Louisiana Licensed Practical Nurse Requirements

To work as a Licensed Practical Nurse in Louisiana, you must graduate from a practical nursing program approved by the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners (LSBPNE), pass the NCLEX-PN exam, clear criminal background checks through both the Louisiana State Police and the FBI, and then renew your license every year between November 1 and January 31. Those are the core Louisiana LPN requirements, set under the Nurse Practice Act in Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 37, Chapter 11.¹

Getting Your Initial License

Start with an LSBPNE-approved practical nursing program. These typically run 12 to 18 months and mix classroom work with supervised clinical rotations. The board also requires that applicants be of good moral character.²

Once you finish, submit the application with the required fee and complete fingerprint-based background checks through the Louisiana State Police and the FBI. The board will not issue a license until every step is complete, including a passing score on the national exam.³

Passing the NCLEX-PN

Every candidate must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses. It uses computerized adaptive testing, so each question’s difficulty shifts based on how you answered the last one. Expect between 85 and 150 questions and a five-hour time limit.

Louisiana allows up to four attempts within two years of becoming eligible. Fail all four, or let more than three years pass since you finished your nursing program, and you have to re-enter and complete the entire program again before you can test.²

A new NCLEX test plan takes effect on April 1, 2026. The passing standard, question types, and scoring categories stay the same through March 31, 2029. The updated plan puts slightly more weight on infection prevention, telehealth, and mental health topics woven into standard medical-surgical questions.

Coming In From Another State

If you already hold an active LPN license in another state, you can apply for a Louisiana license by endorsement instead of retaking the NCLEX-PN. The endorsement fee is $185 plus a 1.8% state processing charge, and you have one year from your initial request to finish the process.⁴

To qualify by endorsement, you must hold a current license in good standing in your home state, be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, have graduated from an approved practical nursing program that included IV therapy instruction, complete the Louisiana State Police and FBI background checks, and provide a certified copy of your birth certificate along with license verification from the state where you originally tested.⁴

Louisiana also offers an alternative path under the Welcome Home Act (Act 253 of 2024). If you have held your out-of-state license for at least one year, live in Louisiana, and meet the good-standing requirements, the board may issue your license under this provision. A license issued through the Welcome Home Act is valid only in Louisiana and does not grant multistate compact privileges.⁴

One boundary to be aware of: if you previously held a Louisiana LPN license, even one that lapsed years ago, you do not qualify for endorsement. You have to apply for reinstatement instead.⁴

Annual License Renewal

Louisiana LPNs renew every year, not every two years. The renewal window runs from November 1 through January 31.⁵ The fee is $61.08, payable by Visa, Mastercard, or Discover only.⁶

Louisiana does not currently require continuing education hours for LPN license renewal. That is unusual, so if you have been buying CE courses solely to keep your Louisiana license active, check the current LSBPNE requirements before renewing.

Miss January 31 and your license automatically becomes Inactive-Lapsed. Reinstating a lapsed license costs $162.88, nearly triple the standard renewal fee.⁶ Working while your license is lapsed is a criminal offense under Louisiana law, carrying a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to six months, or both.⁷

Multistate Practice Through the Compact

Louisiana belongs to the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). An LPN who holds a multistate Louisiana license can practice in other compact states without obtaining a separate license in each one.⁸ Louisiana must be your primary state of residence, verified through documents such as your driver’s license, voter registration, or federal tax return.⁹

A multistate license lets you work across compact state lines indefinitely, as long as you keep your Louisiana residency and stay in good standing. If you move permanently to another compact state, there is no grace period. You must apply for licensure in your new home state immediately and can only continue practicing on your Louisiana license until the new state issues yours.⁹

Not every LPN qualifies for a multistate license. Disqualifying events include any felony conviction, a misdemeanor related to nursing practice, current participation in an alternative-to-discipline program, or any disciplinary action that restricts your license.¹⁰

What Louisiana LPNs Can and Cannot Do

Louisiana defines practical nursing as care, treatment, and observation of people who are ill, injured, or infirm, along with health maintenance and promotion. LPNs administer medications and treatments, supervise subordinate personnel, and instruct patients, all under the direction of a licensed physician, registered nurse, dentist, optometrist, or physician assistant. LPNs do not practice independently.

A registered nurse can delegate most nursing care to an LPN when the patient is stable, meaning the care follows defined procedures without frequent changes, the condition is predictable, and medical orders are not being continuously modified. In complex or unstable situations, an RN can only delegate selected tasks.²

Certain tasks are off limits even with delegation: administering investigational drugs, cancer chemotherapy, IV push medications outside emergency protocols, blood products, total parenteral nutrition, and accessing implanted devices. In home health settings where RN supervision is limited or unavailable, IV medication and fluid administration cannot be delegated to LPNs at all.²

IV Therapy Certification

Louisiana requires LPNs to complete a board-approved IV therapy education course, known as a Validated Skills and Learning (VSL) course, before performing intravenous procedures. The same requirement reaches endorsement applicants: nurses transferring from other states must show their original program included IV therapy instruction.⁴

What Can Cost You Your License

The LSBPNE has broad authority to investigate and discipline LPNs. Under RS 37:969, the board can deny, suspend, or revoke a license when it finds that an LPN obtained a license through fraud or deceit, was convicted of a crime, is unfit to practice due to negligence or other causes, is addicted to alcohol or habit-forming drugs, cannot practice safely due to a mental condition, violated accepted standards of professional conduct, or broke any provision of the Nurse Practice Act.¹¹

The board also runs rehabilitation programs for LPNs whose competency is impaired by substance use or by physical or mental health conditions. Those programs aim to return nurses to safe practice, though participation does not guarantee you keep your license.¹¹

Practicing without a valid license, whether it lapsed, was suspended, or was never obtained, is a separate criminal offense. The same applies to using a fraudulently obtained license, helping someone else violate the act, or running an unaccredited nursing school. Penalties include fines up to $500 and imprisonment up to six months, and the board can suspend or revoke the offender’s license on top of those criminal penalties.⁷

Formal action does not stay local, either. When the LSBPNE issues a suspension, revocation, reprimand, or probation, that action is reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank within 30 days, where hospitals and licensing boards across the country can see it.¹²

1
Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Laws and Rules
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Louisiana Department of Administration. Louisiana Administrative Code – Practical Nurses and Registered Nurses
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Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Compliance
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Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Licensure by Endorsement
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Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners
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Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. License Renewal
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Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 37:978 – Violations; Penalties
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Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners. Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC)
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National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Frequently Asked Questions – Nurse Licensure Compact
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National Council of State Boards of Nursing. Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators Final Rules
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Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 37:969 – Duties and Powers of the Board
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National Practitioner Data Bank. What You Must Report to the NPDB