Thoughts on nurses who graduate nursing school calling themselves nurses before the NCLEX

[pmabraham]

Good day:

May I have a reality check? A fellow nursing student friend of mine just graduated for which I and many others are happy for this person. They started sharing to family and friends, "I am now a nurse."

Am I being too harsh to think / state that's the title of nurse is reserved for when one passes their boards and obtains their license?

Thank you.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

A permit to practice nursing? I've never heard of this. What is that?

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

I grabbed the wiki link because it was on top, you are welcome to search for diploma privileges on your own....

Wikipedia is not a good site to source. The state says you can call yourself a nurse. So... Unless it's printed in their laws that it's unlawful. It seems like a "rumor" an angry RN made to prevent LPNs from claiming their rightful title.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

A permit to practice nursing? I've never heard of this. What is that?

Of course... Each state operates a little differently and may use different terminology. We have permits until we pass the NCLEX, then we are licensed. In my state, we have to apply to the BON before we start nursing school, finger-print background checks and everything. You can look up our student permits on the BON's website along with all of the registered nurses and graduate nurses. When we graduate, we don't have to go through all that again. Once they receive our transcripts, our permits change to reflect our status as graduate nurses. With this permit, we can start working as nurses. It is active until we take the NCLEX or 3 months whichever comes first.

[Farawyn]

That's not what I said. I said people don't perceive them as nurses...just as a graduate nurse isn't perceived as a nurse. I've heard the joke before...Licensed Pretend Nurse. That's what I'm talking about.

Right. YOU are not saying you believe that.

You are pointing out some people's perceptions.

I have worked with absolutely amazing LPNs over my career.

And yes, I remember those commercials as well.

[carson456]

In my state, the use of the term "nurse" is reserved only for those licensed as a Practical Nurse or Registered Nurse. It's spelled out in the Nurse Practice Act.

What would the people that don't think LPNs are nurses think they should qualify themselves as? As another said, it says 'Nurse' in the title.

[LittleCandles]

I grabbed the wiki link because it was on top, you are welcome to search for diploma privileges on your own....

Again, I had and nowhere did it say Wisconsin law states it's illegal to call a LPN a nurse. Nowhere. It says people like CNA and MA cannot but not LPNs.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

Right. YOU are not saying you believe that.

You are pointing out some people's perceptions.

I have worked with absolutely amazing LPNs over my career.

And yes, I remember those commercials as well.

Correct, but that perception exists, whether we like it or not. So to a lot of people, when you say "nurse" they don't think anything other than someone who is working or has worked and has the title RN because that's what's been pushed out there. Especially nowadays, most hospitals don't have LPN's anymore, so anybody who's not a healthcare worker won't know what that is unless they have a loved one in a nursing home or subacute care or they were a patient of those places themselves.

But that's really not the focus, I was just using that as an example of getting technical. If you are a graduate nurse, you don't have your license yet, you're not working as a nurse, I don't think it's honest to say you're a nurse and use some technicality to back it up, such as "well I'm a graduate nurse" - you're not employed as a nurse, you don't have your license to practice as a nurse, and if something medical were to happen to me right now, there's a chance you wouldn't know what to do to save me. To most people, someone who's a nurse fulfills all three of those criteria.