👤 By the CinnaRN Clinical Content Team🕐 Updated 2026-08-23🏷️ Management of Care🔖 Free to read, print, and share
Also known as: LPN scope of practice · what can an LVN do · practical nurse delegation · assigning to LPN
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Use this quick-reference guide to spot, treat, and prevent Delegation to LPN/LVN on the NCLEX. Keep it handy during review and on exam day!
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📒 The 1-minute cheat sheet
✅ Can Do
Meds (most, not IV push)
Stable pt focused assessment
Wound care, foley, NG, tube feeds
📌 Cannot
No initial assessment
No care plan / teaching new
No IV push, blood, TPN, central
📌 Rule
LPN reinforces RN teaching
Assign STABLE/predictable pts
Unstable/complex → RN
🚩 Report
LPN flags change → RN reassesses
📚 Delegation to LPN/LVN — full study notes
The cheat sheet above is your quick recall card. These notes go deeper — what it is, what to do first, what must be reported, and what to teach.
Licensed practical/vocational nurses care for stable clients with predictable outcomes and can perform many skilled tasks under RN direction. They may not perform the initial assessment, develop the care plan, do the initial teaching, push IV medications (in most states), or care for unstable clients. Memory aid: LPNs handle the STABLE and the EXPECTED, not the new or the unstable.
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Key points
Understand these first
LPN/LVN may administer oral, IM, and subcutaneous medications, monitor stable clients, perform sterile dressing changes, insert catheters, and do routine wound care.
LPN/LVN cannot perform the admission/initial assessment, create or revise the care plan, do initial client teaching, or evaluate care outcomes.
In most states LPNs cannot push IV medications, administer blood products, or manage central lines and titrated IV drips.
LPN/LVN reinforce teaching the RN has already initiated but do not provide new teaching.
Assign LPNs to clients who are stable with predictable, expected courses; keep new admissions and unstable clients with the RN.
The RN remains responsible for the overall plan of care and for supervising the LPN.
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Nursing priorities
What to do, in order
Assign stable, predictable clients and skilled tasks within the LPN scope.
Perform the initial assessment and ongoing evaluation yourself, then direct the LPN's contributions.
Specify what data the LPN must report back to the RN and when.
Supervise medication administration and skilled procedures the LPN performs.
Keep IV pushes, blood administration, and unstable clients with the RN unless state law and policy allow otherwise.
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Red flags — report now
Escalate immediately
Never delegate the initial assessment, care-plan development, evaluation, or initial teaching to an LPN/LVN.
Report-now: do not assign an LPN to an unstable client or a client whose condition is changing unpredictably.
Never have an LPN push IV medications or hang blood unless explicitly permitted by state practice act and facility policy.
❓ Delegation to LPN/LVN: NCLEX FAQs
What are the priority nursing interventions for Delegation to LPN/LVN?
Assign stable, predictable clients and skilled tasks within the LPN scope. Perform the initial assessment and ongoing evaluation yourself, then direct the LPN's contributions. Specify what data the LPN must report back to the RN and when. Supervise medication administration and skilled procedures the LPN performs.
What are the warning signs of Delegation to LPN/LVN a nurse must report?
Never delegate the initial assessment, care-plan development, evaluation, or initial teaching to an LPN/LVN. Report-now: do not assign an LPN to an unstable client or a client whose condition is changing unpredictably. Never have an LPN push IV medications or hang blood unless explicitly permitted by state practice act and facility policy.
What do I need to know about Delegation to LPN/LVN for the NCLEX?
LPN/LVN may administer oral, IM, and subcutaneous medications, monitor stable clients, perform sterile dressing changes, insert catheters, and do routine wound care. LPN/LVN cannot perform the admission/initial assessment, create or revise the care plan, do initial client teaching, or evaluate care outcomes. In most states LPNs cannot push IV medications, administer blood products, or manage central lines and titrated IV drips. LPN/LVN reinforce teaching the RN has already initiated but do not provide new teaching.
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Quick Tip
LPN/LVN may administer oral, IM, and subcutaneous medications, monitor stable clients, perform sterile dressing changes, insert catheters, and do routine wound care.