"You cannot have BSN or MSN on your nametag?"

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello,

My supervisor told me tonight that HR was getting complaints from patients stating, "The BSN nurse gave better care than the non-BSN nurse." End result, only RN will go on namebadge.

I do not want to debate whether BSN nurses are better or worse. What I would like feedback on is:

1.) Can a hospital legally take away your title of RN, BSN or RN MSN, etc.?

2.) I personally feel that is a "slap" in the face and demoralizes nursing and education! Am I the only one who feels like this?

"My supervisor told me tonight that HR was getting complaints"

What on earth is HR doing fielding patient complaints?

Welcome to modern day hospitals. Nursing managers aren't allowed to wipe without directions from HR.

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Specializes in Vascular Access Nurse.

our hospital allows only your professional title....rn, lpn, md, pt, etc. no education level or certification. under our title is the department we work in....micu, ed, peds etc. it matters not to me, i only want the pt to see that i'm an rn.....they really don't care beyond that.

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Her point is valid. It is especially valid considering that this discussion is rooted in the notion of people being allowed to take pride in their intellectual accomplishments. She has explained that the coursework she completed for her degree is quite relevant to nursing and to medicine. Perhaps to her, the work she put in for her bachelor's degree does mean something, just the same as those here who have stated that they would like their BSN to be recognized as meaningful - an assertion which you support. They and holisticallyminded are saying the same things. In all fairness, shouldn't we then, also characterize the BSN earners in this thread who have posted similar concerns as having chips on their shoulders?

AGAIN I say that I said NOTHING about her education not being valuable. ANY EDUCATION is valuable. Why do people want to create an argument where there is none?????

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The facility where I work encourages the addition of degrees and certs on the badge as well as ladder designations. The newsletters have special sections for staff who cert, earn a new degree and who are published. I think it does encourage staff to learn and grow and allows nurses who are actively improving their shills to wear the accomplishments with a sense of pride. My designations are on mine and I have students and other nurses ask me about them and inquire how difficult the different degrees were to obtain. It gives me an opportunity to encourage someone to take the next step. I see nothing but positive things have come from it...

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Specializes in ICU.
AGAIN I say that I said NOTHING about her education not being valuable. ANY EDUCATION is valuable. Why do people want to create an argument where there is none?????

If you were to re-read my post, you would notice that I did not say anything about value either. The word I used was meaningful. You mentioned that some of your academic accomplishments "mean nothing" to you. My suggestion was that perhaps they DO mean something to someone else. I am not discussing with you the value of education. I am discussing with you the rights and desires of people to proudly (those who are proud of them) display their credentials and trying to stress the point that someone who wishes to proudly display their BS or BA or MA, etc., in another field is really no different than someone who wishes to proudly display their BSN. However, you seem to have made a distinction that those who wish to proudly display credentials other than a BSN have chips on their shoulders. I am addressing that distinction. Do you have a response to THAT?

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
The theory being (for those who support it) is that you effect the supply and demand side in favor of the profession as a whole.

The flaw in this line of thought is precisely as you pointed out and is a diservice to the public good. The counterpoint to that in turn being that the public good is served by the purported higher quality of personnel.

*** The supply side can easily be manipulated by allowing nurses trained in other countries to come and work here. While I am sure not many Americans would be willing to invest 6 years and I don't know how much money to enter nursing with an MSN only to paid $40-$50K, get disrespected by physicians, patients, and families, clean up patients covered in c-diff stool, work holidays and weekends and night shifts. I am quite sure many people in places like the Phillipines and India would be willing to do so. Should the supply of nurses become tight and wages rise significantly I can see the health systems crying to congress to allow more nurses from other countries to work here.

