To ask if you knew that in the UK anyone can call themselves a nurse?

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Anyone can use the title to offer professional advice and services even if they have no professional qualification, experience or have been struck off a professional register.
To protect the public, the title should be restricted to those who are registered with professional regulators such as Registered Nurses and Dental Nurses. This would be the same as titles such as paramedic, physiotherapist and hearing aid dispenser which are limited to those on the professional registers.

If you think, as I do, that this is wrong, please pop over to the Petitions Board, where @Arbella2 has a thread with more information and links to the petition.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/petitions_noticeboard/a4368136-protect-the-title-nurse-in-uk-law-petition-the-title-nurse-can-be-used-by-anyone-in-the-uk-petition-created-by-professor-alison-leary-rn?msgid=111544580#111544580

Dawn Butler MP on Twitter today
"Can you believe the title 'nurse' has no legal protection ? This is dangerous ! "

29,557 signatures presently.
Target 100,000
Closing date 14/12/21

@DeepaBeesKit

I thought it was like accountancy, where anyone can call themselves an accountant, but only people with recognised qualifications can call themselves a chartered accountant. Same in most professions.

Nurse is too generic a term to protect. A breastfeeding mother can nurse her baby, someone be a nurse in caring for their elderly mum etc, there are nursery nurses etc.

This is why the term "registered nurse" or RN exists - it defines nurses of a specific minimum qualification.

I agree with you here. Nurse is too generic a term to protect. If it was meant to have protected status it would have been the case years ago. Too many other professions/occupations use it too. Not just solely health related.

Presumably it’s because the word was traditionally used in a non medical sense, e.g. for what we’d now call a nanny.

‘Always keep tight hold of Nurse
For fear of finding something worse.’
(Hilaire Belloc.)

And it’s only relatively recently (in historical terms) that nursing became a profession you needed to be trained for.

It's such a perfect distraction in just a perfect time, isn't it. It rides on the emotinal wave about nurses. Because what is now more emotional than "nurse".

As pps said, it can't be protected because it is simply too widely used. It's basically just to give people something they can feel they can care about. While nurses in medical setting are doing incredible jobs, the term itself is non protectable. How would it work? Lots of people would have to rename jobs.

An extra 301 signatures in the last 36 hours !

It's just a title and can mean lots of things. It's the same with many jobs, anyone can call themselves an accountant for example, you can't assume they have a particular qualification. A mother who breastfeeds is a nurse, but you shouldn't assume they're a medical one!

Yes, the term nurse is so generic, anyone can nurse a sick person , and the same with teaching - anyone can teach, it's not a protected word. It's only when you pretend to have qualifications in that field, that you run into fraudulent behaviour.

Andrea Sutcliffe Chief Executive NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) writing in the Nursing Times September 2021
"One aspect we really want to pursue is that the title nurse is currently not protected "
"I believe it is essential we have the right protected titles and associated enforcement powers to take effective action to protect the public"

No, of course I don't think your average modern nurse has to treat/deal with shellshock, shrapnel wounds, bullet wounds, trenchfoot, men who have been gassed...

But the basics- calm good sense, applying bandages, washing patients, comforting the dying, blah blah- are surely not so very far removed, are they?

I know a foreign-trained nurse who works in the local McDonald's, seems a waste.

The Independent 12/10/21

Nurses should have their job title protected in law, ministers told by nursing leaders.

"Nurse" is very generic and worse is a common verb, so it's going to be incredibly hard to effectively protect it due to standard usage. What matters most is qualifications and experience in the specific area. It's no different than doctors; not much use seeing a cardiologist about a gynaecology issue for example, nor would a surgical nurse be much use for a mental health condition and vice versa. If medical registered nursing roles need additional protection, then it might make more sense to define new job titles that segregate several specific skills pathways and protect those. Some made-up (probably inappropriate) examples just to illustrate: only a registered nurse reaching the appropriate grade level demonstrating sufficient surgical experience could become a "Surgical Assistant", other ward registered nurses at an appropriate grade become "Ward Nurse", nurses in mental health become "Mental Health Attendant" etc. It would then be clear those are more advanced positions, while the standard "Registered Nurse" segregates the trained juniors from unqualified healthcare assistants.

But isn't this the same as "engineer" - anyone who can dig a hole calls themselves an engineer however can't call themselves "Chartered" so "Chartered Civil/Mechanical/Electrical/etc Engineer". I agree that it would be good to regulate a lot more "professional" titles to protect the public.

Just a reminder of the Royal College of Nursing's press release June 2021 re its serious concerns over the growing practice of employing those without registered nurse qualifications into registered nursing roles.
You can read it here
https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/nursing-workforce-crisis-leads-to-risky-recruitment-practice

A moderately successful influencer has been claiming to be a nurse for years and years, despite actually only ever working as one for about two weeks. I agree it should be protected, I think nurses are absolute heroes.

Same issue with advanced nurse practitioners/ advanced clinical practitioners. Not recognised on our professional registers but some people who haven’t done the extra 3 years training can call themselves nurse practitioners.

Presently 29,610 signatures for Protect the title Nurse in UK law petition.

[quote Arbella2]Just a reminder of the Royal College of Nursing's press release June 2021 re its serious concerns over the growing practice of employing those without registered nurse qualifications into registered nursing roles.
You can read it here
[[https://www.rcn.org.uk/news-and-events/press-releases/nursing-workforce-crisis-leads-to-risky-recruitment-practice]][/quote]
I don't really understand how turning the title nurse into a protected title will stop employers employing people other than registered nurses if that's their intent. They can just use the generic term health practitioner and non RNs will still be employed. If its stated in trust regulations that an opening must be offered to an RN then if the term nurse is used, the employer would just check out they had the correct quals. TBH, it looks like politicking to get more nurses trained.

TBH, it looks like politicking to get more nurses trained.
Which would be great!
I agree with everything else you said. Protecting a title doesn't change hiring practice. If a role can be done by anyone then it's fine to call it Healthcare Assistant or whatever and not worth wasting good Registered Nurses in the position. If it can't but unqualified people are hired anyway, then that's a different issue that needs to be addressed through challenging CCGs and using Patient Safety Specialists or other QA roles as appropriate.

@MRex

TBH, it looks like politicking to get more nurses trained. Which would be great! I agree with everything else you said. Protecting a title doesn't change hiring practice. If a role can be done by anyone then it's fine to call it Healthcare Assistant or whatever and not worth wasting good Registered Nurses in the position. If it can't but unqualified people are hired anyway, then that's a different issue that needs to be addressed through challenging CCGs and using Patient Safety Specialists or other QA roles as appropriate.

I totally agree that if politicking gets more nurses it's a great thing, but the problem is that gets entwined with making nurse a protected title which ultimately isn't necessary. Basically they're conflating two issues to create a problem to force the govts hand. That's typical politics but we should at least be honest about it.

@WhiskyXray

No, of course I don't think your average modern nurse has to treat/deal with shellshock, shrapnel wounds, bullet wounds, trenchfoot, men who have been gassed...

But the basics- calm good sense, applying bandages, washing patients, comforting the dying, blah blah- are surely not so very far removed, are they?

I know a foreign-trained nurse who works in the local McDonald's, seems a waste.

If that was all nursing entailed you wouldn't need a degree to be one.

Well said CrackersDontMatter

I never said it was all nursing entailed, bless you.

A degree is of course not necessary, but that's another thread.

Looking forward to you leading the debate on that one.

29,633 signatures now !