LPN/LVN Scope & Skills

01LPN/LVN scope of practice

LPNs/LVNs practice under the supervision or direction of an RN, physician, or other authorized provider. They generally do not perform initial comprehensive assessments, develop the plan of care, or independently manage unstable or complex patients — those require RN-level judgment.

02Delegation principles

Tasks involving nursing judgment, assessment, evaluation, or care planning cannot be delegated. Routine, stable, and predictable care (like a scheduled oral medication or a stable dressing change) can typically be assigned within an LPN's scope, but the delegating RN remains accountable.

03Standard precautions

Standard precautions (hand hygiene, gloves, safe sharps handling, and other PPE as needed) apply to every patient, regardless of known infection status, because you can't always tell who is infectious.

04Transmission-based precautions

Added on top of standard precautions based on the organism: contact precautions (gown and gloves), droplet precautions (surgical mask, ~3 feet spatial separation), and airborne precautions (N95/PAPR respirator, negative-pressure room).

05Hand hygiene exception for C. diff

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer does not kill Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) spores. After caring for a patient with C. diff, hands must be washed with soap and water, not just sanitized.

06Pressure injury staging and prevention

Stage 1 is intact skin with non-blanchable redness; Stage 2 is partial-thickness skin loss; Stage 3 is full-thickness loss into subcutaneous tissue; Stage 4 exposes muscle, tendon, or bone; Unstageable means the wound base is obscured by slough or eschar. Repositioning immobile patients at least every 2 hours is a core prevention measure.