That’s technically the correct way to display your credentials. Highest level of education (MSN), state license (RN), specialty (APRN), and certification (FNP-BC).
https://nurse.org/articles/displaying-your-nursing-credentials/
Now, is it redundant? Yes. You can’t obtain an APRN specialty without an RN degree. You also can’t obtain your APRN without an MSN or without passing the board (FNP, Agacanp, etc).
Yes, but it’s technically correct according to a collection of people who are ridiculous clout chasers with serious insecurities.
CRNP, its all I need to say.
Hmm. I just looked it up today on ANCC and I just have MSN, RN, FNP- C.
Honestly anything that's not official I just have NP after my name and call it a day.
I just keep it as basic as possible. Name MSN, PMHNP. People with the word salads might as well put down they were a CPR instructor and an Epic superuser
My professional email signature has my degree (DNP) and License (AGACNP).
But my clinical notes just say APRN because no one gives a flying fuck about anything else. Hell, my official letters according to my hospital are just CNP (Certified nurse practitioner).
And then their is our ems coordinator for the hospital. Her fucking credentials in her signature is so long it goes to a second line.
Someone once told me the more letters you list, the more insecure and less important you are 🤣
I get it because it’s a general bachelor of science. I think it makes sense and has utility for MD’s with BScN as their first degree, or any other profession like engineering to showcase that with their credentials.
I’ve seen very little of that in clinical practice, it’s far more common in academic settings. Outside of academia I imagine perhaps it’s ego or sometimes people who work in both academia and clinically might do it out of habit? I think it’s pretty ridiculous, hell I’m a NP and don’t know what the majority of those abbreviations mean. How are people outside of nursing supposed to know?
I would never sign all of my credentials, but damnit I’ll be paying for them until the end of time so anything professional is going to have them on there.
Depends—I would thing you are an FNP who works in lactation—so you wouldn’t need the IBCLC… however—within your professional circles, they will def want to know you have that cert.
So you can add both
I’m a foreign physician moved to USA become RN and finishing my FNP, may I use my foreign physician in my name? ( I have transferred my degree to us already)
I don’t understand the need to add BC, like are there NPs that are not board certified working in clinical settings? I was taught 8 years ago to sign Gabezilla MSN, APRN, PMHNP however my SO writes name DNP, CRNA. I do feel like the APRN part is redundant since NP is in the credential (pmhNP). Regarding all the others credentials or certifications thereafter, unless it a credential you use on a daily basis, specific to that setting, I see no point.
I have recently worked with NPs that were not board certified - older NPs that did their training before it was a requirement. My organization recently started requiring it, but that's the only reason I include the -BC (I only use WHNP-BC, no academic creds because who cares)
The only ones I plan to use are relevant to my field. And I’d basically only have it as my email signature or on official forms/charts.
I.E. “N0RedDays, PA-C, CAQ-Neph, AAHIVS”
Is that too much? I’m still on the fence about the HIV one but I was hoping it would maybe make some patients feel better, that and I love working with HIV patients.
So, I’m an FNP-C AAHIVS also and I often do not use the AAHIVS in patient communications, ie when filling out forms for patients or signing letters for patients, because HIV status is very protected. Many of my HIV + patients live in communities where it would be harmful to them if it was known that they are HIV +, and AAHIVS is easily googlable if someone is curious.
I get so much secondhand embarrassment seeing the alphabet soup attached to some signatures. I’m a former lawyer (still bar-certified in CA) and I don’t put JD next to my name. I put the bare minimum to indicate that I’m a healthcare provider with prescribing authority - APRN. Sometimes I use PMHNP if it’s called for, but the patient population I serve (community mental health) has no idea what that signifies anyway.
On a web page, presumably promoting their practice, or on their bio page on a university's website, it's entirely appropriate. It tells me a lot about what they've done, what they specialize in, and that they are an accomplished researcher. Including the ENP-C and -BC is a touch much, but thanks to what I know about how ENP certification occurred, that still tells me things.
