I had a curious encounter at the doctor's office today. When I went in for my physical, a woman in scrubs came in ahead of the doc. She was wearing scrubs but no name tag. We hadn't met before, so I asked if she was a nurse. Yes, she replied.
I then presented her with paperwork outlining the shots I needed for school. As she looked over the paperwork, she volunteered that she was not a nurse but, in fact, a medical assistant. Oh, really? I replied. Where do you go to school for that? (I was genuinely curious.)
Well, she replied, she didn't go to school. She wasn't a "certified medical assistant," in her words, but "had a lot of experience." In fact, she'd been a CNA for 16 years, but this particular medical practice, as she explained it, "isn't like a hospital and doesn't care if you're ceritified." Hmm. Later on, the doctor sent her back to draw blood.
What would your reaction be? Obviously, she called herself a nurse, and she isn't one. (I wonder if she would have volunteered that info had she not seen my paperwork.) She called herself a medical assistant, then volunteered that she wasn't credentialed. I know nothing about MAs. Is that kosher? And what level of license does someone have to hold to be allowed to draw blood? (For what it's worth, this is the only person I've dealt with in many years at this doctor's office who wasn't wearing a name tag with credentials. Is there any kind of identification requirement?)
Candidate Edwards Spends Day Walking in an Area Nurse's Shoes
"As part of a job-shadowing day organized by the Service Employees International Union, a certified nursing assistant of New Rochelle, Elaine Ellis, was met by Mr. Edwards at her one-bedroom home at 5:15 a.m. yesterday and then led him through her day at the Sarah Neuman nursing home, where she has worked for 18 years. "
Candidate Edwards Spends Day Walking in an Area Nurse's Shoes
"As part of a job-shadowing day organized by the Service Employees International Union, a certified nursing assistant of New Rochelle, Elaine Ellis, was met by Mr. Edwards at her one-bedroom home at 5:15 a.m. yesterday and then led him through her day at the Sarah Neuman nursing home, where she has worked for 18 years. "
UGH!!!!
Thank you!
No one here is disputing the fact that the public needs to be educated for goodness sake. We have known this for a LONG time! That issue is not what we were disputing. It was with the MA in the OP's first post. Why am I back in this thread:smackingf
I really have a problem with this. In our hospital we are required to wear badges and I actually find myself looking at them a lot when standing in elevators or waiting in line, etc. wondering, "Oh who is that nicely dressed person or what dept does that person work in? I find out they are lab techs, housekeeping, pharmacy techs, social services, dietary, radiology, OR teach, tele techs, administration (ok they are usually wearing suits). Why does everyone who works in a medical setting get to wear scrubs? It's still office work but all our unit secretaries, or any non-admins who sit at a desk most of the day - they wear scrubs. The entire doctor's office including the women who answer phones and make appts all day - scrubs. Housekeeping? Scrubs.
In the doctors office or outpatient setting no one is wearing nametags, not even the doctors. In our hospital a lot of the MDs wear white lab coats with their name Dr. Blahblah, MD, Cardiology, embroidered on it and I think it's nice. In the office, no, but obviously you probably know who you're there to see. But no one else is wearing them. Who calls my name and ushers me in, who takes my insurance info? Who is the person taking my kid's vital signs, weighing them, who is taking my history and asking what meds I'm taking? Who is administering my child's vaccinations or breathing treatments? Who is telling me how to administer his medication and what to look for? I want to know who these people are. The name would be a good start but I never even get that.
I've quit describing myself as a nurse or asking if others are a nurse. I say "I'm an RN" and "Are you an RN?" That is the only answer that seems to be specific enough.
THe fact of the matter is that a person calling themself a "nurse" in a medical setting knows full well that the are representing themself as a licensed nurse to the public when they are not. The Physicians that allow this practice would probably have a frickin cow if the PA-C/NP's started calling themselves "doctor" simply to save time and confusion. :uhoh21: I did clinicals in a clinic this past winter and always introduced myself as the student nurse working with your medical assistant today. Nobody looked confused. APN/PA/CRNA/AA shouldn't call themselves doctor ____ and CNA/MA/CMA/CST shouldn't call themselves nurse_____. THis is particularly important for the clinical settings.
