The role of rpn in hospital!!

[anne5852002]

i have been accepted into the rpn program in Ontario in sept 2008. I was very curious what type of role rpn play in hospitals in Ontario????

[loriangel14, RN]

It depends very much on the hospital. Some are very RPN friendly and some utilize their RPNs in a much narrower scope.

In my town the RPNs work pretty much at full scope and in almost all departments. They are responsible for their own pt load and full pt assessments. They are not able to push IV meds or access PICC lines. They can start IVs with extra certification and on the floor they work along side RNs doing pretty much the same work.

[Fiona59]

I work in Alberta and we are pretty much working to the limit of our scope. We've heard that PICCs and other central lines will be ours by the end of the year.

It is important to note that IV push is moot in most hospitals. If the patient requires IV push meds they are usually too sick or in too much pain and shouldn't be on the floor. The hospital I work in limits IV push to ER, ICU. Dialysis RNs push a couple of meds IV when the blood is returned.

In nearly 10 years, I've heard of one patient getting a med IV push on a unit and it was by a Doctor prior to returning the patient to the ICU.