LPN Job Description: What Do They Do?
Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) are some of the busiest nurses in the hospital. LPNs typically work under the supervision of the on staff physician or a registered nurse.
Some responsibilities that would fall under a LPN job description are:
• Gathering preliminary patient information
• Recording vital signs
• Performing injections
• To care for and dress wounds
• Providing help for daily care
• Monitoring a variety of health care equipment
• Monitoring medication charts ensuring patients get the correct dosage
• Conducting lab tests and delivering them to the attending physician or RN
• Feeding incapacitated patients that aren’t able to feed themselves
• Maintaining and monitoring IVs
• Massages for bedridden patients upon request
• Prepping the patient for procedures
• Informing patients of how to take care of themselves after the hospital stay
LPN Job Descriptions May Vary Slightly Depending On Where You Work
Within a hospital a LPN job description covers many different healthcare areas and the best LPNs will have no problem with this type of multi-tasking. As you may know most LPNs work in hospitals but some work in more focused areas such as military facilities, home health care offices, nursing homes, physician offices, government facilities and clinics. With these more tightly focused locations your LPN job description will be a little more routine. In a hospital facility you can be called anywhere at any time.
The LPN Duties That Will Stay The Same No Matter Where You Work
After completing your LPN Training no matter where you work as an LPN, some LPN job duties are going to be similar just in different settings. You will always work under the instruction of a physician or Registered Nurse. You be collecting preliminary admission information from your patients. Information such as medical insurance, medical records, pre-treatment info and health details will be among some of the details you’ll obtain from your patients. LPN are also usually the first healthcare worker seen so they will get blood pressure, body temperature, heart beat rate and other vital signs. If any medication or injections are subscribed by the attending physician then it is typically the LPN that will administer these doses to the patient.
