lpn supervising RN!!!

[masry123]

I am very confused, my facility just hieared 2lpn to supervise day shift during weekday and weekends. we do have more than 6 RN {new grad} on diffrent floors. my question is 'is it possible for lpn to supervise RN if she have mor exp":idea:?

add a tag (edit tags)

none

[Wild Irish LPN, LPN]

I worry about people working under my license but I am being kept in the dark. I ask the LPN a question and she acts as though I have ruined her day!

I am quite certain that the LPN does not work under your RN License, LPN's have there own licenses as well....it boils down to scope of practice....in LTC the RN and LPN are really equals when it comes to the nursing....unless you are hanging blood or pushing IV Narcs, the two are equals....different story in hospitals but not LTC....

[Asystole RN]

I am quite certain that the LPN does not work under your RN License, LPN's have there own licenses as well....it boils down to scope of practice....in LTC the RN and LPN are really equals when it comes to the nursing....unless you are hanging blood or pushing IV Narcs, the two are equals....different story in hospitals but not LTC....

Not true. The registered nurse is ALWAYS held to a higher standard. In regards to an LPN and a RN working side by side in a SNF, should an incident occur the RN is legally held liable. The LPN cannot legally "assess" only observe and report.

There was a case in Georgia where an LPN placed a Foley into a quad and punctured his prostate. Several hours later it was noted that the patient's Foley bag was full of blood. There was a RN on duty that night taking another floor but the RN was held liable for not assessing the LPNs procedure since the LPN was not able to actually make an assessment that the procedure was done properly.

Now this is fairly rare since the nurses are rarely held liable but when they are, the RN on duty is crucified.

[RN_Canada]

the registered nurse is always held to a higher standard

an rn is not held to a higher standard...they are held to the standards that are established for their profession.

in my jurisdiction (which is british columbia canada) the standards are very similiar.... but it is the scope of practice that is different.

each nurse must practice within their own legislated scope of practice and that scope of practice must be conducted within the professional standards that are set by the college (of nurses)

[color=#333333]i am quite certain that the lpn does not work under your rn license

true... an lpn works under their own license. they are responsible and accountable for their own actions.

an rn is also responsible and accountable for their own actions.

therefore an rn must assign or delegate responsibly and make sure that the process of assignment or delegation is done properly as that is within their scope of practice. if they did not attend to this process properly then, yes they can be held responsible for the outcome as surely as if they did not carry out the process of medication administration correctly.

and since the lpn scope of practice is completely within the rn scope of practice i fail to see how an lpn could legally supervise an a nursing professional who has a much wider and broader scope of practice.

there was a rn on duty that night taking another floor but the rn was held liable for not assessing the lpns procedure since the lpn was not able to actually make an assessment that the procedure was done properly.

now this is fairly rare since the nurses are rarely held liable but when they are, the rn on duty is crucified.

either the rn failed to supervise properly or there is a systemic issue and there are not enough rns on duty to provide the supervision that is necessary, or the employer hired someone who was not competent enough to do the job or...

situations such as the one described here are rarely due to individual shortcomings and are much more likely due to systemic shortcomings.

a proper investigation should provide the necessary information to correct the systemic problems that led to such a disaster.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

who is we? i am curious where you are getting that definition, can you cite law or a definition? i am surprised we are using the term differently...i do believe canadian nurses along with other nurses throughout the world take the same nclex that has been established here in the united states. "

incorrect statement

nclex-rn and nclex-lpn are us based exams used only by boards of nursing throughout the united states to identify if candidate meets minimum nursing requirements.

canada recently hired nclex to write an exam for that country but will be specific to canadian practices and individual provinces boards of nursing regulations.

other countries may or may not have a nursing exam as part of their regulations.

internationally educated nurses who desire to work in the us may take the nclex exam if they meet regulations and have approval from state board of nursing where they applied.

otherwise not needed to work outside us states and territories.

there is a difference between making out an assignment for staffing a unit versus delegation of specific nursing activity.

lpn may administratively be in charge but not delegate nursing tasks to perform within a state licensed skilled nursing facility--that is responsibility of director of nursing. medicare only reuires eight hours of rn coverage per day; other regulations are state specific under each states board of health. there are just 2 states left that permit an lpn to act as director of nursing in skilled nursing facility (names escapes me).

see ncsbn info on delegation:

joint statement on delegation

ana and ncsbn both defined delegation as the process for a nurse to direct another person to perform nursing tasks and activities. ncsbn describes this as the nurse transferring authority while ana calls this a transfer of responsibility. both mean that a registered nurse (rn) can direct another individual to do something that that person would not normally be allowed to do. both papers stress that the nurse retains accountability for the delegation.

assignment as the distribution of work that each staff member is responsible for during a given work period

delegating across personnel in long-term care

practical nurse scope of practice white paper