Job Description

• Licensed practical nurses, sometimes referred to as LPNs, and licensed vocational nurses, sometimes referred to as LVNs, provide basic nursing care to patients under the direct supervision of a registered nurse or physician. They are not independent health care providers. LVNs and LPNs may take and record patient vital signs, help patients with common functions such as personal hygiene or eating, collect fluid or tissue samples for testing, and give injections.
  
  

Training

• All 50 states and the District of Columbia require LVNs and LPNs to complete a state-approved course of instruction from an accredited educational institution. Training courses typically last for approximately one year and include classroom studies, laboratory work, and clinical experience in such subjects as anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, nutrition, pediatric nursing, maternity nursing, geriatric nursing, and communicable diseases. All 50 states and the District of Columbia require LPNs and LVNs to take and pass the National Council Licensure Examination-PN, called NCLEX-PN, which is administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.
  
  

Compensation

• The mean annual income for LPNs and LVNs at all levels of experience from across the United States was $40,900 as of May 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle 50 percent of LPNs and LVNs earned annual wages of between $33,920 and $47,220. Most states refer to licensed nurses who provide basic nursing care to patients as practical nurses, or LPNs. California and Texas refer to them as vocational nurses, or LVNs. LVNs who practiced in Texas earned mean annual wages of $40,710. LVNs who worked in California earned mean annual wages of $49,940.
  
  

Considerations

• The scope of training and practice for LVNs and LPNs is identical. The California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians recognizes candidates for state LVN licensure as those who have graduated from a California accredited vocational nursing program, as well as those who graduated from an out-of-state accredited practical nursing program. Candidates for either LVN or LPN licensure must pass the same NCLEX-PN examination regardless of which state they practice in.