Comparing and Contrast the Standards of Practice for the LPN and RN

One of the key ideas in the nursing profession is the scope of practice. The goal of the scope of practice is to safeguard the public from unqualified nurses by defining what nurses are legally permitted to accomplish. In doing so, it defines what nursing is. In this essay, the standards of practice for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RN) are compared and contrasted, and a brief discussion of how knowledge of each profession’s roles promotes the civil environment (Long, 2021).

LPNs are directly involved in delivering basic patient care and ensuring patients’ comfort and well-being. An LPN may be required to give prescriptions as well as conduct other activities such as monitoring blood pressure, inserting catheters, and recording other vital signs. Conversely, RNs take on a managerial role, supervising LPNs and other healthcare workers. They are also increasingly involved in medicine administration, patient treatment, designing and coordinating care plans, and collaborating closely with doctors to get the best possible outcomes (Long, 2021). RNs must complete much more coursework to become licensed and have a wider range of practice. In the majority of situations, RNs can also work alone. LPNs, however, are required to work under the direction of a doctor or an RN (Long, 2021).

RNs can provide higher-quality patient care, frequently providing 1:1 (one nurse to one patient) or, in rare cases, 2:1 care (2 nurses to one patient). RNs often have between 3 and 5 patients at a time in med-surge settings. Since LPNs treat patients with lesser levels of acuity, their patient loads are higher during a single shift; they can handle a dozen or more patients at once (Long, 2021). Further, nurses will be able to make moral judgments and use a code of ethics as a guide for carrying out nursing responsibilities in a way consistent with the quality of nursing care and the ethical requirements of the profession if they understand the roles of the healthcare team. As a result, it is advised that civility be promoted, ethical concerns be addressed, and ethical care be provided to patients, their family members, and the entire community (Hameeda et al., 2022).

References

Hameeda M. A., Maarman, R., Masoma A. K., & Mousa, O. (2022). Moral Sensitivity, Ethical Experiences and Promotion of the Civility of Staff Nurses. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6712300

Long, D. (2021). Nursing Scope of Practice. Universal-Publishers.