I'm a community health nurse but I also teach a medical terminology class to our entry level employees. I had a new employee today who told the whole group "I am a nurse, too!". Her job is a minimum wage, low skill position so I thought it was odd. At a break I took her aside privately and asked what her background was. She had done a semester or 2 in a BSN program and then dropped out. She completed a LPN program but only worked briefly. She surrendered her license a year after getting it. She has not been licensed for 10 years.
I explained to her (still in private) that she can't represent herself as a nurse to her co-workers. This is a job where the line workers need to consult with me on complex health issues and I was afraid they would go to her if she continued to tell them all she was a nurse. Mostly, I was afraid she'd not have any idea how to handle that.
She left and promptly quit. I later had misgivings that maybe I should have let her call herself whatever she wanted. I was professionally responsible but I felt badly. Comments?
