A little about my job!

Without breaking confidentiality, I thought I would elaborate a bit on my job as a Licensed Practical Nurse. As an LPN I can work anywhere, in any hospital, care home, home support, group home setting. As far as I know the only place we don't work is maternity and they are slowing phase us into acute and emerg. The difference between myself and an RN is the amount of schooling, RNs have a Bachelor of Science which is four years and the LPN course is a year. As far as medical procedures go, LPNs do not start IVs or dispense IV meds, we only assess the IV line and site. I prefer to work with the elderly. My main duties are to dispense meds, give injections, perform assessments and provide wound care, all of which I enjoy doing. I work on a unit that has 50 residents, four of which are ventilator dependent. This means they are on machines that control their breathing. The have tracheostomies for various reasons. When I was in school, we did not have any training for vented patients, so it was all new to me when I started working at Langley Hospital. Working in a vent unit is fast paced, be on your toes, hard work. We provide all personal care and I do all medical care, changing the trach, suctioning, meds. I don't know if I'll be able to do this for the next thirty years, but it definitely has provided me with experience, education and a lot of patience. These residents can not talk, so communication is a major factor in their care. They communicate with their eyes and eyebrows, eyes to the right mean yes and eyes to the left mean no, etc. They also have a communication board which has all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers and they spell out words which can be a big help if we can't figure out what they are trying to say with their eyes. It's a lot of work, but it is rewarding and overall I enjoy it.