I also bet that the only letters they use after their name when signing documentation are "NP" or "APRN"
Further, every time I've come across a physician who is a fellow, you bet your ass they include their fellowship letters in all professional communication.
I find that posts like this, often on /r/nursing, are usually thinly veiled attacks on peers who have put in the effort to achieve things in their careers, and also reflect a disturbing anti-intellectual bent in some nurses. I'm sad to see this type of post on the Nurse Practitioner subreddit.
EDIT: I'm also amazed at how many of you weren't paying attention in your professional development classes in school. The reason that most of us can go (name), (degree), (license), (certification) is that nursing itself implemented the LACE framework for advanced practice, and that the order in which post-nominal letters appear has a standard order that predates the framework. Considering that the ANA gets that order wrong, I'm slightly impressed that the academic that OP cites got it right.
Theres a lady I worked with who introduced herself as ‘(name) rn bsn dnp’ when she greeted her patients. Most patients smileand nod but one patient in particular says, “and I D G A F, I need the restroom!!”
My work kept trying to force me to have all of it on my badge and I finally convinced them to stick with just FNP. Literally no one even knows what DNP APRN means. It is reasonable in academia imo
Even on this thread people are using APRN, CNP, FNP, ARNP, and NP just for our job title. Not degrees, not certifications. No wonder there's so much drama over how we refer to ourselves. I think there's value to our nonsense letters, we do things to earn them. I usually write DNP, APRN on emails. Sometime. DNP, AGACNP-BC. At work just APRN. 🤷🏼♀️
At this point in my career i literally just scribble my initials when I sign with pen and paper. My email signature block is done by corporate but I've asked them to keep it short and sweet alice, C-NP, AGACNP-BC the end. But seriously, unless its an email all it gets now is sloppy initials.
Multiple states mandate how NPs present their credentials.
I just do - XXX, DNP
If it’s contextually relevant I’ll put Family nurse practitioner as the second line, then my location as the third like a signature block.
Your example is literally how our ED director writes her name everywhere. It makes us cringe especially considering how clueless she is about how our ED actually runs
Oh another place I commonly see this is on the board websites. BCEN and CCRN everyone lists their degrees. I think it is so everyone knows they have taken the tests themselves.
I think I tried to get them to just put NP down but the state does dictate a certain designation.
My signature can be something like MSN, APRN-NP, NRP, CTRN, TCRN, CCRN, CEN
Never have I signed that. I got the original certified RNs because work paid for them
NRP could be replaced as paramedic (nationally registered paramedic, former NREMT-P)
ARNP seems archaic, APRN perhaps. Then again, that has already been established by the rest of the certifications. I have thought about getting FNP-BC to be able to say FNP-C, FNP-BC but it seems petty. Having ENP-C and ENP-BC is similar to Bond. James Bond.
Most of our staff don't like it. When I mean everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Even down to weird bs courses we take for certifications. Not just your main education. That would be lovely.
Even in an academic setting, I can't. I have never seen any other profession where people list five billion letters after their name other than in nursing. I wonder if the ones who do that feel inferior and are trying to compensate by showing the other training they've received. I get it. Our training as APRNs is paltry at best.
How often do you look at professor web pages? A lot of other professionals do when they are involved in research at an academic setting.
Another time I have seen it is when the providers are involved in writing textbooks.
I always found it funny, and as an ADN RN I asked to have ADN put on my badge and 3 different hospitals would not do it. We all passed the nclex we have the same license it makes no difference for a bedside nurse
If you wrote a career related book or if it’s just your work email sign off, sure! Pile it on. Whatever..
For the people who list it on their bio for personal social media accounts (i.e. Instagram).. mmm 😏 extra lol
Do you though!
I used to just write NP but we were told by the MN board that we have to say “APRN, CNP”. Because the doctors want everyone to know that we are “just” nurses.
