Scope of RN and LPN

icyounurse, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2008

I believe some of it may vary state to state, but I could be wrong. I think LPN's arent allowed to give blood and give drugs IV push. Other than that their scope of practice is very similar to RN's in most areas.

In the hospitals where I have worked, RN's don't really "delegate" to LPN's, rather LPN's may be assigned their own set of patients and the LPN may have an RN assigned to them, who also has their own set of assigned patients,that gives IV push drugs or hangs blood if they need it done.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Sep 26, 2008

Hi, I'm a Registered Nurse here in the Philippines and I'm currently preparing to take the NCLEX exam. I just have some questions on the difference between an RN and an LPN? There are questions regarding which work you should delegate to a fellow RN or an LPN. Pls.. Pls give me some enlightenment regarding this matter...thanx:confused:

It does vary from State to State. The only way you'd know exactly what was expected would be to look at the website for the Board of Nursing for each State in which you were interested in practicing. It also varies by facility. Sometimes a State may allow an LPN to do a certain procedure, for example, but the facility may not.

RNs are able to and do delegate to LPNs (much depends on the facility and the scope of the job itself, of course). However, you won't have an easy time finding clear cases of this; most of the time, the LPN and RN each take patients and the RN's role is to "supervise" the LPN. To do the meds and procedures they are not permitted to do, but not necessarily "delegate" the LPN to do other tasks. For instance, I can of course ask the LPN to give a med for me while I'm doing a push on one of their patients, but it's not really "delegating": it's teamwork.

Charge RNs delegate to everyone under them, including other RNs. Technically one RN does not delegate to another, but when the charge nurse is acting in a supervisory role, then yes, we do.

wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN · Sep 26, 2008

maybe this is what you needed??

https://allnurses.com/forums/2604126-post59.html