[ojoson]

It is excellent for you to document. You said patients call and you relay the message, and he gives you direction on what to do, then you have him sign -off on your notes, I hope I understood you correctly. I believe at that point you are not assessing you are giving the info to the MD and he is making the decisions, you are under his direct supervision. I believe this is OK. Do you make decisions without him? It doesn't sound like it to me. Make sure you continue to document and cover yourself with his signature. Good Luck

[lb1991]

In the state of CA two things apply: 1) it is not within the scope of practice for an LVN to perform an assessment; 2) there was a law passed in 2001 that states only an RN (or MD) can perform telephone triage.

Be careful - if it's not within their scope, the managing RN could be held accountable.

[icugirl33]

I am an RN and work telephone triage 2 weekends a month. In the company's manual, the duties of the LPN and RN are different. However, on the call center floor, everyone does what they choose. All of the nurses work very hard. I recently saw the pay difference between the RN and LPN this place, and it was $12 an hour difference. These companies protect themselves by having each employee sign something stating they will stay within their "scope of practice".