[Lateefa]

Just wondering if anybody heard of LPN doing pap smears?

[ang75]

Never. Completely out of their scope of practice.

[SmilingBluEyes]

no. it is out of their scope of practice.

[BRANDY LPN]

Why do you ask?

[traumaRUs]

I was wondering too about the question???

[BRANDY LPN]

MY thought was maybe it wasn't a pap but a culture or fern or something, all of which would be in our scope, but a lay person may not know the difference. Sorry if you are not a lay person but you never can tell.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Where I work, LPNs would not do ferns or cultures, either. No spec exams. Only RN's do them.

[BRANDY LPN]

Where I work we do everything that RNs do with a very few exceptions.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Maybe a different State Practice thing, or something. Here RN's do all the assessments, and careplanning; LPN's do not, except with cosignature of RN's. That may be why we do not hire LPNs in OB around here.They can't even push IV meds here, which is a shame. Ferning and spec exams would be way out their scope here, at least where I work.

[BRANDY LPN]

Here scope is left up to individual hospital policy for LPNs. The only thing I can think if off the top of my head that an Rn MUST do at my hospital is sign off on initial assesment and push versed. If I think of more I will add them later. I however refuse certain pts. that I feel are outside MY scope or that I feel I don't have enough training to do. ie, mg pts, transfusions, if they're sick enough to need mg or blood they are sick enough to need a RN JMO.