Why do Nurse's wear there degree on there name badges?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have never had anyone give me a straight answear to this question, Why do nurses wear there degree on the badge uniforms? I see few other people in the hospital setting that do it except for nurses, why is this? Is it an ego thing? I would understand if you were qualified for various postions ie RN, EMT-P, RRT, but the whole concept of wearing your degree seems to have a I'm better than you attitude. Personnally myself being a military man I find the postion you hold carries more clout than your degree. I have seen ADN's as Supervisors and MSN's doing floor work. Does the degree vs the certification(CEN,CCN) make a difference? As a pre- hospital care worker when I go in the ER or up to a floor the only thing I ever notice is that the higher the degree the less likely that person is to assist you, not always but more often than not this is the case. I would welcome any feed back on this. Thanks Kev

donmurray,

BSN = Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Its a 4 year degree instead of and Associates Degree in Nursing, which is normally a 2, sometimes a 3 year program.

BrandyBSN

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Donmurray,

You are correct and I have had the same question myself, and have never gotten a truely straight answer. There are some nursing schools that award a BSN as Brandy has said a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and some that offer a Bachelor of Science Nursing. Some of my instructors credentials were BSN, MSN, and some were BS, MSN, but there undergraduate work was in nursing, and yet their credentials did not say BSN.

I have an associates degree and my degree says Associate of Science Nursing and when we did our resumes we were docked points if we said we had an ASN. Some degress are ADN, and some are AA.

So if anyone has the answer to the different degree definitions I would love to know as well. I am looking at going back to school for my Bachelor's degree and there are two schools that I am looking at and one offers the BSN and one offers the BS.

Thanks! I am sure that I missed this in class somewhere!! LOL OOP's forgot to add that I never thought about this when I was in school just after I started looking at different programs available. That is why I never asked this question in school I guess I was pondering different things at that time, (getting through the program in one piece) LOL.

Thanks :)

Y2KRN

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Odd

a BS normally refers to a liberal arts and science degree of sorts . Maybe that is with the same concept as a Bachelor of Science with a business emphasis?

a BSN for a Bachelor of science Nursing, or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing is the same degree. The wording often varies by state, and accredidation. I believe the wording is a University/College preference.

Does that help? or did i make it more confusing?

BrandyBSN

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Brandy,

Thanks for the reply I had the same line of thinking that you did about the University and College aspect, but both schools I am looking at are Universities. UCONN BSN URI BS. Maybe all it does mean is that with the BS, is that you have a Bachelors of Science with an emphasis in nursing. Even degrees can get confusing!!!!!! I guess it all works out in the end!!! ;)

Y2KRN

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Specializes in Pediatric Rehabilitation.

MCI4, there are three pages to this thread PRIOR to your posting, this is where my reference was, not everything is directed toward you :) I have to disagree with you about what one sacrifices for each degree. You see, I was 18 and had parents paying for my school. I chose not to sacrifice the single, partying life for school, SO I waited until I was older and life was a little harder and paid for it myself. My point is that if someone is dedicated enough at 18 to finish a BSN, then they ARE sacrificing. If you have a family and choose to obtain an ASN, you are sacrificing. But the younger sacrificed a bit longer. If we're able to sacrifice for two years for the ASN, then what stops one from sacrificing four years for a BSN? Desire. So, again, those who sacrificed LONGER (longer=more) than I did in order to obtain a BSN have every right to wear their credentials, PROUDLY. If they wish to tattoo them to their foreheads, that's their business. Because the nurse next to me has a BSN and I have a ASN doesn't make me feel less a nurse, it shouldn't you either.

Susy stole my thought..if you're so opposed to credentials being listed, then we can just do away with all titles and be called "Jane Doe, Nurse". After all, the public is ignorant and doesn't view any difference between nurses or job descriptions, so why does it matter if we differentiate? Heck, even the CNA's can go by "nurse". I, like susy, have had many conversations with families about the credentialing of nurses and there is much confusion. The credentials on tags definitely are an eye opener for the public. I really don't see where anyone has a right to debate this. As an ASN RN, it's embarassing to me, because it shows that some of my fellow nurses with associates degrees feel inferior to the BSN. If you do, you should sacrifice (as the others did) and obtain your BSN..and wear it proudly :)

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Nurse4Kids said:

My point is that if someone is dedicated enough at 18 to finish a BSN, then they ARE sacrificing. If you have a family and choose to obtain an ASN, you are sacrificing.

Here here!! I agree wholeheartedly. And to those who are able to obtain that BSN, they EARNED it and should not be made to feel guilty for wearing it.

