Ok, we've just switched doctors under our medical plan. So I go in for a routine checkup, etc. at this clinic. They tell me the nurse will be with me shortly. Of course, since I'm a student, I always ask nurses how they like their jobs etc. So I ask: You're a nurse, right? She nods. How do you like the job ... blah, blah blah ... Not once did she correct me. Then I ask where she went to school. When she names the school, I'm confused because I've never heard of it.
That's when she says, "Oh ... I'm an MA."
Then the doctor comes in, and tells me "the nurse will be with you shortly." I'm like ... what nurse? Then I find out that everybody at the "Nurses Station" is actually an MA, but everyone, from the receptionist to the doctors, are referring to these MA's as nurses. My husband, who has to go in fairly frequently, says they told him the same thing ... that these MA's were nurses.
Now, I don't know if there's actually anything wrong with this, and maybe this isn't a big deal but, it seemed really weird to me. I've been to other doctor's offices where the staff was very careful to tell me they were MA's, not nurses. Especially when I asked if they were a nurse or not.
Any thoughts? Is this allowed? Why would even doctors refer to MA's as nurses?
Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
According to Indiana's nurse practice act, it is a class B misdemeanor to be "A person who uses in connection with the person's name any designation tending to imply that the person is a Registered Nurse or a Licensed Practical Nurse unless licensed to practice under this chapter."
That appears open to intrepretation, but I believe a reasonable argument can be made for calling oneself a nurse implying to the lay public that one is an RN or LPN.
Always important to know one's nurse practice act :).
May I ask which state you are in? Maybe others from the same state would be able to shed some light as to why there isn't an impersonation law there?
Currently MO, have worked KS and AR.
The only impersonation laws that I have come across (searching the net), do not specify the term "nurse", except in conjunction with Registered "Nurse", Licensed "Nurse", Advanced "Nurse", "Nurse Practioner.
That leaves me to believe that the term "nurse" isn't illegal.
(example- an MA says to a clinic patient "I will be your nurse today"-this isn't illegal, maybe seen as tacky to some people?)
Any other info out there? More than willing to listen and heed..
California State Code states: 2796. It is unlawful for any person or persons not licensed or certified as provided in this chapter to use the title "registered nurse," the letters "R.N. ," or the words "graduate nurse," "trained nurse," or "nurse anesthetist."
It is unlawful for any person or persons not licensed or certified
as provided in this chapter to impersonate a professional nurse or
pretend to be licensed to practice professional nursing as provided
in this chapter.
Which state is it illegal to use the term "nurse"? Not sarcastic, just curious.
Actually, you may not have the right reference there, at least regarding the Business and Professions Code in California:
The only impersonation laws that I have come across (searching the net), do not specify the term "nurse", except in conjunction with Registered "Nurse", Licensed "Nurse", Advanced "Nurse", "Nurse Practioner.
That leaves me to believe that the term "nurse" isn't illegal.
(example- an MA says to a clinic patient "I will be your nurse today"-this isn't illegal, maybe seen as tacky to some people?)
Any other info out there? More than willing to listen and heed..
Nurse Practice Act of the State of Arkansas
Title 17 - Professions, Occupations, and Businesses
Subtitle 3 - Medical Professions
Chapter 87 - Nurses
Section 17-87-104 Penalty
(a) (1) It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to:
(D) Use in connection with his or her name any of the following titles, names, or initials, if the user is not properly licensed under this chapter:
(i) Nurse;
(ii) Registered nurse or R.N.;
(iii) Advanced practice nurse, or A.P.N., or any of the following:
~~~~ list goes on ~~~~
Edited to add - this is also illegal in Kansas under State Statute 65-1114.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Missouri Nurse Practice Act
Section 335.076
3. No person shall practice or offer to practice professional nursing or practical nursing in this state for compensation or use any title, sign, abbreviation, card, or device to indicate that such person is a practicing professional nurse or practical nurse unless he has been duly licensed under the provisions of sections 335.011 to 335.096.
The only impersonation laws that I have come across (searching the net), do not specify the term "nurse", except in conjunction with Registered "Nurse", Licensed "Nurse", Advanced "Nurse", "Nurse Practioner.
That leaves me to believe that the term "nurse" isn't illegal.
(example- an MA says to a clinic patient "I will be your nurse today"-this isn't illegal, maybe seen as tacky to some people?)
