Licensed Practical Nurse

Common tasks

• Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
• Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
• Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
• Provide basic patient care or treatments, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enemas or douches, rubbing with alcohol, massaging, or performing catheterizations.
• Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
• Provide medical treatment or personal care to patients in private home settings, such as cooking, keeping rooms orderly, seeing that patients are comfortable and in good spirits, or instructing family members in simple nursing tasks.
• Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
• Sterilize equipment and supplies, using germicides, sterilizer, or autoclave.
• Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
• Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.

Most important skills

Service Orientation

Looking for ways to help people.

Social Perceptiveness

Understanding people's reactions.

Coordination

Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

Monitoring

Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

Speaking

Talking to others.

Active Listening

Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

Critical Thinking

Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

Reading Comprehension

Reading work-related information.