Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) Duties, Responsibilities, Program - By: Govindan

LPN nursing is licensed practical nursing. It is the same thing as LVN nursing, which is licensed vocational nursing. The difference between the names is only that. Some states call it LPN and some call it LVN. The things they can do, the interventions are the same.

The licensed practical nurse (LPN) works under the supervision of a registered nurse, the RN. The RN may or may not have an assignment, but it is their responsibility to make sure that the LPN is doing their job appropriately. If the LPN has questions or problems, they would first talk to their RN. In a chain of command, that would be the first place to go. If the situation was not resolved then the LPN would speak to the next person in the chain of command, possibly a supervisor or director.

The LPN takes care of a patient. That seems to be a simple concept but consider all that it entails. The patient's activities of daily living, or ADL's, include personal hygiene care. If the patient can not take care of their own needs, such as cleaning their body, hair, genitalia or feet then the LPN does it for them. This is also a great time to do an assessment of the person's skin and check their circulation. While you are helping them, you also could be teaching about how to do it properly. Not everyone knows proper technique of hygiene.

Another part of the LPN's responsibilities is teaching. This is something that the nurse will do almost continuously. LPN's teach about disease processes and prevention. They teach about the medications that are newly prescribed or possibly the ones the person was taking already but doesn't know about. The pharmacology course the LPN takes in school teaches the student about side effects, when the medication is contraindicated and about the safe dose that a person takes. These are all important points that the LPN teaches to patients. They teach about care in the home. People are not kept in hospitals very long so people need to know how to take care of wounds they go home with or tubes that come out of their bodies. Some tubes drain fluids and others serve as a portal to instill fluids into the body. Correct technique is taught to minimize the chance of infection.

The LPN/LVN courses are built around these concepts. Beginning students will take a Fundamental Nursing class and an Anatomy and Physiology class. These two classes work well side by side. As they are learning about the body and how it functions, they are also learning about how they fit into this career called nursing. With this knowledge base, the student will take a Pharmacology course as well as a Medical/Surgical course. Again, these courses work well together as the student learns about specific illnesses and diseases with what types of medications may be prescribed. The final courses the student takes are in the specialty areas of Obstetrics/Maternity, Pediatrics, and Psychiatric Nursing.

About the Author

LPN nursing school in California offers LPN programs at their campuses in San Mateo, Concord, Modesto and Fresno.

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