LPN's

[onewithhospiceheart]

Hi there,

We are adding an LPN to our office. Just wondering how you utilize LPN's in your agencies? Do you ever have LPN's in your on call rotation? Understanding that they need to be supervised by an RN, not sure how that would work.

[Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN]

Hi there,

We are adding an LPN to our office. Just wondering how you utilize LPN's in your agencies? Do you ever have LPN's in your on call rotation? Understanding that they need to be supervised by an RN, not sure how that would work.

At my agency, myself and another LPN do the regular scheduled visits. We are a small agency w/ 15-20 pts. I see all the LTC pts and she sees the home pts. The RN does all the admits and makes supervisory visits Q 2 weeks. Our NP does the recerts. Myself and the other LPN rotate call w/ the RN as backup. Every other w/e the NP is backup for call. Since we have such a low census, we get very few calls after hours. In my state, LPN's are alllowed to call the coronor for deaths and handle the visits w/o supervision.

I used to work for a chain-type hospice company w/ an average census of 150 and the visits were set up the same way. We had RN/LPN/HHA teams. For call, the RN took calls and had an LPN for backup.

Hope this helps.

[tewdles, RN]

I am in the midwest in a 200+ census agency. Our LPNs work teamed with an RN and complete routine and prn visits. LPNs in this state can pronounce death in the field and are an important piece of our on call coverage.