Scope of practice for LPN

MelRN13 · Jul 19, 2003

Check with your state's Nurse Practice Act.

jessjoy · Jul 19, 2003

Ok, I have searched the net but can't seem to find my state's nurse practice act. Can anyone give me tips on how to search or refer me to a website? The floor I work on has no LPN's so I am unsure of what their duties are and what can be delegated to them. Any help would be great!!

James Huffman · Jul 19, 2003

What state are you in?

I'd suggest google.com Go there, put in your state name (for example, "North Carolina") then "board nursing", and see if you don't get what you are looking for. (DON'T put quotation marks in the google search area; it will mess up your results. Just enter the words: state name board nursing, and you should do fine).

If all else fails, call your state's BON, and ask if you can speak with a practice consultant, who should be able to help you. These people are there for questions like this. I suspect they have literature covering your question which they can mail to you.

Bottom line: the BON can be your friend. Don't hesitate to call them.

Jim Huffman, RN

http://**************************

Tinker · Jul 20, 2003

According to the NCLEX review books I used and what I remember when I took the NCLEX last month, you delegate patients to LPN's that have stable condition with expected outcomes. For example, you could give them someone who had a broken bone, but not someone who was currently having chest pain. Check out the Kaplan review book. It was really good.

nurse4Kidz · Jul 20, 2003

One thing they told me in my review class was to not delegate any firsts or lasts to staff other than RN's. This is not necessarily how things are run but as far as testing goes it helps. Some examples are below.

DON'T delegate

Initial patient assessment upon admission

Initial teaching of procedures or medications (i.e. begining diabetic teaching, initial wound care instructions)

Discharge instructions

Like I said, it isn't the "real-world" answer but it does help with what they want.

Hope this helps!

Sarah

Dplear · Jul 20, 2003

Because of the National scope of the testing, they cannot have specific wuestions as what to or not to delegate to an LPN/LVN. The states each differ dramatically on ewhat the scope oif practice is for LVN's. It would not be acceptable because I could take the test to get my initial license say ForFlorida in California if I wanted to.

Dave

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 20, 2003

it varies widely state by state. The advice you got to check w/your State BON is the best advice here. Forget the review books, check with your BON. After all, you are held to THAT standard as well as the national ones.