Licensed Vocational Nurse

Licensed Vocational Nurse

Licensed Vocational Nurses - are typically responsible for monitoring patients' vital signs, including their blood pressure, pulse, respiration, temperature, height and weight. Other tasks that LVNs are responsible for include giving enemas, recording intake and output of foods and fluids, collecting samples for testing, maintaining equipment, dressing wounds, treating bedsores and giving massages. They also assist patients in getting dressed, bathing, eating, walking and standing.

Since LVNs have a lot of direct contact with patients, they record and update patient histories, keep track of how they are feeling and monitor their responses to medications and treatments. LVNs may use this information to fill out paperwork, such as insurance forms, referrals and pre-authorizations, and to inform doctors and RNs so that they may determine the best course of care for a patient. Some LVNs also perform laboratory tests, assist in the delivery of and care for infants, administer medications and start intravenous fluids (IVs).