The Requirements of a Licensed Practical Nurse

In order to be a Licensed Practical Nurse or a LPN, one must undergo certain procedures to qualify for that position. There are test needed to be taken, first you must pass the practical nursing program which you can finish in just a year, a formal education is needed to gain knowledge about the basics and know-how of proper nursing. Look for a good school with a record of providing outstanding education to its nursing students so that you know you are getting the right nursing education needed to be a practical nurse.

If you think you’re done after you’ve finish the one-year practical nursing program, not yet. There is this NCLEX-PN or the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurse that you need to be in order to become a full licensed practical nurse or a LPN. The exam is computer-based and it includes the four topics specifically the safe and effective care environment, physiological integrity, promotion and maintenance of health and psychosocial integrity. All of these should have been studied during the one-year nursing program so be sure to have reviewed your subjects.

When it comes to personal characteristics of an LPN, one should be caring; you cannot serve others if you do not care about them or sympathize with them. One should not be too emotional or with no emotion at all; emotions should be stable so that a practical nurse can make objective observation and analysis about the patient’s condition.

Licensed Practical Nurses as Educators

If you think a licensed practical nurse or LPN can only do a little in the fields of nursing, you might be wrong by that. Aside from having the capacity to take care of sick and injured people, they know more than the basics of nursing. They can be trusted when it comes to giving injections and massages to patients, doing laboratory test, preparing the right food nutrition for their patients, and assisting high ranking nurses and physicians.

Did you know that LPNs can also be educators? LPNs have the capacity to educate families about proper health habits, especially families of their patients so that there is continues progression on the patient’s condition. Moreover, they can educate not just the proper health habits but also some nursing task that would be beneficial for families.

For licensed practical nurses who work in the clinic, they can be assigned to make appointments, keep records and perform other clerical duties. Once you’ve become an expert licensed practical nurse, you can now administer certified nursing assistants on their duties.

In a nursing care facility, licensed practical nurses assigned in hospitals work around 40 hours per week. They do not work on a day shift basis all the time since some patients need to be taken care of 24-hours everyday; some licensed practical nurses have night shift schedules. Also, their holidays can also be taken over by work just so they the patients are fully supervised.

It is not a glamorous work; however the job is very self-fulfilling considering the fact that you’re helping a lot of people live and get by.

What a Licensed Practical Nurse Does

LPN or a licensed practical nurse can also be called LVN or a licensed vocational nurse. You can finish an LPN course in about a year, which means you get to earn immediately because you only study for a short period of time. If you think that Licensed practical nurses are not in demand in the society, there are many countries looking for LPNs to work at nursing homes and hospitals as well. Make sure to study in a school that will give you superb education about nursing so that even if you’ve studied for a short period of time, you are sure you’re getting the proper education needed to face the demands of society.

Licensed practical nurses not only know the basics of nursing but also does more technical work than just washing the patients, helping them walk, eat, and a lot more. They are reliable when it comes to giving injections and massages to the patients. Also, they can check the progression of the patients; vital signs, laboratory tests, and other improvements that they can note down. Their analysis counts.

However, a licensed practical nurse cannot take orders from doctors, only to those nurses who have a higher rank than them. Once a licensed practical nurse is considered an expert, he or she can now supervise nursing assistants.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report last May 2006, those licensed practical nurses who work abroad more or less earn a median annual salary of $31,080 to $46,640. That’s a big money for a short period of education.