Lvn scope of practice please. Help!

[Dcmom]

Hi all! I hope somebody can clarify this in time before I sit on my exam. I am doing Kaplan and came across to some q's that lead me to confusion.

The online class instructor told me not to touch IV's, only RN does, though I feel that In those times I needed to. So As I move along and do the qbank I, then again encounter similar q's , as instructed I did pick "notify RN" instead of "stop the IV" and surprisingly I got it wrong.

Thus, I emailed the Kaplan NCLEX expert and she emailed me the rationale however it was contradictory from the first instructor's. In hope to shed some light on my end I would like to ask all of you here. ( NCLEX wise) Can lvn/ pn dc Ivs,Blood transfusions showing reaction and the likes? Everybody feel free to share your inputs! Thanks in advance!

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

In NCLEX world though they cannot START IVs or give meds IV push. If it's infiltrated or something, it makes sense that they can stop it.

[Shawnpea]

Think of it this way. If a patient is receiving a blood transfusion and starts to show signs of an allergic reaction, would you leave your patient to go and notify the RN while the blood continues to infuse? Once the patient shows an allergic reaction you have to stop the blood transfusion. I would choose to stop the transfusion and then call for help. You can't leave the patient alone when they are in distress. Always think of patient safety. It's within the your scope of practice to press a button to stop the transfusion, to prevent further harm to the patient. It's not within your scope of practice to start an IV or push meds through it.

[nursel56]

LPNs can discontinue IVs and blood transfusions. In many states they can start IVs. Some states require an IV Certification course. The two things the states generally don't allow are hanging blood and IV push meds, but that is not consistent from state to state.