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Let loose the nurses of war!

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One (1), uno, a single person had a complaint about my Nurse vs NA/MA rant.

I am a 17 year old girl in my senior year of high school. Im in the miami
valley career tech center. This is my second year in the MVCTC. I am taking
allied health. I have always wanted to be a nurse as far back as i can
remember. My program has already went on clinicals and everything and we
are trying our best to learn everything as quick as possible. I think that
NA’s and MA’s should be able to call themselves some what of a nurse
because after all thats what we are going to school to be is a nurse. I
also dont think people should run their mouths about people who call
themselves nurses because its none of anyones buisness so leave it alone.
Our teachers that teach us here are all very good RN’s that know what they
are doing!!!!!!!! SO STOP YOUR SHIT AND GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah, to be young again. Honey, you’re going to find out later on in life that if you call yourself something that you are not, especially in the medical field, you are going to get in a whole pot of deep hot shit. Comparing your education to someone with a BS degree in nursing is really insulting to those who actually went to college for 4+ years to get an RN. Names and titles are reserved for those who actually earn that title. See, the ‘A’ in your title stands for ASSISTANT. Therefore you are a Nursing ASSISTANT not a NURSE. You can call yourself an NA or a MA until the cows come home, just don’t call yourself a nurse. In fact, you don’t even call yourself a ‘woman’, but a ‘girl’. Afraid someone is going to call you out that you are in fact a girl and not a ‘woman’?
And yes, It is my business to know exactly who I am talking to on the phone, because you may not realize this now, but when I ask you a question, and you guess an answer (because you are not an RN, and you think its okay to just guess) and someone dies, its my ass, not yours. I’m not saying that you all are a bunch of idiots, but my pharmacy techs don’t run around calling themselves Pharmacists, so you shouldn’t call yourselves a nurse. See what your RN teachers think about that.
Now what you should be worried about is the influx of angry nurses who are going to chew your ass a new one when they read this post. Of course its best to have this happen on the internet than in front of everyone in a hospital where they can see you cry.
I’m going to enjoy this. Nurses, you know what to do! Get your friends in on this. Lets make something she can print out and hand to her teachers who think its okay that they call themselves nurses.

Comments #

Comment by drh on 2007-08-28 10:17:59 -0700 #

It’s girls like this that make me fear for the future of the nursing profession. So, it’s OK if I want to call my self the president of the United States, and it’s no one else’s business? Tell that to the secret service. Those are called delusions–maybe she needs some Zyprexa?

Comment by drh on 2007-08-28 10:18:15 -0700 #

It’s girls like this that make me fear for the future of the nursing profession. So, it’s OK if I want to call my self the president of the United States, and it’s no one else’s business? Tell that to the secret service. Those are called delusions–maybe she needs some Zyprexa?

Comment by geena on 2007-08-28 11:39:01 -0700 #

“I think that NA’s and MA’s should be able to call themselves some what of a nurse because after all thats what we are going to school to be is a nurse.”
Well ya ain’t there yet, honey. We don’t call students in med school “doctors” and we don’t call students in law school “lawyers.” So you don’t get to call yourself a nurse until you get an actual degree and then pass the Big Exam.
Nice try, though. You have no concept of what a nurse needs to know in order to function competently these days. It involves significantly more than passing paper cups full of pills and taking blood pressures!

Comment by greensunflower on 2007-08-28 13:09:30 -0700 #

This was the argument on my blog about it http://greensunflower.typepad.com/greensunflower/2007/07/i-get-my-first-.htmlhttp://greensunflower.typepad.com/greensunflower/2007/07/i-get-my-first-.html

Comment by MikeyB on 2007-08-28 16:36:37 -0700 #

YOU FUCKING BITCH! I am a male nurse and I worked my fucking cock off to get my degree, you should be sent to the electric chair for suggesting such ignorant fucking bullshit! Your post makes me want to take a shit, feed you said shit, make you shit out my shit, then eat that shit, shit out the shit that is actually your shit which is comprised of the shit that I shit to make you eat my shit, and then make you EAT MY SHIT!
GRRRRRRRAHHHHHHH! I’m one angry FUCKING NURSE!

