Difference Between LPN vs. RN Practice Roles (LPN)

00:01 Now, let's take a look at the same six roles of an LPN.

00:05 Remember that an RN's scope of practice includes an initial admission history or initial assessment of a patient, but that's not within the scope of practice of an LPN.

00:17 LPNs also monitor the patient's condition and report those changes to either the supervising RN or the health care provider.

00:26 It's important to know, that LPN's are usually required to practice under the supervision which could be that of either a registered nurse or health care providers.

00:38 Now, LPNs can contribute to the plan of care versus create or evaluate the plan of care.

00:45 And they can also, the LPNs, can reinforce the RN's initial teaching.

00:51 Some facilities do not allow LPNs to practice in some specialty areas, and some States limit certain IV medications that the LPN can give.

01:02 It's important to know as well about blood products.

01:05 Many places don't allow LPNs to administer blood product, this is actually quite common.

01:11 So, overall, there's less autonomy, and some tasks you cannot perform as an LPN.

01:16 Now that we've talked about the differences of scope of practice between RNs and LPNs, I want to let you know that there are some exceptions in special settings, like the outpatient setting for example.

01:28 Now an outpatient, you know, sometimes LPNs tend to have a little bit more autonomy especially when the needs of the patient care align with the LPN's scope of practice.

01:40 I'd like to take a moment just to get on the soapbox here.

01:43 Now, do the focus of mastery of clinical technical skills.

01:47 I can tell you anecdotally that LPN graduates often report feeling more prepared for clinical skills than the RN students.

01:57 And as nursing faculty for both the LPN and RN students, I can honestly say, my LPN students were able to carry a full team of patients earlier on in their program than many of their RN counterparts.