To my nurse friends and colleagues:
As you probably already have heard or read, I am appalled at the way the title of nurse is used in inaccurate and disrespectful ways, especially by Medical Office Assistants and the physicians that employ them. It is very common for both the office staff and the MOA him/herself to refer to anyone in that position as 'nurse'. The MOA program has no requirements for entry except for a high school diploma or GED, and is usually complete in a year. It includes subjects such as medical office billing and filing, and includes one term of human body systems (info from LCC).
Compare that to the minimum prerequisites, usually up to two years, the core course of study and clinicals, and often further completion of a BSN, that registered nurses must successfully complete with high grades, and the practice should deeply offend us. I does me. It is illegal in most states to identify oneself as a doctor, police officer, lawyer or judge, or any 'officer of the court', in fact. It is interesting to note that police officers often have little training before hiring, although that is changing. Law enforcement professionals are quick to point out their exact title if it is used improperly, such as Officer, Detective, Sargent, etc. As are doctors.
I think it is time that we, as nurses, begin to get vocal about the false, misleading and disrespectful use of the title 'nurse'. It is just another step in claiming our role as medical professionals. In addition, to insist that only nurses be called nurse is a great benefit to our patients, who often cannot tell a CNA from a housekeeper from a MOA from a receptionist, with all of them wearing scrubs. Our role as a professional, well educated medical provider is evolving, and this is a natural step in the process, that of claiming and guarding our hard earned credentials.
I have contacted the state Board of Nursing and the state Nurses Association regarding putting some teeth behind prohibiting the practice, but neither have any control or governance over MOAs and both welcome the idea of a grassroots movement. MOAs are not licensed and in many states not even certified nor regulated, such as Certified Nursing Assistants are in most states. MOAs are extensions of the doctor's bidding and training, able to perform any procedure the doctor is willing to train them to do. It is most certainly a monetary issue. But, if they are training properly and the MOA is performing procedures properly, why is it then necessary to falsely label the MOA as a nurse? It can only be to mislead the patient into allowing a non-nurse to treat them, as was the case with my medically fragile ninety-three year old mother-in-law.
I was assured by the staff at the Urology Institute that the instillation of chemotherapeutic chemicals in my mother-in-law's cancerous bladder would be performed by a nurse. After three successive UTIs caused by three different and unusual bacteria, I demanded to know the credentials of the nurse. Turns out it was a MOA every time. My mother-in-law reacted like most medically fragile frail elderly, spending weeks confused, incontinent, unable to walk and in pain from these successive UTIs. Her chemotherapy had to be halted before the full course because of the UTIs and her deteriorating condition.
Research shows that all adverse incidences, including infections, complications, even deaths, are reduced when registered nurses care for the patient. Over and over, studies prove that the deeper training and fuller education create a professional who is able to recognize and address signs of downward trends before they develop into a crisis. Yet, our very partners in patient care are stealing our title and duping the consumer, and indeed playing with lives and health.
To that end, I am asking of you: please be vocal at your own doctor's office, where you are the patient/consumer, about how offensive and misleading it is to call anyone but a nurse 'nurse'. Describe how difficult it is to even earn a coveted seat in nursing school, let alone to finish and to test for the right to be called nurse. Also, please speak to any other healthcare workers you know to encourage the same. Write to the State Board of Nursing, the state Nurses Association, the state Medical Association, the American Medical Association, your colleagues, your state representative, whoever you think might listen. Let's make this an important consumer issue.
I intend to write articles to nursing sites and journals, to speak to my legislator and to ask to speak to the house committee on medical issues with the hope of making it illegal to identify non-nurses as nurse. I think there should be a social media site similar to Angie's List where people can list the name of the doctor in whose office or clinic MOAs and others are falsely called nurse. Maybe if it becomes obvious that the doctors must be complicit in this deception in order for it to continue, some might be embarrassed enough to cease the practice. (Maybe, the next time we are in our own doctor's office, we should refer to everyone as doctor...)
I would appreciate you input and support. Although, support for me in this is support for us all.
Good health to you and yours.