Comment by BC on 2007-08-28 17:32:58 -0700 #

Oh my. I will be a pharmacist in a few months, but I still refer to myself as an intern. This girl is a moron. I thought NAs helped clean bedpans and stuff. You don’t even qualify for the position of advanced care tech. This girl should do herself a favor and stop playing dress-up. You could kill someone.
I don’t want someone in high-school calling themselves a nurse and attempting to take care of me without the proper education. God help us all.

Comment by Nathan on 2007-08-28 17:47:45 -0700 #

Can you just imagine the kind of shit-storm a physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner would go through if he called himself a doctor?
I mean, hell, the newly graduating PharmD’s barely get away with calling themselves that without older physicians laughing in their faces.
NA’s are Nursing Assistants, just be glad you’re not still called orderlies.

Comment by AngryNatalie on 2007-08-28 18:39:27 -0700 #

oh dear. perhaps somewhere in those 17 years she should have taken an english class? wait nevermind, that’s why she’s becoming a nurse.
somewhat of a nurse? SOMEWHAT? kinda like i’m somewhat of an asshole, or kinda like i’m somewhat of a doctor because i see one regularly? but you watch out, because she’s a senior in high school and she knows things.
i think i should also point out, which we may have been overlooking, that this girl is NOT even in a nursing program. or pre-nursing. or HI-im-14z-and-i-lyke-want-to-be-a-nurse-so’s-i-can-help-peoplez program. she’s just taking “allied health.” in fact, after some research, i think perhaps a lawsuit maybe brought against this career tech center for false advertising, just like the army in drugmonkey’s article. on their webpage, they state that their allied health program is a gateway to becoming “an EMT, physical therapist, registered nurse, PHARMACIST, dietician, LPN, or lab technician.”
pharmacist.
sigh.

Comment by Amy/RN BSN on 2007-08-28 19:17:03 -0700 #

When the state you live in gives you a license to
practice the profession of nursing, then and only then
can you call yourself a nurse.
Enough said.

Comment by Jonathan on 2007-08-28 21:20:27 -0700 #

I used to go to a doctor (keyword here is used to) where the “nurse” gave me my shots, drew blood, performed ECGs, etc., however I found out that she is younger than my sister, she is married, and seems to be calling herself a nurse. Though the doctor never called her a nurse, the way she worked, or talked led one to believe she was one. In fact she told me she was still in school (and said she was having problems with anatomy too for that matter). I felt very uncomfortable with that fact and left his practice not only because of her, but because how the place was being run (not for this discussion).
So I have to say that girl should NOT be called a nurse until she gets that fancy RN next to her name. Until then, she is not one, and not only does it make herself look like a fool, it is a huge disservice to patients.

Comment by lex on 2007-08-28 22:10:21 -0700 #

I agree with you and the other comments here (NOT the girl in nursing school). I am currently in my 3rd year in pharmacy school right now–yes, I’m counting down–but I, most definitely, do NOT call myself a pharmacist.

Comment by ER-RN on 2007-08-29 02:20:46 -0700 #

I have no problem with that. “I’m betsy Bunny, and I’ll be sort of a nurse today.” Actually sounds accurate (and catchy too).

Comment by Kelly V (RN) on 2007-08-29 02:52:14 -0700 #

Sweetheart, you’re not a nurse. Nor are you kinda sorta maybe a teensy little bit “somewhat” of a nurse. You’re a 17 year old medical assistant.
And there’s nothing wrong with being a 17 year old medical assistant. You should be proud of that, not so ashamed that you feel the need to lie. Too many 17 year olds don’t have their heads on straight. Though I’d watch the language, it does nothing for your argument and makes you look quite childish an unprofessional…not the look I think you were aiming for.
Medical assisting can be a good bridge into nursing (I myself was an MA, then an LPN, now an RN).
But that’s all it is-a potential bridge. It is a valuable job, and most nurses appreciate the duties that unlicensed personel perform.
As theangrypharmacist pointed out, we have a LICENSE on the line if you mess up or lie. So yes, it’s very much our business to ask what your correct and legal title is, and you are obligated by law to tell the truth.
If/when you become a nurse (a real nurse-one with a license and everything) you’ll understand the danger, frustration, aggitation, and sometimes anger associated with people of your mindset.
In the mean time, do yourself and the patients you take care of and call yourself a MEDICAL ASSISTANT. In many states it’s ILLEGAL to call yourself a nurse if you are not one.

