“The Board’s Goal Is That You Do Not Use the Term ‘Nurse’

in Your Advertisements”: That would make a lot of sense if the advertiser were, say, a health care establishment that didn’t hire trained nurses, but only people who dressed as nurses. It doesn’t make much sense if the advertiser is the Heart Attack Grill, a restaurant in which the waitresses wear skimpy nurse outfits, and are labeled “nurses” in a way that is highly unlikely to mislead the reasonable consumer. Yet the board’s demand is right there in a letter from the Arizona State Board of Nursing to the Grill:

In Arizona State A.R.S. § 32-1636, only a person who holds a valid and current license to practice professional nursing in this State … pursuant to Sections 32-1668 may use the title “Nurse” …. It would be appreciated if we could work together to resolve these complaints [referring to the “5-6 complaints” the Board had received]. The Board’s goal is that you do not use the term “Nurse’ in your advertisements or in the business establishment unless the persons meet the statutory requirements of A.R.S. § 32-1636.

The Grill doesn’t seem to be budging, either to the legal arguments or to the objections from Sandy Summers of the Center for Nursing Advocacy, who reportedly complains (I borrow the quote from a Baltimore Sun article) that “The endless association of sex and nurses leads people to believe that maybe nurses really are available to provide for the sexual needs of patients and physicians. It degrades the professional image, it demoralizes practicing nurses and drives any self-respecting person away from considering the profession.”