If you want to be a practical nurse, then you have come to the right blog! Today, we are thrilled to talk to you about the details of having a career in Practical Nursing, as well as the different traits and characteristics you need to be successful.
What is an LPN?
A Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) is a healthcare professional who provides nursing care with doctors, registered nurses and other health care team members. This nurse typically provides care to patients based on assessments and care planning tests, performs interventions, administers medication, provides care before and after surgery, monitors therapy, monitors the patients’ progress and more.
Generally, LPNs work in hospitals, extended care facilities, nursing homes, doctors’ offices, rehabilitation centers, community health centers and even private homes.
What traits should an LPN have?
There are many different traits you need if you want to be the LPN the patients need and deserve. Those traits include:
Cognitive
The ability to remember information, focus and manage multiple pieces of information at once, make decisions, reason, problem-solve, use critical thinking for professional judgment, and use mathematical skills.
Communication
The ability to receive, as well as use, written, nonverbal and verbal language; interact with others in a professional and respectful way; speak, write, read and comprehend English and/or French adequately to effectively communicate; recognize your own nonverbal signals as well as interpret nonverbal signals shown to you; and communicate information from documentation in client charts – both electronic and paper.
Interpersonal
The ability to create positive relationships, respond to the needs of patients and colleagues, understand the differences between personal friendships and professional therapeutic relationships, work closely with patients and colleagues, and understand that an LPN provides care to a full range of individuals.
Behavioral
The ability to act professionally in the workplace by managing your own behavior to provide competent, ethical and safe nursing care; taking responsibility for mistakes; self-reflection on occasion; taking initiative to create a safe environment; responding appropriately in stressful situations; reacting appropriately when receiving and giving physical touch; helping the health care team succeed; and setting priorities and organizing actions.
Sensory/Perceptual
The ability to correctly perceive sight, hearing, smell and touch to provide the best and safest care possible, and to actively complete nursing responsibilities.
Physical
The ability to perform and have control over different actions to provide safe care and to participate in educational activities. Those actions include standing and balancing; possessing manual dexterity; moving within limited spaces; pushing and pulling; performing repetitive movements; performing complex sequences of hand-eye coordination; lifting, bending, reaching, climbing and walking; and carrying objects.
Environmental
The ability to function in the presence of distractions, unpredictable behavior of others, disease agents, noise, chemicals and noxious odours.
If you have these traits, then a licensed practical nursing career could be right for you! So, feel free to find out more about what you need to do to fulfill your dreams as an LPN. You can find more information about our nursing program here, or you can apply now.
We look forward to helping you become an LPN and make a positive impact on the lives of others.