Comment by LGFH on 2007-08-29 03:27:56 -0700 #

“Somewhat of a nurse” is like being somewhat pregnant, or somewhat dead. Come work on my open heart unit with me honey, and tell me again how you’re a nurse. Fact is, you’re being used as cheap labor, because you don’t want to take the time to get a degree and pass a state board exam. You’re going to be working your tail of for very little money. The nurses you’re working with won’t look on you kindly, as you are going to be working in the place of a nurse that can actually carry some of the workload and responsibility. It’s not going to be all popsicles and rainbows for you, and your instructors are feeding you a line of bull, because they want your money.

Comment by Leslie on 2007-08-29 03:44:04 -0700 #

Just because they are teaching you how to do vitals and some of the things that nurses can do does not mean you are a nurse. I don’t like it when others call themself a nurse because I had to bust my butt for 3 1/2 years and take a National Exam to earn the right to call myself a nurse!

Comment by christophersdad on 2007-08-29 03:47:16 -0700 #

Are you crazy? The the term nurse is protected by law.If the term was not protected I would not call myself a nurse. I am a cna now and a nursing student I would never call myself a nurse I have not earned that title yet. When I complete my educatation and pass my nclex only then can I call myself a nurse. Untill I have completed these requirements I am not a nurse!!!!!

Comment by valerie on 2007-08-29 04:47:55 -0700 #

“I think that NA’s and MA’s should be able to call themselves some what of a nurse because after all thats what we are going to school to be is a nurse.”
Here’s a thought — how ’bout calling yourself a student? Because that’s what you are, sweetheart.
“Our teachers that teach us here are all very good RN’s that know what they are doing!!!!!!!”
Why don’t you ask some of your teachers what THEY think about people who misrepresent themselves as nurses?

Comment by TazziRN on 2007-08-29 06:22:20 -0700 #

Ohhhhhh, sweetie, you need to grow up. You don’t call yourself an adult, do you, even though at 17 you are considered a “young adult” by some? You need to wake up and smell the formaldehyde…..the title of “Nurse” is protected by law in many states, if not all. To call yourself a nurse when you are not legally licensed is a punishable offense. Nurses make life or death decisions in the absence of doctors, and oftentimes in the presence of them, much to their chagrin when they find out we were right. Nursing assistants do not, although they learn by experience when to grab the nearest RN/LVN. Let’s list the duties of a typical NA: ADL assistance, feeding, transfers, simple dressing changes if allowed by the facility, simple strengthening exercises established by PT/OT, clerk duties if mandated by the facility. Now, I know that many facilities will allow their NAs to do other things, but they all fall under the heading of “Assisting the NURSE.”
On the other hand, RN duties include daily assessments on every pt; knowing abnormal lab values and what they mean/have the potential to do,;interpreting cardiac rhythms and knowing when you need to beat the doc over the head with the phone when he says “Just give him (med) and I’ll see him in the morning.”; administration of so many drugs that your head can spin and knowing about each and every one of them, including “If I push this med too fast I’ll kill the guy”; knowing the disease process of each pt under his/her care and what can happen; prioritizing in TENTHS OF SECONDS which problem is the most critical to deal with when a pt crashes on you; eyeballing two pts who show up in your ER at the same time and knowing instantly that your ASSISTANT can hold pressure on the guy with the knife cut spurting arterial blood while THE NURSE tries to keep the active MI alive until the house supervisor can get another NURSE to deal with the bleed……..
No, dear…….you do not get to call yourself a nurse…….not until you’ve gone through a 2- or 4-year program rather than a 4- to 8-month one, sweated bullets as you studied to sit the boards, and gotten that little card in the mail that says “Registered Nurse” or “Licensed Vocational Nurse”…….until then, you are most definitely NOT a nurse.

