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Re: What do the abbreviations stand for?
We have a number of different designations for nursing caregivers in the U.S. Forgive me if these explanations are too elementary, but I admit, I don't know what your strata of caregivers is in Australia, so a similar response from you would be welcomed.
MA-Medical Assistant. Minimal amount of training, usually works in a physician's office. Able to draw blood, do EKGs, vital signs, etc. (There are not a lot of regulations in the physician's office environment at this time. We need to work on this.)
HHA-Home Health Aide. Some training in providing comfort care in a patient's home, such as bed baths, assistance with activities of daily living.
CNA-Certified Nursing Assistant. Minimum requirements include 75 hours of class time, 75 hours of hands-on experience. These people are typically found working in nursing homes, providing the hands-on care for those residents. Unfortunately, they word extremely hard, have a lot of responsibility and don't get paid much.
LPN-Licensed Practical Nurse/LVN-Licensed Vocational Nurse--Both of these disgnations mean the same thing, but some states in the US choose to call them one or the other. These are nurses who typically go to school for 18 months to 2 years, receive basic education about anatomy and physiology and more training on the technical side of providing nursing care and are able to carry out certain nursing practices. With the R.N. shortage that we are experiencing in the US, their responsibilities and capabilities have most certainly increased. Typically, these nurses are not placed in supervisory positions, you will find them in nursing homes more-so than in hospitals.
R.N.--It sounds like you know about that, so I won't go into it, though we have different educational degrees that make up the same designation of R.N. A Diploma R.N. which studied and trained in a hospital-based environment working as staff in the hospital for hands-on experience in the off shifts of class time. Typically lasts 3 years and is rapidly being phased out. The Associate Degree nurse has a 2-year college degree. The Bachelors in Science in Nursing has a 4-year college degree. These degrees mean college courses first, then hands-on experience.
Nurse Practitioner (N.P.) or Advanced Nurse Practitioner: R.N. with a Masters degree who practices under the license of a physician to do most everything a physician does, such as diagnose, write prescriptions, give orders for tests and referrals, etc. Nurse Midwives fall under this category as well.
P.A. or Physician's Assistant is typically a non-nursing person who has 2 additional years of college on top of their 4-year Bachelor's degree and has similar capabilities as the Nurse Practioner. (Of course, being a nurse, my opinoin is that these guys are not nearly as competent or adequate as the N.P.)
MSN or PhD in nursing typically are educators in nursing schools.
Does that kind of clear it up for you?
K.C.
Originally Posted by kimba09
Re: What do the abbreviations stand for?
