So i'm a Nurse right????

nursemike, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

In my state it's GN, too, and when I introduced myself to my assigned patients, I introduced myself as your nurse. Signed my charts GN. Legal, and in my opinion entirely ethical. Had I failed NCLEX, I could not call myself a nurse until I passed.

One of my instructors felt very strongly that a student Nurse was also a nurse. I thought then and still do that I was a Student nurse, and that's how I introduced myself and signed. I don't think she was entirely wrong, though, in that I needed to take my interventions as seriously as I would when I became a nurse. A big difference is that as a GN, I could do anything I could as an RN, under the supervision of my preceptor, but not nearly as direct supervision as an SN. And I was held to the same legal and ethical standards as an RN.

nursemike, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

But I see OH is different. WV could be, too by now, but I haven't heard of it.

OhioCCRN, MSN, NP · May 29, 2011

Does that mean you had a BA but weren't English until you passed those boards?

i couldn't have said it better myself :)

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and i sincerely doubt someone is going to come and arrest me and throw me in jail for saying i'm a NURSE... if that were the case, wouldn't the jails be full of CNA's and MA's who call themselves nurses?

CapeCodMermaid, RN · May 29, 2011

Does that mean you had a BA but weren't English until you passed those boards?

I am a proud YANKEE! An Englishwoman??? UGH.

Mrs. SnowStormRN, RN · May 29, 2011

i couldn't have said it better myself :)
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and i sincerely doubt someone is going to come and arrest me and throw me in jail for saying i'm a NURSE... if that were the case, wouldn't the jails be full of CNA's and MA's who call themselves nurses?

Just be careful and remember CNAs and MAs usually do not have a license they are risking/losing. It says that the OH BON does not permit this (calling yourself a nurse or graduate nurse and practicing as such), if someone reported you the repercussions could be detrimental to your hard work. I wouldn't take a chance, it may not give you jail time, but what if it holds up your licensing process? Find out what is appropriate in your state and follow it. You can call yourself a nurse when you complete all the requirements. People are giving you good advice, sometimes good advice isn't what we want to hear, but it's usually more helpful than someone just agreeing with you. Again, much luck to you in regards to the NCLEX.

OhioCCRN, MSN, NP · May 29, 2011

Just be careful and remember CNAs and MAs usually do not have a license they are risking/losing. It says that the OH BON does not permit this (calling yourself a nurse or graduate nurse and practicing as such), if someone reported you the repercussions could be detrimental to your hard work. I wouldn't take a chance, it may not give you jail time, but what if it holds up your licensing process? Find out what is appropriate in your state and follow it. You can call yourself a nurse when you complete all the requirements. People are giving you good advice, sometimes good advice isn't what we want to hear, but it's usually more helpful than someone just agreeing with you. Again, much luck to you in regards to the NCLEX.

Thank you for your well rounded post... Heres a Question i have and i am now genuinely curious... Have you heard cases where someone called themselves a nurse, not that they went to a hospital and pretended to be on and actually worked, but in daily life, and someone reported them to the Board of Nursing?

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

i couldn't have said it better myself :)
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and i sincerely doubt someone is going to come and arrest me and throw me in jail for saying i'm a NURSE... if that were the case, wouldn't the jails be full of CNA's and MA's who call themselves nurses?

The point isn't about someone coming up and arresting you. It's unethical and not OK for a CNA or a MA to call themselves a Nurse when they are not one. It's unethical for a Graduate nurse to go around calling themselves a NURSE before they pass boards, as they aren't one. They are a Graduate Nurse. That's how I see it. I would never go around calling myself a Nurse until I actually was one. You're misrepresenting yourself if you are only saying you are a Nurse and not a Graduate Nurse.

I truly don't understand why you are so insistent on calling yourself a Nurse (and nurse alone) before you take boards. Why not hurry up and go take your boards so you can get your license and call yourself a nurse without being deceitful?

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

Just be careful and remember CNAs and MAs usually do not have a license they are risking/losing. It says that the OH BON does not permit this (calling yourself a nurse or graduate nurse and practicing as such), if someone reported you the repercussions could be detrimental to your hard work. I wouldn't take a chance, it may not give you jail time, but what if it holds up your licensing process? Find out what is appropriate in your state and follow it. You can call yourself a nurse when you complete all the requirements. People are giving you good advice, sometimes good advice isn't what we want to hear, but it's usually more helpful than someone just agreeing with you. Again, much luck to you in regards to the NCLEX.