Comment by Crimsonking on 2007-08-29 07:06:32 -0700 #

Wow, talk about identity vs. role confusion. First, let me say that most states have laws that protect the title. It is illegal for you to call yourself a nurse, if in fact, you are not a nurse. It is a serious misrepresentation of who you are. The title is protected for all the reasons the Angry Pharmacist listed. Being a nursing student, I have friends and family members come to me all the time with health related issues, expecting me to be able to help them out. I always remind them that I am not a Doctor, nor a Nurse. If I were to act according to your hypothesis, I would have told my mother in law to take over the counter medicine for her sore throat. Instead, I rightly told her to go see her family Dr. and she was dx with Thyroid cancer.
So, if you want to play nurse or doctor, please do so quietly in your room with your brothers and sisters. Leave the delusions at home.

Comment by Randall Sexton on 2007-08-29 08:30:34 -0700 #

“Somewhat of a nurse.” As a real nurse, and former teacher of nursing let me tell you now so you get get some therapy…”you’re just plain stupid.” Once all your brain cells are born and kick in you might realize that. I once asked a potential nursing student what colleges she had attended and she named a business college…a trade school. If you want my advice, and you do need it, don’t even think about mentioning your trade school if you ever go to a real nursing school.

Comment by Adrienne on 2007-08-29 08:41:03 -0700 #

Oh, gosh 17 years old. I guess she’ll learn after the swarm of nurses descend upon her.
Sweety, come back to us when you pass your NCLEX exam.

Comment by johnrx on 2007-08-29 09:43:01 -0700 #

I busted my gut laughing at this piece about that little nurse student, friggen funny but so true. I’ve been doing 20years of hospital Rx, and some the ward clerks I encounter trying to get information from? Uhhhh the RN is busy (no shit so am I!)so can I help you? Yeah, but I need to talk to the RN first. I’ve seen my co workers asking for clarifications of say a drug order from a ward clerk? NEVER put your trust in any one else but that patient’s nurse and get names. I could go on about some RNS but most are very good, some are bad, like pharmacist’s also, MDs you name it..
johnrx

Comment by Denise McAllister on 2007-08-29 09:59:02 -0700 #

If you refer to yourself as a nurse you are committing fraud by misrepresenting what you actually are. In some states it is a FELONY for you to refer to yourself as a nurse if you do not possess the degree. You may be trained somewhat in the art of nursing but that does not make you a nurse, it makes you a partly trained assistant. Keep referring to yourself as a nurse and you are going to seriously piss people off.
If you referred to yourself that way and I was a patient I would feel lied to and I would be taking it up to the administration. I don’t think JCAHO would approve of you referring to yourself that way. Oh, you don’t know who JCAHO is well maybe its because YOU ARE NOT A NURSE!
Don’t compare yourself to us, you have absolutely no comprehension of the breadth and depth of our knowledge and experience. Unless you have a degree from a nursing program AND have passed the boards you are not a nurse and to call yourself anything else is just a lie.
Keep referring to yourself this way and nurses will out you for being an impostor every chance they get.

Comment by Grasshopper on 2007-08-29 10:09:24 -0700 #

Yet another side effect of kids “growing up” too fast.
[benefit of the doubt] Young lady,[/benefit of the doubt] patients may mistakenly call you nurse when you’re working as an assistant. You may think that it’s cute and all when it happens. It may make you feel good.
But there’s a LOT of responsibility and liability to being a medical professional (nurse, pharmacist, RT, doctor, whatever). Underlings (that’s what you are) don’t, that I know of, get sued when a mistake happens. Blame goes straight up the chain to the person with the degree and (hopefully) liability insurance.
What the Angry Pharmacist says is true. As the underling, you are doing tasks assigned to you. As a professional, you are assigning tasks, checking for accuracy and making sure protocols are followed. That may sometimes like the tongue-in-cheek version of supervision, but the buck stops with the professional.
Grow up…

Comment by fred on 2007-08-29 10:11:45 -0700 #

Hmm.. while on the subject…
any thoughts as to why (at least in my state…state laws may differ) that a Receptionist at a desk in a doctors office can call in a doctors order… not even know how to pronounce the name of the drug…. yet a fully competent (and “certified”) tech can not take the order?
I feel that a tech should not necissarily be allowed to take a phone order… but why on earth is the secratary allwoed to call it in??

