attached to the patients and couldn't take seeing them suffer."

I asked my mom about it later, and she scoffed, "He failed A&P and never went back, never even applied to nursing school."

I think there's a certain mindset that's prone to that -- his wife, in fact is an activities coordinator at an LTC facility. She sets up the fun stuff for the residents (which would be a cool job) but if you get her talking, she makes it sound like she is in charge of the whole place.

Part of it could also be the sentimentality of people who view nursing as their calling. Wasn't there a post here recently where someone said that everything in her heart said she was a nurse (except her state's pesky BoN hadn't gotten the memo yet), and that we could all shove it? I'm paraphrasing, and now I think I might be rambling.

[bunnysanford]

I almost forgot about my neighbor! When I moved in, she introduced herself as a nurse, but when I mentioned I was finishing up nursing school, corrected herself; she's a CNA.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

"Nurse" is not a protected title in all states, therefore not illegal in all states. I wish it was. We have a couple of male nurses who will not correct people that call them "doctor." That drives me crazy, too.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

It is also pretentious to say you are in "medical school." Nursing school, MA school, etc., is not medical school. Medical school is for doctors; nursing school is for nurses.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

I wish I had know that all I had to do was "carry myself like an RN." I could have saved myself a lot of tuition money and sleepless nights I spent studying.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

see, I don't think it's PRETENTIOUS, I think it's a bold faced LIE.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Part of it could also be the sentimentality of people who view nursing as their calling. Wasn't there a post here recently where someone said that everything in her heart said she was a nurse (except her state's pesky BoN hadn't gotten the memo yet), and that we could all shove it? I'm paraphrasing, and now I think I might be rambling.

Ya know, I do happen to vaguely remember that one.

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/nclex-pvt-1009579.html#post8691786

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I think for MA's, it is easier for them to be referred to as nurse in the physician's office. They don't have to explain the differences. It really bugs me though. My new doctor in a larger clinic has a MA as his assistant. On her name tag, it has Medical Assistant and then below it Nursing. So the name tag identifies her as an MA and her department is Nursing. I love my Dr. so am not going to change because of this, but I find that I do have to scrutinize some of the things she says. I think she gets nervous around me because she knows I am a nurse.

Every time the MAs at my doctor's office call themselves nurses or allow themselves to be referred to as such, I ask them "Oh, RN or LPN?" or "Where did you go to school?" Every. Single. Time. I quit my last PCP, much as I loved her, because she didn't "get it" when I told her that the title "nurse" is protected as she cannot let her MAs call themselves nurses. My current PCP does get it -- which is good, because I *HATE* looking for a new PCP!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Ya know, I do happen to vaguely remember that one.

https://allnurses.com/nclex-discussion-forum/nclex-pvt-1009579.html#post8691786

And it's too bad that topic is already closed.

[meowmeowchirp, BSN]

I remember a girl I graduated with posting a picture of herself in scrubs, and when a friend commented asking what she did she replied "dietician". Before I got the chance another girl had swooped in and commented "I think you meant to say you're a dietary aide".

I was so glad someone called her out!

[slauren]

It irritates me when I meet people who call themselves nurses that aren't. I worked very hard to finish school, spending three hours a day driving in the car to attend classes and going through my parent's divorce/moving out while I was learning critical care ABGs, EKGs, etc during the first week of my last semester. To me it is disrespectful unless you have gone through the hours of studying and worry yourself. Being a CNA is not being a nurse. I greatly respect my aides but if you didn't do the time to get the title don't call yourself one.