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*** The supply side can easily be manipulated by allowing nurses trained in other countries to come and work here. While I am sure not many Americans would be willing to invest 6 years and I don't know how much money to enter nursing with an MSN only to paid $40-$50K, get disrespected by physicians, patients, and families, clean up patients covered in c-diff stool, work holidays and weekends and night shifts. I am quite sure many people in places like the Phillipines and India would be willing to do so. Should the supply of nurses become tight and wages rise significantly I can see the health systems crying to congress to allow more nurses from other countries to work here.

As an interesting side note to foreign labor issues, the final impetus for my jumping ship from aviation to nursing was my inability to immigrate to Australia in 1991. Continental Australia Airlines informed me that I had just barely "missed the boat" on a recent change in that countries labor sponsorship laws for my profession.

So I have experienced the very "manipulation" you noted, only in reverse. It would be interesting to see where one could go now as a U.S. licensed nurse (if anywhere at all) but the motivation is now removed.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
As an interesting side note to foreign labor issues, the final impetus for my jumping ship from aviation to nursing was my inability to immigrate to Australia in 1991. Continental Australia Airlines informed me that I had just barely "missed the boat" on a recent change in that countries labor sponsorship laws for my profession.

So I have experienced the very "manipulation" you noted, only in reverse. It would be interesting to see where one could go now as a U.S. licensed nurse (if anywhere at all) but the motivation is now removed.

*** I hold dual citizenship, US & New Zealand. I was able to get both a NZ RN license and a license for Queensland Australia based on my ADN training here in the US. I know that New Zealand is currently allowing US trained RNs to come there and work. The application process can be tedious but it can be done.

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Specializes in med-surg, med-psych, psych.

:yeah:Congrats on your achievement, MrEvis!!

Listen don't worry a second about what to put on your badge. Facilities well dictate that for you via the politics or the badge policy. Just plan to go with the flow of the place!

allnurses.com blog tends to go for the jugular with a negative obsessive spin on issues for some threads.

In real life it generally is just not that big a deal. If anyone gets offended by your professional preferences it's their problem, insecurity, or hatefulness.

Learn to ignore it by developing a thick skin emotionally and you will get more joy from your chosen profession!!!!

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very interesting to read all the posts. I'd been working as an RN with my ADN for years before I got my BSN. To be honest, I was very confident about my skill with the 2-year degree and I was well-respected,too. However, I've never regreted going back to school to get my BSN. The program opened the whole world of nursing to me. Rather than seeing tasks, I see the whole picture of nursing such as the leadership and management, the future of nursing, and many other things. I have more motivation to self-taught and and a disire to advance my profession. Of course, working the the health care field, I deal with MDs, NPs...who have doctoral and master degrees, I feel like we don't have such a big gap regarding our education. I'm not saying RNs with ADN is not as competent as RNs with BSN but with the four year degree and all the hardwork, I deserve to be recognized by having my credentials on my name tag. And this is the current trend, a lot of hospitals in my area recruit only RNs with BSN, some prefer BSN over ADN. Agree or not, the world becomes more competitive for RNs.

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If you were to re-read my post, you would notice that I did not say anything about value either. The word I used was meaningful. You mentioned that some of your academic accomplishments "mean nothing" to you. My suggestion was that perhaps they DO mean something to someone else. I am not discussing with you the value of education. I am discussing with you the rights and desires of people to proudly (those who are proud of them) display their credentials and trying to stress the point that someone who wishes to proudly display their BS or BA or MA, etc., in another field is really no different than someone who wishes to proudly display their BSN. However, you seem to have made a distinction that those who wish to proudly display credentials other than a BSN have chips on their shoulders. I am addressing that distinction. Do you have a response to THAT?

No, again you are creating an argument where there is none. I never said anything about her not displaying her credentials on her name tag. I said that her defensive attitude must indicate that she has a chip on her shoulder after she criticized the quality of my nursing degree as being inferior and nursing programs generally being inferior to her wonderous degree in nutrition. I did not say my accomplishments mean nothing to me, only that having letters after my name does not mean I am any smarter than anyone else. Stop twisting my words and trying to create an argument.

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Specializes in ICU.

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