MA's Calling Themselves Nurses?

anyone can legally call themselves a "nurse". however, only those w/ an RN license can call themselves a "registered nurse". report them to the board of nurses. .

Or LPNs can call themselves 'licensed practical nurse'.

Calling yourself 'nurse' when you're not is just wrong, because it gives off the wrong impression. It's fraud.

anyone can legally call themselves a "nurse". however, only those w/ an RN license can call themselves a "registered nurse". report them to the board of nurses. they should be the ones to deal w/ this person.

Better be careful with that assumption. Many states actually have laws that the title "NURSE" is every bit as much protected as the titles "registered nurse" or "Licensed practical nurse" or "RN" and "LPN". My state recently became one of them. If you are not an RN or LPN, in my state as well as others with similar laws, you cannot legally call yourself a nurse.

No one can legally call themselves a nurse ,unless they are one PERIOD!!!!

anyone can legally call themselves a "nurse". however, only those w/ an RN license can call themselves a "registered nurse". report them to the board of nurses. they should be the ones to deal w/ this person.

I just wanted to let you know that MA's shouldn't be called nurses at all because they don't do nearly what the nurses do but they do more than nurses aids they can draw blood and give shoots but that is about all the ivasive procedures that we are aloud to do. And to become and MA is only a 9 moths course but can be 13 months depending on the school.

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?

Nursing is team work, one of the reasons I never was offended by the term "nurse".>>

Yes, nursing is 'team" work, but different players on the team have different positions and therefor different skills and different backgrounds. That's the way it is and should be. A Ward clerk is extremely valuable but her medical expertise is limited. She may know all the terms and the meds names but that does not give her license to step beyond those boundaries.

Betsy RNC

Well stated BETS RN !!

Actually that isn't true. I live in CA, went to a community college and took the ADN route. I did not have to be a CNA or MA first.

Dear Steph,

In my post I said "CNA or equivalent training." At our community college,

the equivalent training course is called "Basic Skills for the Health Care

Provider".

Perhaps your school did not separate it. I think it's good to have

it as a separate class or separate training before being accepted

into the program, especially since the part about "peri-care" seems

to be a good filter to weed out students who to that point had

not fully considered what patient care entailed.

MrNurse2U

I feel like this until MA has endured the work, I went through he/she has no right to put that word in their mouth. Last I checked MD's do not dish out licensure so their word means squat.

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Technically you are correct of course. However, I'm sure you know that

in the minds of patients seeking care, they generally take all the

doctors' words as Gospel accurate truth. A loose-lipped doctor

and a self-important MA is what leads to this "poser" problem, I think.

The bottom line is that everyone wants to take a piece of what nurses do on a daily basis yet doesn't have a clue what nursing really entails. We are the backbone of the healthcare profession and every agency or some crack pot legislation is always trying to justify why unlicensed personnel should be able to do 1/8 of our job when it is not what nursing is all about! Nursing has came a long way and has a ways to go! :angryfire

AMEN!

MrNurse2U

Good God! CNA's can't even pass out meds in California. It's allowed in some states, but not here, and she's not even a CNA?

In some states, such as Minnesota, CNA's that take extra training and

get an endorsement to pass meds have a slightly different title,

namely "Medication Nursing Assistant: MNA", and they can only do this in

a nursing home (MN Rules 4658.1360). I think other states such as

New Hampshire and Kentucky (probably others, but definitely not

California), have this designation as well.

In my classes, I notice that techs, aides, etc. who flunk out, also tend to be the ones who claim they know just as much as nurses.

They were just fooling themselves, of course.

MrNurse2U

Just FYI: Some ADN programs require CNA training as a pre-requisite, but not all of them do. It is not a statewide requirement, but a discretionary thing which varies between schools.

Maybe it's a per-county deal. Is it really not the case that at some

point CNA-type training is given in any program?

I know that in the count in which I live, there is such a high demand

for relatively few student slots that they need as many "filter out"

opportunities as possible.

I was a Medical Assistant for 8 years. In school, I had one teacher that I will never forget. She specifically told us to NEVER refer to ourselves as nurses. I am not sure if she was trying to scare us or if it is true, but she told us that if we even let someone think we are a nurse, we would be held to the standards of a nurse if something happened and they sued. I never forgot that and never let anyone think I was a nurse.

That said, doctors frequently referred to me as a nurse. It is very common in doctors offices as many have said. (I haven't read all the replies) I always corrected anyone who called me a nurse. Even a pediatrician I worked for for several years that would come out of a room and tell the pt that her "nursie-poo" would be in to give shots or whatever. I asked her to call me her assistant or helper (for the kids benefit) or just MA.

We were sometimes responsible for triage calls when I worked in Peds and the RN we had on staff was too busy or out. The front office staff would tell them a nurse would call them back, mostly out of habit I think. I always prefaced my calls with "Hi this is Pepper, Dr. So and So's medical assistant. Our nurse is (fill in the blank) and I am helping to return calls. How can I help you?"

I rarely believe the person at the doctor's office that says they are a nurse. It is so common for them to use the term loosely.

I think it is wrong to call anyone who is not a nurse a nurse. Nurses have a lot more education and a license and the liabilities that go along with that. I have known many MAs that were more knowlegable than some nurses I know, but they are still MAs. Period. I even correct people now that call me a nurse. I tell them I have finished school, but don't am not officially a nurse until I pass the boards. (which hopefully will be tomorrow when I take NCLEX for the first time!!!!!)

I think that doctors offices should be educated about the fact that this is wrong and leads to a false sense of security sometimes from patient's who think they have gotten advice from a "nurse". Having been an MA, I know there are some awesome MAs out there that really know their stuff and some that just did the 9 month course and have technical skills. I do know that places I have worked were influenced by my refusal to be called a nurse and things eventually changed!

I wonder how a certified medical assistant would feel about a person who was hired to work in a doctor's office, with no prior experience or credentials, with OTJ training only, calling themselves a "medical assistant". (After all, they do the same thing, right?)

As a Certified Medical Assistant, it actually wouldn't bother me personally. I know what MAs were designed to do and it is truly a job where you can be trained on the job. It is a skill based job (or should be used as that). I know many an OTJ trained MA that was very proficient at their job. I got my certification for me. I knew that it would not get me better pay or anything. It was a personal achievement.

Most MA schools are technical schools (at least here) anyway and they learn HOW to do things, not why or when. My school actually had very little hands on practice. We learned the whys of things. Our externship was where we really got to do hands on practice. I was very lucky to have learned all that I did in MA school.

We even had RNs that taught about medication administration and the whole class had to keep taking math med admin quizzes until we all got 100%.