really good question

[lpnurse!]

hello, this is my first post and im just starting a lpn program, my girlfriend told me that once you are a lpn it is attached to your name, like joe smith l.p.n. it can be on your checks etc. that it is a job but also a title, the way a police officer is constable joe smith, or dr.joe smith...... is this really true????

[Katnip, RN]

I prefer not to advertise what I do, too.

To add the the weird-"are you a nurse stories":

A fellow nurse and I were driving along a street in Baltimore to a scrub shop that has great prices. We were in ours scrubs, top down convertible on a gorgeous day. Stopped at a light, a weaving, wobbling man came up to the car and asked if we were nurses. Dear, batty friend in the car answered in the affirmative. The man said "I want you to take a look at this rash for me," and proceeded to drop his drawers right there on the street. Needless to say, I didn't wait for the light to change.

[zooz]

I think the "Are you a nurse?" stories need their own thread...

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Of course, I'm sure most of us have forgotten and signed our initials behind our names on checks just from being in that mode!

It's never occurred to me to put that on my checks. I use my professional titles professionally.

[EmmaG, RN]

While I totally respect your choice, as well as your reasoning, I'm not going to alter any part of my life in the off chance a homeless man will try to sleep on my property.

Luckily he was reasonably harmless.

I'm a single mom. I wasn't going to advertise to the world that I would be gone from home at night, or asleep during the day. Homeless guy or not.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I don't try to hide the fact that I'm an RN but I sure as heck don't shout it to the world, or put it on my checks, or on my license plate, or even wear a tshirt with RN on it. For the same reasons that KellNY mentioned. I tire very fast of people asking me for medical advice, or "hey, you're a nurse, what do you know about....".

That said, I have: 1) inadvertently signed my checks "Arwen U, RN", especially if I'm stopping by the store on the way from work (force of habit); and 2) stopped to see if help was needed at the scene of accidents, and told them I am a nurse.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

I suppose you could, but there's no way I would. I happen to think it's kinda dorky; when I'm at work I sign Jane Doe, RN about a thousand times a shift. Go outta my way to do that? No.

Except, of course, for the times I'm coming off a shift and sign a check for my kid's school with RN after my name, LOL, or when I'm signing a charge receipt and do the same thing! It's not intentional, it's a muscle spasm.

I'm proud of what I do. I don't need the lady at the billing office of the cable company knowing my occupation.