Licensed Practical Nurse Scope of Practice - Lpn Duties and Responsibilities

The licensed practical nurse scope of practice is more restrictive than that of a Registered Nurse, as Licensed Practical Nurses need to work under the supervision of a licensed professional such as a physician, dentist, psychologist, optometrist, nurse practitioner, podiatrist, homeopath, or registered nurse.

As with that of a registered nurse, the Licensed Practical Nurse's duties vary depending on the state and institution where the Lpn is working.

The Lpn's tasks also depend on the skills and training of the individual nurse, as those with more training obviously are capable of completing more complicated tasks and accepting more responsibility than those without that training. An Lpn could therefore increase her scope of practice by getting further training in the tasks that he or she would be interested in performing.

The main part of the Lpn's job is to accept and implement orders from the qualified professionals on the team that are authorized to independently diagnose and treat patients. The Lpn is meant to work as a part of a team with these and other health care professionals and do their part to ensure that proper medical care is received by the patients.

The Lpn scope of practice can include many different duties and tasks assigned by supervising medical personnel. Some of the common tasks performed by LPNs include collecting data on a patient's status and reporting it to the rest of the team, assisting in the process of coming up with a nursing diagnosis and nursing plan, and assisting in the implementation of this plan through following nursing orders.

Most states do not have a list of all that tasks that are included in the licensed practical nurse scope of practice because that can be limiting. The websites for the state boards of nursing will give some information on the types of tasks that are typically included, but if a Lpn is qualified to do more they do not wish to rule out tasks that he or she might be able to do.

If there are any questions about what is part of the responsibilities that can't be answered after looking through the policy manual of the place of employment, the state board of nursing can be asked to verify whether or not something is included in the scope of practice for the nurse.