Comment by dr on 2007-08-29 12:42:29 -0700 #

My child, you are going to school to learn to be a Medical ASSISTANT/Nursing ASSISTANT therefore NOT a nurse! If you want to call yourself a nurse then go to NURSING SCHOOL (not MA/NA school) and then pass the licensing exam so you can call yourself a nurse! We nurses who have actually done so have worked very hard to get where we are and we will not have some young child telling us to “GET OVER IT”
There is a huge difference between MA/NA’s and nurses. Nurses do a lot more than just pass pills, there is assesment, critical thinking, pathophysiology, anatomy, pharmacology, and people skills. Nursing assistants (and by no means do I mean to offend any NA’s as I used to be one myself) learn lifting, and pivoting, and feeding, and bathing, and toileting. They are huge assests to nurses but by no means are they a nurse. You know what, I have always wanted to be a teacher so why don’t I go and teach someone something and then I can call myself a teacher right? That is the same point that you are trying to make, that just because someone wants to be something then that is what they should be able to call themselves that right? I DONT THINK SO! Dear you have got A LOT to learn, and not just about nursing, about life in general. Hopefully you will gain some perspective on the difference between nurses and MA/NA’s and then hopefully you will understand why we are all getting so fired up!

Comment by Miko on 2007-08-29 13:41:40 -0700 #

“I think that NA’s and MA’s should be able to call themselves some what of a nurse because after all thats what we are going to school to be is a nurse.”
Umm…what? No, no you’re not. You’re going to school to be a MEDICAL ASSISTANT. If you were going to be a nurse, you would be going to NURSING SCHOOL. There is a difference. Or else I would be going to cooking school so I could call myself a plumber. Yes, you are going to work in the medical field, assisting various people. But you are not a nurse, and until you graduate from a nursing school and pass your nursing boards, you will not be a nurse. I would like to be around the first time you are near a nurse or nurses and you identify yourself as one. It takes a lot more than you think it does. I hope you’ll realize that. Not that MAs are dumb or anything like that, but you cannot compare your education to that of an RN, ezpecially with a BS degree. I hope you figure out that you are not a nurse before you or a loved one end up as a patient in a hospital and find out what nurses really do.

Comment by steph on 2007-08-29 14:56:45 -0700 #

Whoo-wee!!!So she thinks she’s the same thing as a nurse? I won’t get too vicious with her because she is young, arrogant and very, very foolish. She is also going to smacked down fairly quickly when she gets out there in the real healthcare world. Scary that she will be allowed access to real patients. These MA programs need to go away, and fast. They charge these kids an arm and a leg to learn to take blood pressures, give them an inflated sense of what their jobs are, and many of them have problems finding work.(hospitals don’t hire MAs for the most part-good thing!) Nursing is much more than technical skills. It encompasses scientific knowledge, as well as critical thinking. This girl has a LONG LONG way to go before she should count herself in the same category as a nurse.

Comment by Diane on 2007-08-29 15:38:25 -0700 #

Even if she stayed at a Holiday Inn Express she wouldn’t be able to call herself a nurse yet.
Excellent post!

Comment by StephRx on 2007-08-29 15:51:24 -0700 #

Oh, thank GOD for you. Thank GOD. Please don’t take the hate mail seriously; you are keeping an army of good and kind pharmacists sane. As such, you are providing a service to humanity. Seriously? I’ve been laughing so hard at your posts, especially the Taco Bell one. Hoo! Finally someone who gets my fascination with potty humor. (Besides my three teenaged boys.) Listen–you just GOTTA do a post on how annoying people’s effing anecdotes are. As in, when you write “Generics are as good as branded drugs” or “ACEI are first line for hypertension” and then THEY say, (angrily, of course) “Well, I’m not sure about those studies because my sister’s husband’s cousin got the shingles from a generic drug.” Or, “My blood pressure was going up on lispril and my doctor gave me Cozaar, so I really think Cozaar is better and so I’m telling all my (Part D) friends to ask for Cozaar.” Really? Who cares about your fucking story. Also, how about patients insisting on an obscure BRAND drug, and paying cash for #30 of the #90 count bottle you have to purchase, and then for the refills, they decide to transfer the prescription to Costco because it’s cheaper? W.T. FUCK. Anyway. I lurrrrrrrrrrve your site. I’m e-mailing it to all my classmates and some of my smarter coworkers. Keep it up, whoever you are.

