S07 E03 LPNs and RNs - Helping you when you are deciding who to hire
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In this episode, we dive into the differences between Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Registered Nurses (RNs) within primary care settings.

Morgan and Sarah look at how each role fits into a primary care team, considering their distinct scopes of practice, training, and the types of patients they typically manage. Importantly the hosts give key clinical examples to highlight where one type of nurse may be better suited for a practice. The hosts emphasize how hiring a nurse that will be utilizing their full skillset in clinic is often better than hiring an overqualified nurse to work below their scope and recommend resources that are available to support integrating nurses into clinical teams.

Special Thanks

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Throughout this season you’ll hear from several amazing nurses:

• Angela Wignall is a Registered Nurse who has worked in perinatal health and public health. Since recording this episode Angela has been promoted to the CEO of the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of BC from her position as Senior Executive Director. Angela is also a board member at the Canadian Nurses Association.
• Diana Boateng is a Registered Nurse and is working on her dual master’s degree in nursing and health informatics. In her Masters, she is a co-op student working with the Innovation Support Unit. Her background is mostly in acute care but she has been interested in exploring what it means to be a nurse in primary care.
• Hannah Roy works as a Registered Nurse in primary care and urgent primary care. She has certified practice in STI management and is completing her Masters degree to be a nurse practitioner.
• Jamie Duteil is a Registered Nurse and the Health System Improvement Director at Health Quality BC. She has managed urgent primary care centres and acute care centres.
• Kacey Wall is a Registered Nurse and a diabetes educator, she has worked in primary care networks and is a team member of the Innovation Support Unit.
• Nikki Kafal is a Registered Nurse and has spent her career working in emergency and critical care settings. She is completing a dual master degree in nursing and health informatics and joins the Innovation Support Unit as a co-op student.

Links and Resources

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Nurse Compass:

An interactive learning tool created to help primary care providers, leaders, and teams get to know and improve their knowledge of the scopes of practice for nurses in British Columbia. https://teambasedcarebc.ca/nurse-compass/)

FPSC has a virtual guide to support the Ministry of Health’s Nurse in Practice Program https://fpscbc.ca/integrating-nurse-practice)

In this episode Morgan and Sarah talked about blood pressure as an example when they were talking about diagnosis and management and nursing roles . See Hypertension - Diagnosis and Management for more information:

This document outlines recommendations on how to diagnose and manage hypertension in adults. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/health/practitioner-professional-resources/bc-guidelines/hypertension)