I am going to post this in the Australian section as well, but wanted opinions on this problem.
My problem is this;
I was working at this Retirement Village. I'm not anymore.
A male who is the manager of a retirement village where everyone lives indivdually in their own units.
He does NOT even hold a basic first aide certificate.
Yet he is calling himself in the workplace and out 'Head Nurse.'
Like I said this guy doesn't even have a 1st aide certificate, let alone have a degree in nursing, is breaking the rule/'law' of not calling yourself a nurse when you are not.
This guy also spends his lunchtime break at the pub!
What would you do?
If I report him, who would it be too? The Nurse's Board. Which is now a all State/Territory Practiitioner Board?
It makes my blood boil when I hear PCA's calling themselves 'nurse's' when they are NOT.
God bless the PCA's you make our jobs that much easier.
I worked so hard for so long to gain the right to call myself 'Nurse'. And here is this bloke just throwing around the title, and a major title at that, like it's nothing.
He is not only deceiving family and residents at the Village. But new residents, family, and visitors.
He is putting people in danger with calling himself this.
It is apparently a problem that is world-wide. We're never going to be able to do anything about it as long as the governments do not enforce their own laws regarding who can or cannot legally use the term "nurse"
To the OP if you'll go to the bottom right hand corner of your screen where it says 100%, click on it and you can enlarge all of the font on your computer screen. If I don't have my glasses handy that's what I do or I wouldn't be able to read anything!
If what you are saying is true. I would rather say I am " a doctor, astronomer...something that requires years of school,instead of saying I am a nurse" because that's what that guy is doing trying to get attention lol.
I don't know anything about Australian laws regarding the title of nurse.
But if he's spending his lunch breaks drinking you could report to a corporate office that he's working while intoxicated.
It's only North America that frowns on a pub lunch. It's fairly normal in Europe, the UK, some parts of Canada and other nations within the Commonwealth. One drink at lunch does not equal intoxication.
I would like to encourage you to contact your area Board of Nursing. They can clear this question up as to whether it is a crime or no big deal to CALL yourself a nurse. This way you can either move on or submit a formal complaint. In North Carolina, it is a crime to call yourself a nurse if you do not have a license to practice nursing. It doesn't matter if you are actually practicing or not. NC takes very seriously the public's perception of nurses - and they don't play.
Perhaps his email can be posted and all RNs in this forum can send him an email regarding the legitimacy of him calling himself a Nurse. It's probably more appropriate for him to call himself Head of Nursing, if this is in fact his role. I guess he could call himself a "Head"?
We have occasional problems with people calling themselves nurses that aren't (or they do 'nursing work', but really do nursing aid / PCA work), but it's not finable UNLESS they are outwardly advertising it as such. Coming out of the mouth is one thing, but if it's on their business cards, on their signs, etc., then you have more of an issue.
I think the only way you could prove this is if he did do work as a nurse. You could report it, yes, but things might not get done about it if there's no proof.
Finally you could have a little talk with him if it made you angry (vs turning him in and getting his livelyhood taken away). Something along the lines of, "I want to be completely candid with you" and go from there... Good luck!
Specializes in Aged Care, General Acute,Theatre,Rehab,.
Perhaps his email can be posted and all RNs in this forum can send him an email regarding the legitimacy of him calling himself a Nurse. It's probably more appropriate for him to call himself Head of Nursing, if this is in fact his role. I guess he could call himself a "Head"?
I don't know how to do the quoting thing. So sorry.
Yes he is calling himself Head Nurse or Nursing Director.
No, you definitely should not post someone else's email address. That could get you in a LOT of trouble. It does say prior to posting that we are not to post email addresses or identifying information.
TwilightRNurse
118 Posts
It is apparently a problem that is world-wide. We're never going to be able to do anything about it as long as the governments do not enforce their own laws regarding who can or cannot legally use the term "nurse"
To the OP if you'll go to the bottom right hand corner of your screen where it says 100%, click on it and you can enlarge all of the font on your computer screen. If I don't have my glasses handy that's what I do or I wouldn't be able to read anything!