Comment by cj on 2007-08-29 16:12:50 -0700 #

Well, well, well…you don’t like it when nurses get disgruntled at someone who takes on the title that he/she went to school for YEARS to earn, passed state boards that required additional months of study in order to succeed….then you walk in and claim we’re being nozy-breeches for wanting to know your title and license. You ain’t seen nothin yet missy, put on your big girl panties and suck it up. You aren’t a nurse, quit playing dress up, don’t whine when someone calls your illegal ass on it, you want the privilege of being called a nurse, put in your time and effort then pass boards and we’ll welcome you into the ranks. Until then, back off and stick to your training before you kill someone and in the meantime, ask your RN teachers who ‘know what they’re doing’ to give you their opinion of NA’s/MA’s calling themselves nurses and I’d bet you’ll get a chillier reception than this one.

Comment by tellmemoreliesguy on 2007-08-29 16:16:12 -0700 #

What a coincidence!!! After reading the post yesturday this stupid nurse calls me today and demands to talk to someone bc she can’t wait on the phone. She also addresses herself as doctor so I check her profile and she’s a nurse. She’s calling me to figure out how many refills her patient has cause she doesn’t have the records. #$*##*—A!!!! Is there a law against misrepresentation and not being patience??!!!

Comment by icurndawn on 2007-08-29 18:31:19 -0700 #

How incredibly naive are you? You know not what you speak. Do your teachers know you are spewing this garbage? God save us all if you ever DO become a nurse…your arrogance and know-it-all attitude is dangerous and is going to end up getting patients hurt and/or killed. I promise you will never make it through real nursing school clinicals and nursing school with that attitude. Your instructors will chew you up and spit you out. And if it doesn’t happen there, it will happen on your first job. Grow up!

Comment by JediWitch on 2007-08-29 22:36:27 -0700 #

I have a quiz for you. Please answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

  1. Does your family prominently display pictures of you so they can remember what you look like?
  2. Does the thought that you must be insane to have signed up for this course of education cross your mind at least a dozen times a day?
  3. Have you ever spent 1 hour with a classmate sobbing like the world has ended after a lab practical?
  4. Do you remember when your house ‘used to be’ clean with a long sigh at such a fond memory?
  5. Do you find yourself running from friends and family as you call back ‘Call your doctor if you have a concern’?
  6. Do you try to hide the fact that you are a student nurse?
    I could go on, but the point is that if you didn’t answer ‘yes’ to at least four of those questions, then you are not in nursing school working your fanny off to earn the right to call yourself a nurse.
    Nursing is a profession.
    A profession has an independent body of knowledge that is not commonly known.
    To be called a nurse, you must have a license. You cannot be ‘some what’ of a nurse. You are or aren’t.
    The state decides that. Not you, not your instructors, not your employer.
    If an employer is referring to an MA or CNA as a ‘nurse’ then he is only doing to build up their ego so they won’t question performing duties that they are not qualified to perform IN ORDER TO SAVE HIM MONEY! Some physician’s do this.
    I most certainly hope that your instructors are not telling you that it is permissible to call yourself a nurse because you went through a vocational allied health program during high school. If you present yourself as a nurse and are caught, YOU POTENTIALLY CAN BE ALOT OF LEGAL TROUBLE!!!!!!
    Good luck with your future studies, but be aware that you have a ways to go. Make sure you focus well on algebra and your sciences courses.

Comment by john on 2007-08-30 03:04:54 -0700 #

Gee, Why don’t engineers get defended like this? I did my 4 years to get a degree and any monkey gets called engineer by the press, management, and general public 🙁

Comment by Tracy LVN on 2007-08-30 09:53:14 -0700 #

See the initials behind my name when you have gone through nursing school, dealt with the stress of passing with a min. of a “80%” on your exams,shed the tears and on the verge of going insane waiting for the small envelope(not the big one) from the BON to see if you passed NCLEX. THEN AND ONLY THEN CAN YOU CALL YOUR SELF A NURSE.