Any other info out there? More than willing to listen and heed..
just a student here, but I would be willing to wager that to the general public, if someone calls themself a nurse, most people will automatically assume you are an RN. Most people aren't even aware of LPN status. (at least most people that I know.) If you are in a healthcare setting using the term "nurse" when by license you aren't one, even if you don't use the term RN or LPN you would still be in violation. Look at it this way, What if you called yourself Dr. Jane Doe in a clinical setting. What is the obvious assumption? Yet you didn't say I am Jane Doe MD, (which would technically be the illegal act) but you are implying a certain level of education, knowledge and competence that you don't have. If some Nurse or MA was referring to themselves as a doctor and gave out the wrong advice in the clinic and it resulted in harm you bet a lawsuit would be immiment because in the clinical setting, the assumption is that a "doctor" is one of medicine, not a preacher, english prof or the voodoo doc down the street who can cure anything with vodka. The same is such that in a clinical setting the term "nurse" means licensed and educated as such, not the lady down the street who used to breast feed everybodies kids long ago.
At my school, when we do our clinicals, they refer to us as "Student Nurses". I guess as long at the "Student" is attached, the patients know to brace themselves LOL
When I was in LPN school the nursing director who taught our ethics class even told us that there might be a time when a new RN might ask us to show her how to insert a catheter or change a PEG tube (since the main focus for RN's in school is knowledge and management) but as LPN's we should not make the erroneous assumption that we would have the educational level of an RN. I have been taking my pre-requisites (will start the actual nursing program January 3, 2005--so excited) and now realize what she meant. This director also told us she believed that all nurses should be required to become LPN's before they became RN's because to respect what each does you need to be one. I tend to agree with her there.
Still, and MA, or CNA or surgical tech. is not a nurse even in the slightest sense and I would feel terribly betrayed to find out that the person I decided to entrust (before I became a nurse I trusted blindly, the longer I work in the medical field the less blind trust I am willing to give) with my health and well being was not a nurse...I read a statistic not long ago that there are something like 200,000 deaths in the US every year that can be attributed to medical errors. Makes me wonder if maybe some of these cases involved MA's and CNA's performing duties they did not have the training or knowledge to do?
Still, and MA, or CNA or surgical tech. is not a nurse even in the slightest sense and I would feel terribly betrayed to find out that the person I decided to entrust (before I became a nurse I trusted blindly, the longer I work in the medical field the less blind trust I am willing to give) with my health and well being was not a nurse...I read a statistic not long ago that there are something like 200,000 deaths in the US every year that can be attributed to medical errors. Makes me wonder if maybe some of these cases involved MA's and CNA's performing duties they did not have the training or knowledge to do?
job descriptions have nothing to do with it. In Texas it is against the law to represent oneself as a nurse if you are not. Same with any profession. I, as a nurse, cannot call myself an attorney or an electrician, etc. Having worked for MDs many years I believe the real problem is a lack of respect for anyone who is not an MD. The MA should take some action, though, to correct this. And you might look up your nurse practice act to see what is allowed in your state, then let the MA or MD know (for their own good!)
I recently graduated, but not so long ago I was in clinical and a surgeon asked me a question. I didn't know the answer and told him that I was "only a student". He looked at me very seriously and said that I should never call myself "only" anything. He said using "only" negated all of the hardwork and sacrifice that it took to become a student nurse. He said that I should be proud of all that I had accomplished so far, and should not refer to myself as "only a student" again. He was right. It takes a lot of sacrifice and hardwork to become a student nurse, and that much more to become licensed or registered as a nurse. Be proud of what you have accomplished.
just a student here, but I would be willing to wager that to the general public, if someone calls themself a nurse, most people will automatically assume you are an RN. Most people aren't even aware of LPN status. (at least most people that I know.) If you are in a healthcare setting using the term "nurse" when by license you aren't one, even if you don't use the term RN or LPN you would still be in violation.
Apparently you would be in violation in some states--BUT NOT IN ALL, and that is what I am asking for information about.
Obviously, in Missouri, you would NOT be in violation, but, apparently you would in Arkansas.
Different cultures, different times, patience is still a virtue, isn't it?
Years ago, to repeat, the term "nurse" was a generalized term in some cultures.
REALLY GREAT POST!!!!
LydiaGreen
358 Posts
May I ask which state you are in? Maybe others from the same state would be able to shed some light as to why there isn't an impersonation law there?