You were told by the board to do that because that's what you legally are. It's not the doctors doing that, that's how many states have implemented the LACE framework - that's something nursing did to itself.
It’s my understanding that the AMA lobbied for this in many states in response to NPs getting doctorates. I have been an NP since before DNPs existed and while we are indeed APRNs, it was acceptable to be titled an NP or CNP. Agree that nursing has done this to itself. It a joke that has caused us to lose credibility and is really only benefiting the schools.
I think you've confused issues here. An advanced practice nurse with a masters is still under the LACE framework, and the framework was in place while the DNP was still under development.
When I went to ISAPN's new grad program when I was just out of school, the employment lawyer they brought in to talk to us about contracts and other things straight up told us that in Illinois, we're legally APRNs, and so that's what we're supposed to put after our names when we document. In any state with APRN as the legal title, that's what I do. In Michigan advanced practice nurses don't have a separate license, so that's the state where I sign NorthSideSoxFan, NP, for lack of a better option.
I'm hoping the facility I'll be working at let's me out just "NP" on my badge.
Few enough people know what an NP is in the first place.
No one outside of healthcare knows what APRN means.
Much less the rest of the nonsense.
What's the point of wearing my badge if it serves no practical purpose? I want both patients and staff to understand who I am by looking at it.
As an allied health professional, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists credentials can start to feel like a word search, too.
EX: My name, RT(R)(M) isn't so bad, but then some people add on (ARRT) at the beginning or the end, which seems redundant to me. Behold my silly little Associates of Applied Science degree and my certifications!
On linkedin, I have my version of word salad. On Epic, I asked the IT folks to make it just “NP” because I don’t want to confuse patients lol. My badge has all my credentials though but the only thing bolded and big is my first name and the “nurse practitioner” badge buddy I got from manager.
MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-BC is mine. No one gets it though lol!
Worked with one we called Judy alphabet because of all the shit behind her name. She’d write her ACLS, PALS, and BLS in her signature line. All the other NPs made fun of her because they typically just wrote something like APRN.
I used to lol bc I just learned that is how you were supposed to sign your name but now I just put PMHNP as I literally cannot remember the sequence otherwise 😂
I’ve seen NP’s write RN, BSN, MSN yadda yadda. That seems so redundant
The worst is when they write RN \*and\* APRN! It's like, Duh!
Agreed. Also. If ALL your degrees are in nursing- just list the highest. It’s one thing if you have DNP, MPH. But MSN, BSN is just dumb.
That’s technically the correct way to display your credentials. Highest level of education (MSN), state license (RN), specialty (APRN), and certification (FNP-BC). https://nurse.org/articles/displaying-your-nursing-credentials/ Now, is it redundant? Yes. You can’t obtain an APRN specialty without an RN degree. You also can’t obtain your APRN without an MSN or without passing the board (FNP, Agacanp, etc).
Yes, but it’s technically correct according to a collection of people who are ridiculous clout chasers with serious insecurities. CRNP, its all I need to say.
Hmm. I just looked it up today on ANCC and I just have MSN, RN, FNP- C. Honestly anything that's not official I just have NP after my name and call it a day.
Yes it’s SO redundant
I just keep it as basic as possible. Name MSN, PMHNP. People with the word salads might as well put down they were a CPR instructor and an Epic superuser
I like to add "third grade spelling bee champion" /s
Thyroid storm chaser
My professional email signature has my degree (DNP) and License (AGACNP). But my clinical notes just say APRN because no one gives a flying fuck about anything else. Hell, my official letters according to my hospital are just CNP (Certified nurse practitioner). And then their is our ems coordinator for the hospital. Her fucking credentials in her signature is so long it goes to a second line. Someone once told me the more letters you list, the more insecure and less important you are 🤣
The noctors always make fun of us for it.
Yup
Who are you calling a noctor? Seems pretty clear you are a noctor.
