I wrote a letter of recommendation for a friend. This is a first for me and I would your feedback. Many thanks!!! Also should I sign my name w/RN,BSN??
To whom it may concern,
It is with great enthusiasm that I write a recommendation for XXX for volunteer service. XXX is personally known to me for ten years. In that time, I have had the pleasure of seeing her develop into an independent, self directed person who is able to communicate effectively and meet even the most demanding challenges. She is currently pursuing a career in nursing, specializing in women's health and labor and delivery.
As a registered nurse myself, I believe X Hospital will provide the atmosphere where she will witness excellence in the care of women and newborns by a multidisciplinary team. She will also have the opportunity to become familiar with the roles and rewards of nursing.
She is an intelligent, capable, dedicated, and personable young woman. I feel confident in saying that she is capable of handling any situation with thoughtfulness and maturity, and has an excellent rapport with people of all ages. She is an honest, caring individual who will make an extremely valuable asset to your organization as a volunteer, and perhaps one day as a nurse.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
The physicians always go "MD, PhD" although the MD is a degree as well as a license. That said, there are still of the few old-school DOs around who were granted MD licenses during the amalgamation who don't actually hold MD degrees.
For what it's worth, professional engineers list their PE before any academic degrees. They also do not list baccalaureate degrees.
It's interesting, actually, because nursing is one of the few fields where people actually do list their baccalaureate degree as part of their title.
If you google "PhD, PE" you can see examples of the two titles in either order.
Interesting about the DO-to-MD thing - I've never heard that. I do work with one specialist who writes "PhD, MD" but he earned the PhD first (not through one of the MD-PhD programs) and it's still very relevant to his work.
I think that part of the reason behind nursing's use of "BSN" is that it's not a degree held across the board by RN's. Whereas PE's are assumed to have a BS as part of the requirements to take the exam, RN's are not.
ETA: The other issue is whether MD is just a degree or whether it's a degree and a license. At least in Texas, medical licensure (whether for a DO or MD) is not denoted my any particular initials. This guy is a good example:
He has (and still uses) the MD degree, but he can't come near a patient in any state because of repeated instances of serious misconduct, so he is limited to serving as spokesman for the clinic that he founded.
Eric, the DO-to-MD thing happened in California in the early 60's. The only reason I know about it is that my family doc as a kid happened to have gone through it.
Interesting about the PhD, PE thing. I've never googled it, I was just going off of my experience over many years of engineering.
Regarding RNs and the placement of degrees in their titles, do you have any idea if something similar happened as the AA/AS programs began to displace the diploma programs as the dominant route to licensure?
Sorry, was unable to get back to this thread yesterday (except to thank Eric for finding the link for support of my position) because I taught from 9 am to 7 pm.
As to the question of the rise of the Associate of Arts (AA) in Nursing and the ASN (Associate of Science in Nursing), those were academic degrees, granted by colleges and universities. The diploma in nursing was a document provided by the hospital nursing program to verify completion of a program of study in nursing. While called "schools of nursing", the hospital programs, though accredited by the National League for Nursing, could not issue a degree because the program was not based in an academic setting (not to mention that the education was heavily apprenticeship during the 1940s and 1950s). This is not to denegrate the education in any way (I am a diploma graduate, first, foremost and always will be). So, there really were no "other" initials to write after you name as a diploma grad until you were licensed. If my memory serves me correctly between the time that we graduated and the time that we took the licensing examination (two days long, 5 seperate tests[medical nursing, surgical nursing, obstetrical nursing, pediatric nursing and psychiatric nursing]) and the time we received results (I took my exam July 6th and 7th and received my results September 14th) we wrote GN for graduate nurse after our names. Since then I believe the practice has changed to RNA for registered nurse applicant.
On similar note, when I completed the midwifery program, I received a diploma in midwifery. Between the time I received my diploma and the time I received my midwifery examination results I used the initials GNM for graduate nurse midwife.
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The physicians always go "MD, PhD" although the MD is a degree as well as a license. That said, there are still of the few old-school DOs around who were granted MD licenses during the amalgamation who don't actually hold MD degrees.
For what it's worth, professional engineers list their PE before any academic degrees. They also do not list baccalaureate degrees.
It's interesting, actually, because nursing is one of the few fields where people actually do list their baccalaureate degree as part of their title.