Georgia LPN Scope of Practice

The only med that I know for sure, that we cannot push in GA, is Lasix. Your facility should have a policy and procedures manual, just ask them if they do and where it's kept. In fact, they ARE supposed to have one, it's the state law. Each facility is different, as far as what you can and can't do as an LPN. The GA Board of Nursing just has guidelines, and it's pretty much left up to whomever you are working for, as long as you have the proper training. I do know that LPN's cannot hang blood anymore, and of course we cannot put in a central line. Just check with your facility, and if they say you can push the drugs, then there shouldn't be any problem. Like I said....the GA Board of Nursing just sets guidelines and it's totally up to your facility as to what you can and cannot do. Let me know.

From one GA nurse to another:nurse:

I am a fairly new employee and they have not gone over any policies with me yet. Our office manager is not a nurse either and she told me we just need to make sure we are following state regulations (and documenting), which she apparently does not have a clue as to what they are because they let MA's start IV's! Anyway, we have the anesthesiologist, and nurse practitioner and a few MA's (medical assistants) and they can't do much. The doctors office I work in has an OR and a PACU. I am in the OR with the doc and MA during procedures such as Lumbar injections, etc.... He asks me to draw up and push Fentanyl (Narcotic Pain Med) and Versed (consious sedation med!) I spoke with an instructor/clinical education manager at one of out major hopitals that told me these meds were not in our scope of practice an doing so is going against our nurse practice act which I can't seem to find anywhere online. She said an R.N. should be pushing not an LPN. Also we give antibiotics such as Ancef and we reconstitute and inject into IV bag of 250ml Normal Saline (we don't use a pump because procedures are no longer than 20-45 minutes). I was told I should not be doing this either. I have no one really to look to as a mentor since I am a new grad :no:so I am trying to find out the LPN scope. Let me know if you have any suggestions. In the meantime I am going to be looking into getting IV certified. Thanks!

The only med that I know for sure, that we cannot push in GA, is Lasix. Your facility should have a policy and procedures manual, just ask them if they do and where it's kept. In fact, they ARE supposed to have one, it's the state law. Each facility is different, as far as what you can and can't do as an LPN. The GA Board of Nursing just has guidelines, and it's pretty much left up to whomever you are working for, as long as you have the proper training. I do know that LPN's cannot hang blood anymore, and of course we cannot put in a central line. Just check with your facility, and if they say you can push the drugs, then there shouldn't be any problem. Like I said....the GA Board of Nursing just sets guidelines and it's totally up to your facility as to what you can and cannot do. Let me know.

From one GA nurse to another:nurse:

I worked in a hospital in Fort Valley, Ga. for two years and pushed Lasix many times. There is nothing listed on the BON website that says what we can or cannot do. It IS up to the facility that you work for. I had to call the BON to find out because I wasn't sure if I should give a patient a blood tansfusion. The hopsital that I worked for had a policy that the RN had to sign with me when we verified that blood from the lab and the RN had to actually start the transfusion and be in there for the first 15 minutes. After that, it was my responsibility to take care of that patient. I had patients on Heparin drips that I had to titrate up and down. I felt comfortable doing this because I did have a RN charge nurse that would help me whenever I was unsure.

Anyway, do check with your employer to see their policy and procedure manual. They are required by the Office of Regulatory Services to have one.

At my facility LPNs can do anything the RNs do, with few exceptions:

We can do IV push meds.

We can hang blood, so long as an RN checks it with us.

We can NOT administer conscious sedation.

We can NOT do admissions assessments.

We must have an RN sign off on heparin drips per protocol.

We can NOT charge.