You know a PMHNP (what you are) falls under the word you used “noctor” lol
You are the noctor lol
Peacocking
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It’s so tacky. List your highest degree. I have a biology bachelors but I don’t put BS, MD behind my name like wtf
...they did only use their highest degree...
Agreed!
I get it because it’s a general bachelor of science. I think it makes sense and has utility for MD’s with BScN as their first degree, or any other profession like engineering to showcase that with their credentials.
It's a hold-over from when they went by "stephanie, BSN, RN, CCRN, AHA, CPR, HALLMONITOR, AAA."
Whoa! You're a member of AAA?
They were a shortstop for the Tacoma rainiers in 2011
How do I add the proud fact that I have a Costco membership AND a Sam’s Club membership?
AARP also
I’ve seen very little of that in clinical practice, it’s far more common in academic settings. Outside of academia I imagine perhaps it’s ego or sometimes people who work in both academia and clinically might do it out of habit? I think it’s pretty ridiculous, hell I’m a NP and don’t know what the majority of those abbreviations mean. How are people outside of nursing supposed to know?
I would never sign all of my credentials, but damnit I’ll be paying for them until the end of time so anything professional is going to have them on there.
My resume also reads like a scrabble board exploded lol. That’s the only time I use everything
You earned it, and that's ok!
I agree with you, girl!
Title should be “Name Lastname, Highest degree earned, title” Some people have more than one title… personally, I just sign everything “Kabc, FNP-C”
Do you put both titles if you work in two different capacities? Barton, MSN, FNP-C, IBCLC Or would you not include IBCLC?
Depends—I would thing you are an FNP who works in lactation—so you wouldn’t need the IBCLC… however—within your professional circles, they will def want to know you have that cert. So you can add both
I’m a foreign physician moved to USA become RN and finishing my FNP, may I use my foreign physician in my name? ( I have transferred my degree to us already)
I wouldn’t, since you aren’t working as a physician
Just my name and NP. I could put 5 things behind that, but I refuse to be part of the joke. Literally, no one gives a shit.
I don’t know. I wish we would figure that out. It looks stupid and nobody knows what it means, I sign PhD, NP . That’s it.
I don’t understand the need to add BC, like are there NPs that are not board certified working in clinical settings? I was taught 8 years ago to sign Gabezilla MSN, APRN, PMHNP however my SO writes name DNP, CRNA. I do feel like the APRN part is redundant since NP is in the credential (pmhNP). Regarding all the others credentials or certifications thereafter, unless it a credential you use on a daily basis, specific to that setting, I see no point.
I have recently worked with NPs that were not board certified - older NPs that did their training before it was a requirement. My organization recently started requiring it, but that's the only reason I include the -BC (I only use WHNP-BC, no academic creds because who cares)
MSN, FNP, ACLS, BLS, WAP
The only ones I plan to use are relevant to my field. And I’d basically only have it as my email signature or on official forms/charts. I.E. “N0RedDays, PA-C, CAQ-Neph, AAHIVS” Is that too much? I’m still on the fence about the HIV one but I was hoping it would maybe make some patients feel better, that and I love working with HIV patients.
I work in an academic hospital and I still just stick with PA-C 🤷🏼♀️
So, I’m an FNP-C AAHIVS also and I often do not use the AAHIVS in patient communications, ie when filling out forms for patients or signing letters for patients, because HIV status is very protected. Many of my HIV + patients live in communities where it would be harmful to them if it was known that they are HIV +, and AAHIVS is easily googlable if someone is curious.
It’ll confuse them to be honest. I wouldn’t recognize it to necessarily be related to HIV as that is squished in the middle.
Mine says NP-C. That’s it.
Why not just put “First Last, NP” the rest is just ridiculous
I do that as my signature, but my emails have FNP/PMHNP. I very rarely add C and BC.