Just for the record - not getting involved with the current debate lol - I just ran across that article searching for something else and I found it ironic as I'd just been reading this thread earlier today. I was surprised a reporter would make this kind of error to write an article about Senator Kerry shadowing a nursing assistant and then putting NURSE in the headline. Or maybe it's the editor at fault?
I'm with the OP here. Lay people equate "nurse" with RN or LVN. To be a nurse is to be licensed. To nurse someone is to care for someone or feed a baby. She did not say "I'm here to nurse you." She said "I'm the nurse." To call oneself a nurse when one is not licensed is deliberately misleading.
i agree 100% as usual tazzi well said.she is not a nurse.
They graduate from a nine month program called "medical assisting" and DON'T KNOW that they are NOT A NURSE????
:confused:
yeah i thought the same thing .its called medical assistant school NOT nursing school.so they must be pretty stupid to think they are nurses after 9 months.ie they don't sit at an exam get a nursing license.
I was surprised a reporter would make this kind of error to write an article about Senator Kerry shadowing a nursing assistant and then putting NURSE in the headline. Or maybe it's the editor at fault?
My daughter is taking a CNA class through ROP; in the beginning she would tell me about her "nursing class"........."In my nursing class we learned (fill in blank)". I set her straight very quickly.
yeah i thought the same thing .its called medical assistant school NOT nursing school.so they must be pretty stupid to think they are nurses after 9 months.ie they don't sit at an exam get a nursing license.
Wow. It's funny how judgmental some people are.
Not everyone knows you take an exam to become a nurse. My friend who USED to go to that school is NOT stupid, she was TOLD that by a recruiter, so I guess HE was the stupid one.
My point of commenting on this thread isn't to debate, I really think some posters aren't getting that some people DO NOT know what a nurse is.
Think about it, there are people who watch ER, GREY's anatomy and actually think that doctor's run the show (please).
Before school, I though you actually shocked a asystole (flat line) and a whole host of other things that just don't happen.
When I visited my grandmother's friend in the nursing home when I was little, I always heard people refer to the techs as the nurses.
When I started working as a CNA in a nursing home the patient's called me nurse. I would say I was their tech over and over and they never stopped callin me that. The family did the same.
We had an intersting debate on infant mortality today in clinical and some people couldn't understand why some women did not get prenatal care that may have stopped the fetal demise. "Don't they know you have to go to the doctor?"
NO.
Some people don't know that and there are lots of reasons why and maybe THEY do know and CAN'T.
I'm glad to say I think those people learned something about people today.
Like I said, I'm not trying to debate, it just seems like people are so quit to jump down people's throat.
I just have been on both sides and I see why people say and do the things they do. It doesn't make it right, but realize, people do NOT all have the same experinces and knowledge.
I think the assistant or whatever she is should be cautioned against using the term "nurse" so loosely. Of course it's offensive to us because we know how hard it was to get through school and how hard it is to be a nurse. My problems with this are: 1. She shouldn't be calling herself a nurse. 2. Does she really understand how important sterility and cleanliness is? 3. She has no right to be giving medication (if she did so) 4. Using unlicensed personnel to do nurse jobs is only opening the door for RNs to be undervalued even more and eventually someone will get the bright idea that untrained persons could give meds to hospitalized pts and have an expanded role in the care of such patients.
its not a matter of being judgemental .i have good friends that are ma ,cna lpn etc .and yes the recruiter is wrong to be telling these students that when they grad they are nurses.someone should straighten him out .i don't know your friend so i certainly was n't calling her stupid.however ma and cna go to medical asst training /school when they grad they are ma or cna .when a person goes to nursing school then grad they have a degree then sit at exam ,pass the test and gets their license to practice as lpn/rn a nurse.yes the public has no idea what we as nurses do and thats partially nursings fault for not educating the public .yes many people do think any person in mds office is a nurse.but just because they think that does not make it right .and we as nurses have a responsibility to educate people about what we do . i am a nurse for 20 yrs i have earned this title and am proud of it. when someone misrepresents themselves purposely as a nurse when they are not it angers and upsets me.that is my opinion and i have a right to it.
:confused: 
Lisa CCU RN, RN
1,531 Posts
Thank you!