Well said!

OhioCCRN, MSN, NP · May 29, 2011

The point isn't about someone coming up and arresting you. It's unethical and not OK for a CNA or a MA to call themselves a Nurse when they are not one. It's unethical for a Graduate nurse to go around calling themselves a NURSE before they pass boards, as they aren't one. They are a Graduate Nurse. That's how I see it. I would never go around calling myself a Nurse until I actually was one. You're misrepresenting yourself if you are only saying you are a Nurse and not a Graduate Nurse.
I truly don't understand why you are so insistent on calling yourself a Nurse (and nurse alone) before you take boards. Why not hurry up and go take your boards so you can get your license and call yourself a nurse without being deceitful?

ouch on the deceitful part... your post made so much sense until you unleashed that lovely last volley... But i chose not to take offense at aspersions cast on my character..

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · May 29, 2011

ouch on the deceitful part... your post made so much sense until you unleashed that lovely last volley... But i chose not to take offense at aspersions cast on my character..

It wasn't an attack on your character as I don't know you from Adam. What do you call being untruthful? If a person is not a Nurse yet and is calling themselves one, whether it's a CNA, an MA, a Graduate Nurse, or the bank teller, I would say that's deceitful. Which means to deceive or mislead others. I am not sure how I can sugarcoat that as to not offend you. The simple solution is for people to not refer to themselves as nurses until they are one, or if you graduated nursing school and you are in the in between phase, call yourself a graduate nurse. I am pretty sure certain titles are protected for a valid reason.

rn/writer, RN · May 30, 2011

Even in my state that clearly allows the use of the GN title, the BON cautions that the use of "nurse" by itself without any qualifiers is taken to mean a licensed nurse. A GN calling herself a nurse (without the graduate part), could get herself into hot water. Even if there is no intent to deceive, confusion can still result. The burden is on the individual to be open and transparent about her qualifications and credentials.

So according to my state, it's the whole title--graduate nurse--or none at all. I'd be willing to bet other states concur.

To the OP: this might seem silly semantic wrangling to you, but in order for a title to retain its meaning, it has to be protected. I do disagree with those who say you have to be working as a nurse to call yourself one, though.

You have to pass NCLEX to call yourself a nurse.

But you probably have to work as nurse to feel like one.

P.S. Although my state allows for the use of the GN title, it isn't a distinction that is automatically conferred on all nursing school graduates. It is a temporary license and has to be applied for. There are a number of nursing school grads who don't bother with it if they don't have any nursing prospects in sight. Just thought I'd clarify.

Moogie · May 30, 2011

Thank you for your well rounded post... Heres a Question i have and i am now genuinely curious... Have you heard cases where someone called themselves a nurse not that they went to a hospital and pretended to be on and actually worked, but in daily life, and someone reported them to the Board of Nursing?[/quote']
Yes. Betty Lichtenstein, a woman in Connecticut, passed herself off as a registered nurse when in fact she had no license. She worked in a doctor's office and even staged a bogus "Nurse of the Year" award dinner for herself.
After being investigated by the state Medicaid Fraud Control Unit between March and August 2009, Lichtenstein was charged with illegal use of the registered nurse title, six counts of second-degree reckless endangerment and criminal impersonation. Three months earlier, she was arrested for forging a prescription for pain killers she obtained while pretending to be a nurse for Dr. Gerald Weiss in Norwalk.
Here's a link to the full article: http://www.norwalkcitizenonline.com/news/article/Fake-Nurse-of-the-Year-sentenced-to-nine-months-926052.php
BTW, back in the olden days, "boards" were only offered twice a year (February and July, I think). The tests took two days and we didn't get our results back for six weeks. Then it was important to have some sort of legal protection as a Graduate Nurse (GN) or Graduate Practical Nurse (GPN) because most of us worked before we got our results. Now, with the flexibility of the computerized testing, a new grad can schedule the NCLEX at a time that's most convenient. For many that works out to be right before getting a job but again, it all depends on the state.
As other posters have pointed out, this is more than a matter of semantics. You need to protect your license. I've heard of a few GNs or GPNs who have had problems because they have continued to call themselves "graduate" nurses even if they failed NCLEX. Mostly, though, it's the practicing nurse who has forgotten to renew his/her state license that gets in trouble. Might not result in jail time but it can result in problems with one's license.
Good luck on NCLEX. You're really fortunate that you can get it done whenever you want. The two day exams back in the day were dreadful!