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

Ok, lets see here, I NEVER implied that I was "better" than an RN who has an associates degree. mcl4, I see that you are an LPN? I respect LPNs although I do not work with any in my current position. The reason that I do not work for a hospital that pays a differential is that the hospital that I now work for does not pay a differential. My job switch was based on the fact of being a lot closer to home and $4 more an hour than what I was making at the hospital where I was previously employed.

So, as I have stated in previous posts, because I chose to further my education and obtain a 4 year college degree, then I should be permitted to wear that designation on my name badge.

I have discussed with patients, when they have initiated the conversation, where I went to school. I proudly tell them that I have a Bachelors Degree. I too worked as a CNA through my final year of college. This gave me great time management skills and prioritizing skills which have proved useful in my nursing career.

I sacrificed things while in college because even though I was living with my parents, I still had to pay for things like gas, books, food, uniforms and my car. My parents paid my car insurance for me while I was in college and didn't charge rent. So I worked 3 to 4 days a week(8 hour shifts) in a restaurant near my home to afford those necessities.

I stated in an earlier post that I had started out at a diploma based hospital school of nursing but flunked out. There were only 2 other colleges in my hometown area that offered nursing programs. One was a Catholic private university and the other a public state university. It was cheaper for me to go to the state school for 4 years than to go to the Private school for 2 years for an ADN. Since I had to pay for college myself, I chose to go to the 4 year program. At that time, I didn't know in what direction that I wanted to go with nursing, so I decided that I would be better off obtaining the BSN.

And what does learning Spanish have to do with this topic?

Kelly:)

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Specializes in LDRP; Education.

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You would have to convince me a significant amount of sick patients are interested in how a nurse is educated or is interested in hearing that some BSN had to sacrafice both years and go into debt during this process. Patients are in and out so quickly today, there is limited nursing time to educate them with what they will need to know upon discharge.

Patients and the public received their education watching area hospital nurses go on strike recently. Salaries and control over nurse/patient ratios were the focus of the strike and I was surprised to see that the patients, as well as the general public, had little sympathy for the nurses reasons to strike. The salaries were publish in the papers and the public felt nurses were receiving an adequate salary and should not go on strike. Actually, people wrote into the editorial that they were upset with the nurses since their elective procedures were cancelled due to the impending strike. What I took away from this recent experience was that patients and public are mainly concern with themselves and that they receive safe quality care and not interested in a nursing agenda. As the shortage of nurses continues to worsen, perhaps they will look at nurses differently?

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I don't see why we would have to do a double-blind longitudinal study about how many patients are actually interested in our nursing pin, our alma mater, our certifications, etc in order to be "allowed" to display our credentials.

I guess I am still confused about why you are so opposed to me listing Susan, RN, BSN with my nursing pin on my name badge. Am I compromising patient care by doing so? If not, then who cares???? And if you do care, why????

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I don't see why we would have to do a double-blind longitudinal study about how many patients are actually interested in our nursing pin, our alma mater, our certifications, etc in order to be "allowed" to display our credentials.

If you read carefully, I wrote this messages stating this is what I took away from a recent experience and I think it could be very true in not only this area, but others. I never claimed this was a statistical study or whatever. Public interest or educating the public has been discuss at length with this thread and my response was directed toward a particular message and your message asking the "whys" was not the point.

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I guess I am still confused about why you are so opposed to me listing Susan, RN, BSN with my nursing pin on my name badge. Am I compromising patient care by doing so? If not, then who cares???? And if you do care, why???? [/b]

Lets look at it this way. I've written numerous messages stating what I feel the purpose of a name badge is and why I feel job titles are an important distinguishable fact that needs to be on them. You tell me if the care will improve if you have the type of education listed on your name badge. It simply is two different opinions on what people feel should be the purpose of a name badge. If I look at a name badge, I needs to know who is the supervisor, who is the director of nurses and who are the staff RN, LPN and CNA. I don't need to know who has a BSN or ADN.

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Originally posted by kaknurse

Ok, lets see here, I NEVER implied that I was "better" than an RN who has an associates degree. mcl4, I see that you are an LPN? I respect LPNs although I do not work with any in my current position. The reason that I do not work for a hospital that pays a differential is that the hospital that I now work for does not pay a differential. My job switch was based on the fact of being a lot closer to home and $4 more an hour than what I was making at the hospital where I was previously employed.

Yes, I am a LPN which I stated earlier, who is presently taking courses for my RN. LPNs do work in OB in this area.

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Susy K, Please, if you ever move to Missouri, and work at my hospital, please list your educational experience. Please have a badge that displays Susan, RN BSN. Because if I was your patient, I would care, and I would want to know, and if you were taking care of my family, i would DEFINATLEY want to know how much education you have had, and where you went to school. It would make me feel more secure, as a patient or family, just to know what your background is. And ANYTHING on a badge that has a chance of making a patient or family member feel more secure might as well be there.

Thanks

BrandyBSN

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