A Licensed Practical Nurses’ Job Description
You may have heard of registered nurses who are responsible for primarily taking care of the patients during their stay at the hospital. They are under the supervision of the physicians who have different specialties depending on the patient’s case. However, registered nurses have a helping hand and also supervises licensed practical nurses.
You may wonder what is the difference between the two as they are both nurses. Yes, they are both nurses but when it comes to educational degrees registered nurses or RN’s have acquired a minimum of two year or three-year degree diploma which entails them to have wider job description. Wherein licensed practical nurses have studied nursing education and have had a 6 month LPN Program to acquire a certificate. RN’s main focus is to give patient management when it comes to patient wound care, IV medication, IV insertion, and making care plans for LPN’s to follow. Generally, LPN’s are on top of patient care. they directly report to their head nurse to any changes and care given to their patients. Here are some of specific duties LPN’s given by RN’s in order to care for the patient properly:
Patient Vitals
Patients vitals should always be checked every 2 hours or as advised by the primary physician. LPN’s will be responsible for check patient vitals such as temperature, blood pressure, bowel and urine movement, ,fluid intake and pulse or heart rate. Any spike or changes on the patient’s vitals should be recorded and reported as this is crucial to the patient’s health status.
Care Giving
When it comes to ensuring patient’s comfort, it is also an LPN’s task to make tend to patient’s need such as change of bed pan, changing of diapers, and after care as well, ensuring that a patient maintains proper body hygiene and turning bed ridden patients to avoid pressure ulcers which can make their situation more uncomfortable.
Collecting Samples
Every now and then physicians will be requiring blood, stool, urine, and other samples for laboratory testing. LPN’s will be responsible for collecting these samples, wherein also they will be giving sterile containers and instructions on how to extract and how much sample should the patient should provide.
Identifying Adverse Reactions
Whether it’s from medications or latex gloves, LPN’s should be able to ask and check on their patients if they are having any allergic reactions to medications or adverse reaction when the patient came in contact with any foreign objects during IV insertion or wound care. They must also observe for other reactions that might not be noticed by the patients.
Emotional and Psychological Support
Both RN’s and LPN’s must provide emotional and psychological support to patients and their family members as being confined in a hospital can take a toll to the patient and their loved ones. LPN’s are trained and equipped to handle situations like this and surely being emphatic is one of their greatest traits.
In deed our healthcare professionals are the new modern-day heroes, especially during these times when the world is battling COVID-19, our real-life angels are on the front line saving the world one COVID patient at a time. Salute to all RN, LPN, Doctors, and all healthcare workers saving lives everyday!