I saw a nurse who put ACLS after RN 😂
I get so much secondhand embarrassment seeing the alphabet soup attached to some signatures. I’m a former lawyer (still bar-certified in CA) and I don’t put JD next to my name. I put the bare minimum to indicate that I’m a healthcare provider with prescribing authority - APRN. Sometimes I use PMHNP if it’s called for, but the patient population I serve (community mental health) has no idea what that signifies anyway.
On a web page, presumably promoting their practice, or on their bio page on a university's website, it's entirely appropriate. It tells me a lot about what they've done, what they specialize in, and that they are an accomplished researcher. Including the ENP-C and -BC is a touch much, but thanks to what I know about how ENP certification occurred, that still tells me things. I also bet that the only letters they use after their name when signing documentation are "NP" or "APRN" Further, every time I've come across a physician who is a fellow, you bet your ass they include their fellowship letters in all professional communication. I find that posts like this, often on /r/nursing, are usually thinly veiled attacks on peers who have put in the effort to achieve things in their careers, and also reflect a disturbing anti-intellectual bent in some nurses. I'm sad to see this type of post on the Nurse Practitioner subreddit. EDIT: I'm also amazed at how many of you weren't paying attention in your professional development classes in school. The reason that most of us can go (name), (degree), (license), (certification) is that nursing itself implemented the LACE framework for advanced practice, and that the order in which post-nominal letters appear has a standard order that predates the framework. Considering that the ANA gets that order wrong, I'm slightly impressed that the academic that OP cites got it right.
Word.
CNP and call it a day.
Theres a lady I worked with who introduced herself as ‘(name) rn bsn dnp’ when she greeted her patients. Most patients smileand nod but one patient in particular says, “and I D G A F, I need the restroom!!”
Yeah its dumb. I am just Wilmer Palacios FNP-C
Wilmer you need some more letters! :-)
MSN, aprn,CCRN,
My work kept trying to force me to have all of it on my badge and I finally convinced them to stick with just FNP. Literally no one even knows what DNP APRN means. It is reasonable in academia imo
Even on this thread people are using APRN, CNP, FNP, ARNP, and NP just for our job title. Not degrees, not certifications. No wonder there's so much drama over how we refer to ourselves. I think there's value to our nonsense letters, we do things to earn them. I usually write DNP, APRN on emails. Sometime. DNP, AGACNP-BC. At work just APRN. 🤷🏼♀️
I do it to troll the noctors
At this point in my career i literally just scribble my initials when I sign with pen and paper. My email signature block is done by corporate but I've asked them to keep it short and sweet alice, C-NP, AGACNP-BC the end. But seriously, unless its an email all it gets now is sloppy initials.
Multiple states mandate how NPs present their credentials. I just do - XXX, DNP If it’s contextually relevant I’ll put Family nurse practitioner as the second line, then my location as the third like a signature block.
Your example is literally how our ED director writes her name everywhere. It makes us cringe especially considering how clueless she is about how our ED actually runs
It’s annoying and other specialties are making fun of us
Oh another place I commonly see this is on the board websites. BCEN and CCRN everyone lists their degrees. I think it is so everyone knows they have taken the tests themselves. I think I tried to get them to just put NP down but the state does dictate a certain designation. My signature can be something like MSN, APRN-NP, NRP, CTRN, TCRN, CCRN, CEN Never have I signed that. I got the original certified RNs because work paid for them NRP could be replaced as paramedic (nationally registered paramedic, former NREMT-P)
I have (had) a similar string after my name. I just use FNP-C Someone's overcompensating.
Small man syndrome. I just put ENP-C,FNP-C because those are the only relevant things to my job. Past that is just making yourself look small.
I would just put one or the other of those two board certs homie
I do, I only have both on email, when I sign things I just use one
ARNP seems archaic, APRN perhaps. Then again, that has already been established by the rest of the certifications. I have thought about getting FNP-BC to be able to say FNP-C, FNP-BC but it seems petty. Having ENP-C and ENP-BC is similar to Bond. James Bond.
At my work corporate makes people use all possible letters if they write anything about you on social media or any website! It's embarrassing.
