If I make a mistake in RN clinicals will my LPN license be revoked?

Ayeloflo · Jan 29, 2011

As a student, you are to function under school policy. In the clinical setting, you are also bound by hospital policy. If you violate the hospital policy, the hospital might bar your school from doing clinicals there. If you don't follow the rules and you do anything that causes harm to a patient, you should be dismissed from the program.

At school, you are a student. You are to follow instructions. You are not an independent LVN contractor who will be getting a 1099 at the end of tax season. I know that because one student gave morphine overdose accidentally to a pediatric patient in the absence of the instructor. The instructor had told all the students to notify her prior to giving meds. The outcome was bad. Listen to your instructor. I repeat: LISTEN TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR :)

TF4L10 · Jan 29, 2011

I'm not an LPN but I am in my last semester in nursing school and I have found that, in general, clinicals are set up in such a way that you are not doing anything out of your scope of knowledge. Your clinical responsibility grows according to your knowledge and progresses with each semester. As an LPN you will probably feel pretty comfortable with a lot of the beginning clinical skills and just being around patients in general which will help. But you shouldn't be expected to just jump in there and work, because you need to learn the RN piece. My first semester was vitals, bed baths, head to toe assessments, etc. on stable patients and then you build on that. For legal purposes meds should be given with an instructor (even if you are licensed as an LPN) And as always, if you are not comfortable doing something, don't. Ask for help. And yes, you are technically working under your instructors license so it shouldn't affect your LPN license in any way. Good luck!

NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN · Jan 29, 2011

Thanks for the replies so far. Once again, I already know not to do ANYTHING without instructor supervision/approval. I'm a student. I just wanted to know if I made an honest mistake would if affect my LPN license. Both responses helped answer my question. Thanks again.

RN0820 · Jan 29, 2011

I was always told during my clinicals that student can be held accountable for mistakes and they can be sued. It may vary by state but as far as I know you really aren't under the "umbrella" of ur instructor as you have experience and are going through classes you are accountable for the information taught to you. If you are unsure I know the NSO website can cover students with malpractice insurance...may be worth looking into for the peace of mind. And as always, look at the hospital policy before you do anything you have never done before. Good luck :)

TF4L10 · Jan 29, 2011

As a student, you are to function under school policy. In the clinical setting, you are also bound by hospital policy. If you violate the hospital policy, the hospital might bar your school from doing clinicals there. If you don't follow the rules and you do anything that causes harm to a patient, you should be dismissed from the program.
At school, you are a student. You are to follow instructions. You are not an independent LVN contractor who will be getting a 1099 at the end of tax season. I know that because one student gave morphine overdose accidentally to a pediatric patient in the absence of the instructor. The instructor had told all the students to notify her prior to giving meds. The outcome was bad. Listen to your instructor. I repeat: LISTEN TO YOUR INSTRUCTOR :)

Wow! A Peds patient and narcotics unsupervised. Now that's a lack of clinical judgement even a student should have. School is only the beginning. I know I only have acquired a fraction of the knowledge I will need as a nurse and I will probably not retain all it. But I believe that I will be competant enough to make sound clinical judgements regarding the safety of my patients, probably most importantly knowing what I don't know. Although I hope that story is not the norm (i certainly have not experienced a situation with myself or my classmates) it is none the less an important lesson.

jessica.lanelle · Jan 29, 2011

I recently graduated from RN school, after being an LPN. The most important thing to remember when you are in the clinical setting is that you are functioning as a student, not a nurse. I did not even let the nurses that I worked with in the hospital during clinicals know that I have an LPN license, to keep them from thinking that I was qualified to do things that I was perfectly qualified, to do but did not know if I was allowed to do as a student. Just don't do anything without the instructor knowing, and you should not make any serious mistakes :)

MyLady23 · Jan 29, 2011

I recently graduated from RN school, after being an LPN. The most important thing to remember when you are in the clinical setting is that you are functioning as a student, not a nurse. I did not even let the nurses that I worked with in the hospital during clinicals know that I have an LPN license, to keep them from thinking that I was qualified to do things that I was perfectly qualified, to do but did not know if I was allowed to do as a student. Just don't do anything without the instructor knowing, and you should not make any serious mistakes :)

Ahh, that is so smart! I just started the LVN-RN program and was wondering about this. Thank you!

Scarlette Wings · Jan 30, 2011

i know that because one student gave morphine overdose accidentally to a pediatric patient in the absence of the instructor. the instructor had told all the students to notify her prior to giving meds. the outcome was bad.

wow, i have to ask, did the child make it? did the nurse get to stay in school? that is so sad.

Ayeloflo · Jan 30, 2011

Wow! A Peds patient and narcotics unsupervised. Now that's a lack of clinical judgement even a student should have. School is only the beginning. I know I only have acquired a fraction of the knowledge I will need as a nurse and I will probably not retain all it. But I believe that I will be competant enough to make sound clinical judgements regarding the safety of my patients, probably most importantly knowing what I don't know. Although I hope that story is not the norm (i certainly have not experienced a situation with myself or my classmates) it is none the less an important lesson.

Keep in mind that it was accidental, not intentional. Med errors happen all the time. Nurses (neglecting to check 3 times and to remember the 6 rights), doctosr (mistakely writing the wrong orders), etc. Human errors. But, we have to be careful about the way we judge and condemn one another. The student was in tears and he gave up on pursuing nursing altogether!

There was another incident at Cedar's Sinai that made headlines in Los Angeles recently. This one was actually a news item in the media. Heparin overdose accidentally administered to a pediatric patient. Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quaid15jan15,0,7431993.story

caliotter3 · Jan 30, 2011

I would think that it would be common sense not to do anything that would be LPN license endangering. At the worst, you would be held to the standards of your license should the occasion present itself. After all, your education is beyond that of the generic student who does not possess an LPN license.

Ayeloflo · Jan 30, 2011

i know that because one student gave morphine overdose accidentally to a pediatric patient in the absence of the instructor. the instructor had told all the students to notify her prior to giving meds. the outcome was bad.
wow, i have to ask, did the child make it? did the nurse get to stay in school? that is so sad.

he was my classmate but he was in a different clinical group so we did not go to the same hospitals at the same time. i was not in their clinical group. i understand that the students left the floor and gathered in the conference room with their instructor.

the student said he gave it and left, when we asked him about it on lecture day, cos we heard the rumor. i do not know if family was there. i do not know how much the overdose was in excess of. i wonder if the primary nurse prepared the med and gave it to the student to administer. i wonder if the student took out the med while the primary nurse witnessed it. possible that he might have been trying to help the nurse. but i highly doubt that he intentionally prepared an overdose in order to cause harm. we asked him a lot of questions. he did not have all the answers. i do not know if he was being acused because of how it was documented. i did not hear the part about what exactly happend to the patient. but he was in tears. the school handled it with the hospital in their own diplomatic way.