Comment by AnnR on 2007-08-30 10:01:58 -0700 #

MikeyB – do you like being an RN? My son is “thinking” about it. I’m waiting to see if he gets through anatomy — which has a $200 text book!
His brother the History Major (another employable field) is giving him grief about it. It’s my thought that a male-nurse would be well suited to some kinds of work and that my son will like it. He’s very sociable.
I am sorry to say that my son doesn’t put sentences together much better than this gal. My hope is that the tests are not essays!

Comment by State Board on 2007-08-30 10:15:12 -0700 #

In my state (in the midwest) you can call yourself a nurse on the job……..just once.
After that look for a summons to arrive requesting your presence at the State Board of Nursing to discuss your error and how much of a fine you’ll pay. Oh yeah, the certificate issued by the state for MA’s & NA’s, that’s controlled by the Nursing Board as well and you will find a minimum 30 day suspension the first time and revocation after that.
Good Luck

Comment by carolyn l sinacola on 2007-08-30 12:22:23 -0700 #

i worked hard for 4 yrs for my bsn degree.i have been a nurse 20 yrs .girlie you couldn’t be more wrong .if you are in ma school then you are studying to be a nursing asst.NOT a nurse. you have to go thru an accredited nsg program and sit for the board exam .if you pass and get a license then you may call yourself a NURSE.other wise you are not almost nothing .you have a lot to learn at 17 grow up.

Comment by tinky on 2007-08-30 19:16:17 -0700 #

OMG, Do not get me started. It’s even worse in the military! I had to work with corpmen with major attitudes. They only have highschool/ged diploma’s! Even a NA/MA would be more qualified than them.
When I graduated pharmacy school, passed the NAPLEX, the MPJE, AND after I finished my residency, I still didn’t feel right calling myself “pharmacist”. Yet I had to deal with corpmen with chips on their shoulders that felt they should be the pharmacist and be in charge! Never work for the military folks!!!!!!!!!

Comment by MusicMan on 2007-08-31 07:52:06 -0700 #

She’s obviously not a nurse nor on track to become one until she enrolls at a college or university and can begin her prerequisites.
But geez, folks, lose the vitriol. Your message gets lost in the venom.
John, you said, “Gee, Why don’t engineers get defended like this? I did my 4 years to get a degree and any monkey gets called engineer by the press, management, and general public.”
The answer, as you probably know, is called the “industrial exemption” – very few positions require a PE so the title is diluted. Strictly speaking, of course, no PE = not an engineer…

Comment by The little tech that does….. on 2007-09-01 00:38:54 -0700 #

That is just crazy talk, especially coming from a 17 year old! Someone needs to boot her ass into the real world where she will experience a very rude awkening!

Comment by AngryPerson on 2007-09-01 05:22:25 -0700 #

I just spent the summer watching my dad in the hospital being taken care of by RN’s, NA’s, and a shitload of other people.
I can tell you right now, RN’s never left bruises on his arm from pulling him up in his bed, but the NA’s managed to be stupid and inconsiderate enough to do this.
Talk about FUCKING angry: looking up and down the hallway and seeing 30 call-lights going off and 7 “NA’s” sitting around the nurse’s station gossiping—then watching the RN’s come and do the dirty work, the stuff they’re NOT required to do BUT DO because the NA’s are too retarded to do it. RN’s aren’t supposed to clear food trays or wipe assees, but I saw them do it plenty of times. Thank GOD for RN’s. They are the most humble people on planet earth.
PS. Thanks for the info re: vancomyacin. My dad had to take it this summer after getting MRSA in the hospital (hmmmm…wonder if he got it because the fucking retard NA’s never wore gowns and gloves in the rooms of other patients with MRSA)…
just a thought.

Comment by Jane on 2007-09-01 13:26:10 -0700 #

It is so strange that even after years of nursing school, passing the state board exam, going through a precepted internship, and than working on my own as an RN–I still feel like I am not! Like a fake! So I find it strange that someone would want to carry that label/responsibility without having the education, training, experience to back it up.
At any rate because the author is young she is just misinformed about what a nurse really is.

