LPN orienting an RN?

[texascowgirl]

is there some kind of stipulation in the Nurse Practice Act or anywhere that an LPN should not orient an RN?

reason why i ask is that at one job, i was, as an RN, oriented by an LPN..

i have no problems with LPN's but this one was incompetent as they come, and i have some issues with this former employer and am writing a letter to the CEO about the whole facility and management and need an answer to this question. thanks

[flashpoint]

At the hospital where I worked, it would have made sense to have an LPN do orientation to the basic patient care end of things. Most of the time the RNs spend so much time doing charge or working in the specialty areas that they rarely took patients on the floor. And when there weren't a lot of patients or the specialty areas weren't open, management had something other than patient are for them to do. Our LPNs knew that aspect and did it on a more regualr basis than the RNs even had a chance to. But...they were just helping them get used to the routine, figuring out where supplies were stored that week, using the equipment, etc...

[leslie :-D]

i've been oriented and worked with some pretty inept rns also.

yrs ago i was oriented by one of the most outstanding nurses i've ever had the privilege of working with.

this nurse was an lpn, who was filling in for my delegated rn preceptor.

this (lpn) nurse should have written a book on hospice, the regs, dealing w/crisis, difficult families, difficult doctors, etc.

i just don't think that because this nurse was an lpn, rendered her unable to train you.

there clearly should be an rn training in the areas where only an rn can do the particular job.

good luck.

leslie

[suzanne4, RN]

I learned more from an LPN that I worked with when I first started out in the ER than from many others. She had actually run the ER until RNs were required to be there. That was many years ago. but I still cherish the experience.

Depends on what the job entails and what you will be doing. If it is something that requires an RN license, then it should be an RN doing the training, if it is how things are run in the facility, it doesn't really matter. I woudl prefer to be oriented by soemone that really knew what was going on there.

[Mississippi_RN]

I think there are a lot of LPN's who are more knowledgeable than any RN I know. When I was oreintating to my floor, the LPN that worked there taught me just as much as the RN did... every person has different experiences to offer you. A different perspective of sorts. And...to tell you the truth...in our NBN there is a CNA (I have never thought of her this way) that has worked there for almost 30 years...back when that is all there were in the Nursery. She said they would push a red button on the wall to call a nurse out of Labor Room if they needed them. Otherwise, it was just them. She can tell you more about a bad baby, or a good baby that is showing signs of going bad, than most of the RNs. Experience is worth more than any amount of education in the world. I know the NBN will be lost without her :loveya: whenever she retires.

[Larry77, RN]

Title wouldn't matter to me, I would want to be trained by the person who knows the job the best.

To the OP, you may have not intended it but to me your post sounds like little ol' LPN's shouldn't ever train a high and mighty RN.

I worked as an LPN when I was finishing my RN and trained quite a few RN's and never had an issue (course this was in ECF/LTC so the jobs were pretty much the same).

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Title wouldn't matter to me, I would want to be trained by the person who knows the job the best.

To the OP, you may have not intended it but to me your post sounds like little ol' LPN's shouldn't ever train a high and mighty RN.

I agree with the above.

I doubt if such a thing is even addressed in most nurse practice acts. To my knowledge, few BONs even address orientation to a facility, as that is a facility and employment issue, not a practice issue. Amount/type of orientation is at the facility's discretion (sometimes regulated by Magnet, JCAHO type groups) in most cases and not usually mandated by law. The nurse practice act would direct you as the nurse to accept or decline that facility role if you feel that you cannot do the job due to poor orientation, but that places the onus on you, not the facility.

If you felt it was inappropriate, you should have discussed it with your supervisor at the time, and if the orientation was not up to par, it should have been addressed at the end of orientation....regardless of the level of licensure of the orienting nurse.

Orienting is not really a supervisory role, therefore LPNs often orient RNs.

[gitterbug]

Orientation to a unit may involve many different skill levels. If this particular LPN was not giving you the orientation you felt you needed, then you should have spoken up to your HN. I agree that many years ago, LPN's

did most of the technical orientation(meds,treatments, and such), CNA's were responsible to check new staff off on vital signs, turning, and linen

changes. RN's orientated the new RN on desk work and particular DR. orders. Today, many new employees are left to flounder and wonder, there just is not enough time to do the job and teach too.

I agree that you may have had a bad experience with this particular LPN and at this particular facility. That does not mean as RN's we cannot learn from LPN's, nor any other staff member who takes the time to teach us a

new way to complete a task, obtain a skill, or deal with work issues.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

Happens all the time where I work. The 2 LPN's on days would be my first pick to take care of me or my family if we were admitted. If the LPN was inept I don't think they would have put her in that role. We have certain nurses who orientate others and those never will. Management is not that clueless. Loosen up!

[txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN]

Im not sure what the big deal is here. I train/orientate employess all the time RN's/LVN's and there has never been a big deal about it.. oh maybe once or twice but the new employee got over it real fast.

[jschut, BSN, RN]

I want the one who knows and appreciates his/her job to train me in mine!

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

I've been an lpn for 23 years, and have oriented many an RN. I have worked in states where lpns can do push drugs and have instructed new rns on how to do it. It isn't the fact that an LPN is orientating an RN, its is the LPN as qualified as an RN to do it? And in some cases, that answer is yes indeed. In other cases, such as yours, the answer is perhaps not at all. You would have felt just as miserable being orientated by an RN who was just as worthless, and I have been oriented by some of those too!!!