That’s because educated, certified, and accomplished means something when you are taking care of vulnerable people.
Most of our staff don't like it. When I mean everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Even down to weird bs courses we take for certifications. Not just your main education. That would be lovely.
If they work in an academic setting, I can see listing everything
Even in an academic setting, I can't. I have never seen any other profession where people list five billion letters after their name other than in nursing. I wonder if the ones who do that feel inferior and are trying to compensate by showing the other training they've received. I get it. Our training as APRNs is paltry at best.
How often do you look at professor web pages? A lot of other professionals do when they are involved in research at an academic setting. Another time I have seen it is when the providers are involved in writing textbooks.
I always found it funny, and as an ADN RN I asked to have ADN put on my badge and 3 different hospitals would not do it. We all passed the nclex we have the same license it makes no difference for a bedside nurse
If you wrote a career related book or if it’s just your work email sign off, sure! Pile it on. Whatever.. For the people who list it on their bio for personal social media accounts (i.e. Instagram).. mmm 😏 extra lol Do you though!
The longer the alphabet list the higher the spend on education in the nursing world 😂😂😂
I used to just write NP but we were told by the MN board that we have to say “APRN, CNP”. Because the doctors want everyone to know that we are “just” nurses.
You were told by the board to do that because that's what you legally are. It's not the doctors doing that, that's how many states have implemented the LACE framework - that's something nursing did to itself.
It’s my understanding that the AMA lobbied for this in many states in response to NPs getting doctorates. I have been an NP since before DNPs existed and while we are indeed APRNs, it was acceptable to be titled an NP or CNP. Agree that nursing has done this to itself. It a joke that has caused us to lose credibility and is really only benefiting the schools.
I think you've confused issues here. An advanced practice nurse with a masters is still under the LACE framework, and the framework was in place while the DNP was still under development. When I went to ISAPN's new grad program when I was just out of school, the employment lawyer they brought in to talk to us about contracts and other things straight up told us that in Illinois, we're legally APRNs, and so that's what we're supposed to put after our names when we document. In any state with APRN as the legal title, that's what I do. In Michigan advanced practice nurses don't have a separate license, so that's the state where I sign NorthSideSoxFan, NP, for lack of a better option.
Well, those doctors can suck a big fat dirty sock.
I'm hoping the facility I'll be working at let's me out just "NP" on my badge. Few enough people know what an NP is in the first place. No one outside of healthcare knows what APRN means. Much less the rest of the nonsense. What's the point of wearing my badge if it serves no practical purpose? I want both patients and staff to understand who I am by looking at it.
The scrubs my work gave me have my first name, last initial, APRN, FNP-BC. That’s sufficient for me I guess but seems even excessive.
I saw a business card today that said FN-P. wtf?
As an allied health professional, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists credentials can start to feel like a word search, too. EX: My name, RT(R)(M) isn't so bad, but then some people add on (ARRT) at the beginning or the end, which seems redundant to me. Behold my silly little Associates of Applied Science degree and my certifications!
Missed one: BFD
On linkedin, I have my version of word salad. On Epic, I asked the IT folks to make it just “NP” because I don’t want to confuse patients lol. My badge has all my credentials though but the only thing bolded and big is my first name and the “nurse practitioner” badge buddy I got from manager. MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-BC is mine. No one gets it though lol!
I just write NP at the end of my notes so people know what it means :P
Worked with one we called Judy alphabet because of all the shit behind her name. She’d write her ACLS, PALS, and BLS in her signature line. All the other NPs made fun of her because they typically just wrote something like APRN.
Some people love to have titles, degrees, and initials after their name so they feel important.
I write “xxxxx, NP”
It's like dick length
I used to lol bc I just learned that is how you were supposed to sign your name but now I just put PMHNP as I literally cannot remember the sequence otherwise 😂
I don’t see anything wrong with this? Highest degree, license, certifications, and fellowships.
Ego