Hello all. I am a nursing student here in SC and I love this website. It has been very helpful and even though I have never directly participated on here, I have learned a lot from you all. I have decided to finally make a post, but it is not about my studies....
I know someone who works at my child's doctor's office. She refers to herself as "head nurse" there. She claims to have graduated from the school I am attending. She actually went to HS with me, but was a few years older. I noticed she was not pictured in the nursing building for the year she said she graduated as a RN. (Our school displays the pictures of all the RN & LPN graduates in the halls). I asked her about this and she told me she failed out of the RN program early on (I don't think she ever got into the program but can't be for sure), but anyway, she graduated as a surg. tech. This I have verified. She does not refer to herself as a RN and doesn't sign her name that way, but she does give shots, and everything else a nurse would do in pediatrician's office. I have also heard her mention how she's started caths for patients in the office. Does this sound right to any of you? Can surgical techs do that? She told me the Dr. knows she is a ST.
Is this legal? I don't mean to sound...picky, it just seems strange.
When a BON rep came to our nsh school to discuss ATT registration, she told us calling oneself a "nurse" is not illegal without licensure, but saying RN or LPN was.
When a BON rep came to our nsh school to discuss ATT registration she told us calling oneself a "nurse" is not illegal without licensure, but saying RN or LPN was.[/quote']
When a BON rep came to our nsh school to discuss ATT registration, she told us calling oneself a "nurse" is not illegal without licensure, but saying RN or LPN was.
Maybe in that state, but definitely not in all states."Nurse" is the operative word in most places.
1. MAs do not have to be certified to work in the US. Perhaps there is a State or two out there that requires it (should be easy enough to determine in a Google search), but by and large, NO, all that is required to work as an MA is a pulse.
2. Protecting the title of "nurse" was left up to individual States, and as far as I know, the vast majority have adopted it (through legislature). Perhaps this is not the case in Alabama, which is sad, frankly. The law is written in NYS (as well as most others) that only someone who currently holds a license as an RN or LPN may call himself or herself a nurse. No others may use that word when identifying their profession, period.
Then again, this assumes someone in the BON of any particular State will actually follow up and create an action that matters.
In answer to "What's the BoN gonna do, anyway?" the answer is probably make a phone call to that office, ask to speak to the nurse, ask some question that requires a nurse to opine on it, and then send a letter to cease and desist to the physician / practice manager with an explanation. They do it all the time, and it is not a waste of their time. It is part of their legal obligation.
I wish I had as much faith in the system as you do. I can vouch for the fact that having personally reported a situation in which non-nurses were posing as "baby nurses" for employment (in theory, as qualified infant caregivers who held nursing degrees), zero was done. Still in business.
I had staff members report a known "non-nurse" who identified herself as "the office nurse", "Dr. So-and-So's nurse", and outright stated she was an LPN (but has never been licensed, just a formality, you see). What happened? Zero again. So I guess whether the BON is interested must depend on State, mood, and interest of the BON employees. Oh well.
I wish I had as much faith in the system as you do. I can vouch for the fact that having personally reported a situation in which non-nurses were posing as "baby nurses" for employment (in theory, as qualified infant caregivers who held nursing degrees), zero was done. Still in business.
I had staff members report a known "non-nurse" who identified herself as "the office nurse", "Dr. So-and-So's nurse", and outright stated she was an LPN (but has never been licensed, just a formality, you see). What happened? Zero again. So I guess whether the BON is interested must depend on State, mood, and interest of the BON employees. Oh well.
In my state a report could be made to the BON and they can send a letter and write up an impostor alert but they are not the police. It is a class 6 felony in my state however and I could simply file a report, if I was so inclined.
I wish I had as much faith in the system as you do. I can vouch for the fact that having personally reported a situation in which non-nurses were posing as "baby nurses" for employment (in theory, as qualified infant caregivers who held nursing degrees), zero was done. Still in business.
I had staff members report a known "non-nurse" who identified herself as "the office nurse", "Dr. So-and-So's nurse", and outright stated she was an LPN (but has never been licensed, just a formality, you see). What happened? Zero again. So I guess whether the BON is interested must depend on State, mood, and interest of the BON employees. Oh well.
I would send it again, with return receipt requested, and cc'd (not blind cc'd) to my state legislator and to the consumer editor at the biggest, most influential paper in the area. That oughta shake something loose. :)
I would send it again, with return receipt requested, and cc'd (not blind cc'd) to my state legislator and to the consumer editor at the biggest, most influential paper in the area. That oughta shake something loose. :)
Yeah, that might just do it. At the time, I made an initial phone call, asking for the process, how I should proceed, etc, after outlining the issue. Was told to send it in an email. So....I did that. NO response. Sent another email (return receipt this time). I got the notice saying it was received, but still no response. Made another phone call....and was told it "takes time" to investigate these things. Oh, ok. Bottom line? Nothing was done. And frankly, *I* was done; since my professional representatives, the ones supposedly safeguarding this profession, chose to do nothing, I think my part was finished as well.
I wonder if/when something will go down that will bring down that entire practice. I wonder if/when someone will make the *right* complaint (probably after someone is hurt )
I have moved on, and am no longer in that setting. At this time, I work in an environment that most definitely DOES take licensing quite seriously, and NO ONE gets hired without proper documentation, evidence of everything they claim. It's kinda nice, actually :)
As a CMA (AAMA), the number one thing that stressed to us in our education and at our conventions is that we are NOT nurses and we should never, ever, ever represent ourselves as nurses. We should proudly wear our titles as CMA's.
Medical assistants are definitely, yet sadly, not required to be certified to find employment. A point that is being overlooked in this thread must be clarified. Though one is not certified (passed a national certification exam), one is formally educated as a medical assistant and may possess a diploma or degree in such a program. At least that is how it is in the Midwest.
I must also stress, something that is also often overlooked on this website, is that "medical assistant" can be an extremely varying term dependent on which region of the US you live in. Medical assistant roles in the doctor's office can range anywhere from primarily office administrative to surg-tech-like to a nursing role (though we realize were not bloody nurses!). When people talk about medical assistants on AN in a big, general way it's extremely misleading. It'd be nice to know where your MAs hail from to actually get a better picture of what their duties might be.
To answer the OP's question- the surg-tech shouldn't be calling herself a nurse ( I also was always under the impression that this was illegal) and the staff (receptionists and providers) may need to be educated on how wrong it is to pass off their non-nurse staff as a nurse (and how lazy they are to not use the correct title). I work with many receptionists that like to pass the phone to CMAs when the patient wants to speak to a "nurse". It doesn't mean that the CMA is trying to be themselves off as a nurse, it is merely the receptionist who doesn't understand or doesn't feel like explaining the difference. It's also frustrating when the patient needs an RN to triage their call. No matter what kind of training CMAs have, they are NOT supposed to be triaging.
This isn't just infuriating to nurses-this situation sucks for us CMAs, as well.
)
NurseNightOwl, BSN, RN
1 Article; 225 Posts
When a BON rep came to our nsh school to discuss ATT registration, she told us calling oneself a "nurse" is not illegal without licensure, but saying RN or LPN was.