A new approach to care at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health Hospital highlights the value of LPNs in the acute care setting
One of the most common healthcare settings where licensed practical nurses (LPNs) work is long-term care facilities. However, they are valuable team members in emergency departments, post-anesthesia care units and other areas within hospitals.
Advertisement
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
A 26-bed medical/surgical unit at Cleveland Clinic Martin North Hospital integrated LPNs into its care model, partnering a clinical nurse with an LPN to provide high-quality care for patients.
“Wherever there’s a need for patient care, I really think that if the team is open to it and you tell them the ‘why’ behind wanting to have an LPN join the team, they can be successful,” says Mary Richards, DNP, RN, nurse manager of a medical-surgical unit and dialysis unit at Martin North.
In this episode of Cleveland Clinic’s Nurse Essentials podcast, Richards and Julie Cianciulli, MSN, RN, director of inpatient nursing at Martin North, share insight on incorporating LPNs into inpatient healthcare teams. They cover:
Click the podcast player above to listen to the episode now, or read on for a short, edited excerpt. Check out more Nurse Essentials episodes at my.clevelandclinic.org/podcasts/nurse-essentials or wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast host Carol Pehotsky, DNP, RN, NEA-BC: What advice would you give to registered nurses working [with LPNs] to really establish that trust, to understand the swim lanes and where best to communicate and how to really make sure that the LPN feels like they're practicing at the top of their scope?
Advertisement
Cianciulli: Well, I think it would first have to start with education to the RNs on what [the LPN’s] limitations are. We want them to stay within those guardrails of their licensure, but we also want them to work to the top of it. So, I think initially it would be a lot of education. And then, what Mary was stating, we have to bring in some of that trust.
We are bringing LPNs in to help. They can do this. So let's think outside the box. I think sometimes we get stuck in a thought process. How can we offset some of the stress that nurses are feeling? And there's always, unfortunately, you know, a financial side to it. So, how can we do the best of both worlds?
Let's just kind of think outside the box. OK, this is it. Let's go. Let's build that process and then build the trust with it.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Program helps participants experience nursing through hands-on exploration
New center offers programming for kindergarteners to adults to help build a nursing pipeline
Neurology nursing calls for skill, emotional intensity and more
Nurses play a vital role in helping patients manage the chronic disease in inpatient and outpatient settings
A multitude of subspecialities offer versatility, variety
How nurses are using frontline research to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery
How one simple project changed the conversation about care and the patient-parental experience
Transport nurses prepare to manage all patients and acuity levels