Comment by GrammarNurse on 2007-09-01 18:28:55 -0700 #

Just for fun, I corrected the grammar, puncuation and sentence structure. My corrections are in brackets.
“I am a 17 [year-old] girl in my senior year of high school. [I’m] in the [Miami Valley Career Tech Center]. This is my second year in the MVCTC. I am taking [Allied Health]. I have always wanted to be a nurse as far back as [I] can remember. My program has already [gone] on clinicals and [everything. We] are trying our best to learn everything as [quickly] as possible. I think [“that”-removed] NA’s and MA’s should be able to call themselves [somewhat] of a nurse because after all[,] [that’s] what we are going to school to be [second portion of sentence is redundant and has been removed]. I also [don’t] think people should run their mouths about people who call themselves nurses because [it’s] none of [their] [business] so leave it alone. Our teachers [who] teach us [removed–“here”] are all very good RN’s [who] know what they are doing!!!!!!!! SO STOP YOUR SHIT AND GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by unsinkablemb on 2007-09-03 19:42:25 -0700 #

Yikes, she’s young. She will definitely be in for a rude awakening when she hits the real world. Oh to be a fly on the wall…
As for me, I was too afraid to call myself a nurse until I passed the NCLEX and got my official license on paper!

Comment by pharmacyintern2010 on 2007-09-29 20:00:44 -0700 #

I can’t believe someone thinks that going to one of these fly by night career institutes makes them a nurse. You haven’t been through a nursing school and you haven’t taken a state board exam, therefore your not a nurse. I’m only an intern, I don’t dare call myself a pharmacist because I still have a 2.5 years to go in my program before I can even take the board exams to get my license to practice. I hate when people like my cousin, someone who got a photography degree from some no name school, works at CVS and at christmas at my uncles house says that a tech is just like a pharmacist but just doesn’t have the offical schooling but they know everything just as well if not better. I so wanted to start screaming at her what a load of bull it was, she works part time at CVS as a tech and picks up bits and pieces of info like “lipitor is for cholesterol” but god forbid you ask her who its contraindicated for, what is its mechanism of action, or what pregnancy catagory it is. It really pisses me off when you get people that have an NA (I still will call them orderlies in when they aren’t around), MA, a tech, or anyone else calls themselves something they are not. The other thing that has pissed me off is some PAs I’ve talked to in school and graduated consider themselves not assistants to the doctors but doctors in their own rights but just “lacking the formal schooling of med school, though the PA programs are the same thing.” Yeah, sure, I’m really going to trust some PA to do surgery on me with no surgeon around, I don’t think so. Of course the said PA student who made the comment about being doctors without having the formal training also was claiming they were letting him preform surgery on patients and such with the actual doctor not being there, can you say a bunch of people are going to lose their licenses for this along with a major lawsuit. PAs are great for somethings but not when you think you have a hernia and need surgery in the next week to correct it.

Comment by Chris on 2008-03-06 18:38:31 -0800 #

To TazziRN:
I think you are glamorizing nursing a bit too much. I don’t appreciate the way you slam doctors either. The vast majority of a nurse’s duties are spent following doctor’s orders; not the other way around, sweetheart. The rest of the time they clean up shit.

Comment by Katy on 2009-12-31 15:48:46 -0800 #

I am a cna. I have been one for 20 years now. I work in hospice/home health. I am proud of what i do. It is rewarding for me to go into someones home 5 days a week and know that when i leave there my patient is clean, full, comfortable and enjoyed my company. The MOST IMPORTANT part of my job though is to know when to call the R.N,s and report any thing about my client that has changed or that may be a cause of concern. Alot of times its nothing, but i will never take a chance and guess at anyting. To AngryPerson, to call NA’s retards only shows that you need to get your head out of your ass. I know wonderful hard working NA’s, LVN’s and RN’s. If you had a bad experience you should have reported it to the DON asap. I have worked in one nursing home and never will again. Yes there will be call lights on for a while because NA’s were given 28 patients a shift, while i never got one nurse to come out behind thier desk to help. I would not sit down or chat with anyone. That is why i went into home health, so i could give one patient a full 2 or 3 hours of care. Its clearly stupidity on anyones part to call an entire group of people retards.