"Alphabet Soup" After Nurses' Name?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi all! Quick intro: I'm a second semester student nurse in an AS Nursing program who has been snooping around these boards for a while! It's about time I registered as a user here and I'm glad I did. I love this board! :redpinkhe

So, I am looking into personalizing a gift for one of my favorite instructors. It's a simple mousepad and I'm able to put her name on it. I was thinking about including all of her titles on it, but don't know if I should (she will soon have her Phd in nursing, and as of now is only MSN). Anyways, I'll figure that out later.

My question is, what does all this "alphabet soup" after her name mean anyways?!

Her e-mails used to be signed:

Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C

Now, they are signed:

Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C, D(S)

I think I'm going to just keep it simple and put Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor on her gift, but I'm still curious!

Thanks all! I will be around & interacting more often now that I'm a user :)

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

I think it becomes silly looking myself. Granted we work hard for degrees and certifications, but I've even seen people add "ACLS, PALS, TNCC" and other stuff. Keep it simple is my feeling, other than legal documents I just sign "RN, Etc." and leave it at that.

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Specializes in ER.
I think it becomes silly looking myself. Granted we work hard for degrees and certifications, but I've even seen people add "ACLS, PALS, TNCC" and other stuff. Keep it simple is my feeling, other than legal documents I just sign "RN, Etc." and leave it at that.

I agree! I am simply Dixielee, RN

I have two Bachelor's degrees am working on a Masters and have multiple certifications. If I planned to speak at a conference or write a professional article then I may need to list degrees, etc. but to me, RN is sufficient. I am confident enough that I don't have to announce to the world how wonderful I am so they will be impressed. I'm just me, and happy with that! :yeah:

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Her e-mails used to be signed:

Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C

Now, they are signed:

Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor, MSN, RN, C, D(S)

I think I'm going to just keep it simple and put Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor on her gift, but I'm still curious!

Thanks all! I will be around & interacting more often now that I'm a user :)

i 'think' the first one means, (do you want to know about what msn means?) c= certified

the second i 'think', means doctoral (student).

could be wrong, i'll await others replies.

leslie

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

I have an ADN, a BA a MS and I'm working on my BSN.

And I'm just Nerd, RN.

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i 'think' the first one means, (do you want to know about what msn means?) c= certified

the second i 'think', means doctoral (student).

could be wrong, i'll await others replies.

leslie

I think Leslie has it right.

D(S) means doctoral student?

C means certified?

MSN of course means Masters Science of Nursing

Is this right guys?

BTW, I took the advice and just put Ms. Amazing Nursing Instructor on her gift!

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

Off topic, BUT! Funny, with all the titles or not, there seems to be no consensus about how we're addressed verbally. Docs get Dr soandso, but nurses? It used to be a non issue to me, but with so many people calling themselves nurses because they have all these degrees as assistants (not meaning to to belittle them or anyone) but I think it's time for "Nurse (insert last name here)" to become the standard. We're told we're professionals, to act like professionals, we're held to professional standards, how 'bout a professional title when we're addressed?

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i hate to buck the trend here, but hiding nursing's light under a bushel isn't something we have to facilitate. god knows the culture does it well enough for us.

when i was a clinical specialist i got all the nurses in the icu name tags with their degrees and certifications on them. this accomplished several things:

1) patients and families asked, "what does that mean?" and we got to tell them that this nurse had been to college and then gone the extra mile (or three) to obtain advanced education and passed a national examination for excellence in critical care nursing. :up:

1a) the ones who said, "i didn't know there were different kinds of nurses, i thought all rns were the same" learned something about our profession.:up:

1b) the students who came through from the local cc got ideas about setting their sights higher:up:

2) nurses on other floors started wondering if there were certifications they could earn, too:up:

3) physicians started paying more attention to those awards-- see, they thought all nurses were the same, too. :up:

i have a lot of alphabet soup on my business cards; when people ask, i smile and say, "a lot of expensive education," and if they want specifics i tell them.:nurse: i am damn proud of what it took to acquire (and takes to keep) all those; why shouldn't people know that nursing can do that? to prevent someone else from feeling bad? "no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." if you're used to everyone being treated the same-- everyone in the league gets a big trophy even if your team sucks-- well, welcome to the big world :D. it's not like that everywhere.:twocents:

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

It has been my experience that the more knowledge and the more credentials a person has the less need they feel to advertise them.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.

I like to use my alphbet soup! I'm "HospiceNurseLPN, CHPLN". It's on my name badge and I sign things that way. I worked darned hard for the certification and I'm proud of it.

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i never understood if one is truly secure within themself, why they'd be bothered by others achievements?

i just don't get it.

leslie

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

I read an article the other day by someone who had no less than 20 letters after her name. That was a bit much, too me.

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