The scope of practice for a Licensed Practical Nurse in Indiana is defined in Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.3 and built around two phrases: an LPN “contributes to” assessments and care planning, and functions “at the direction of” a registered nurse, physician, or other authorized provider.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.3 – Practical Nursing2Justia Law. Indiana Code Title 25, Article 23, Chapter 1 – Licensing of Nurses Everything an Indiana LPN can and cannot legally do flows from those two phrases.
How the Statute Defines Practical Nursing
Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.3 lists five functions that make up practical nursing. An LPN contributes to assessing patients’ health status, participates in developing and modifying care strategies, implements appropriate parts of those strategies, maintains safe nursing care, and participates in evaluating how patients respond.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.3 – Practical Nursing The word choices are deliberate. LPNs “contribute to” and “participate in” rather than perform independently. That distinction is the line between LPN and RN practice.
Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.2 defines the LPN as someone who functions “at the direction of” an RN, a physician with an unlimited medical or osteopathic license, or certain other providers named in the statute. The Indiana State Board of Nursing has authority to adopt and update rules describing competent practice under those definitions.2Justia Law. Indiana Code Title 25, Article 23, Chapter 1 – Licensing of Nurses
What Indiana LPNs Are Authorized to Do
Within that framework, LPNs handle a broad range of hands-on care. Typical duties include administering medications, monitoring vital signs, wound care, catheterization, and assisting patients with hygiene and mobility. These tasks require enough pharmacology knowledge to recognize drug interactions and side effects, and enough clinical awareness to report changes in a patient’s condition to the supervising RN or physician.
LPNs gather data. They take vital signs. They implement the parts of a care plan that fit their training. In interdisciplinary settings, they contribute observations and hands-on care while physicians, RNs, therapists, and other professionals coordinate the overall strategy.
What Indiana LPNs Cannot Do
The statutory verbs set the ceiling. Because LPNs “contribute to” assessments rather than conduct them, an Indiana LPN cannot independently perform an initial patient assessment or write a care plan from scratch. The clinical judgment about what the findings mean, and what the plan should be, belongs to the supervising provider.
Triage settings illustrate this cleanly. In team-triage models used in emergency departments, an LPN may perform tasks ordered by an advanced practice provider, such as placing IV catheters or drawing blood, but the initial evaluation, history-taking, and triage-level assignment remain with the RN or advanced provider. An LPN who independently triages patients is working outside Indiana’s legal scope.
The administrative code adds a second limit that operates on the LPN personally: you may accept only those delegated nursing measures you know you are “prepared, qualified, and licensed to perform.” Even a task that is theoretically within LPN scope is off-limits to you specifically if you haven’t been trained for it. Performing a technique for which you are unprepared is unprofessional conduct under 848 IAC 2-3-3.3Indiana State Board of Nursing. Indiana Nurse Practice Act Compilation
Supervision in Practice
“At the direction of” does not mean someone standing over your shoulder. The supervising provider needs to be accessible for direction and questions, not physically present for every task. In complex situations that exceed an LPN’s training, decision-making shifts to the supervising RN or physician.
The responsibility runs both ways. If a supervising provider asks you to do something outside your training, declining is not insubordination. It is compliance with the administrative code, and the code puts that responsibility on you rather than on the person giving the order.3Indiana State Board of Nursing. Indiana Nurse Practice Act Compilation
IV Therapy
Intravenous therapy is the most frequently asked gray area. The Nurse Practice Act and administrative code do not contain a detailed list of which IV procedures LPNs may or may not perform. The rules rely on the general standard: an LPN may perform tasks within practical nursing for which they are prepared by education or experience, and performing a technique you are unprepared for is unprofessional conduct.3Indiana State Board of Nursing. Indiana Nurse Practice Act Compilation
In practice, basic IV tasks like starting a peripheral line or monitoring an infusion are generally within scope when the LPN has appropriate training. More advanced procedures, particularly IV push medications, typically require additional certification. Many facilities restrict IV push to RNs by policy, and an LPN should treat the employer’s policy as the ceiling of what’s permissible. If your facility does allow LPN IV push, verify you have completed the required training and that the specific medication is on the approved list. High-risk categories like neuromuscular blocking agents and sedation drugs are reserved for providers with advanced qualifications regardless of facility policy.
Delegating Tasks to Unlicensed Personnel
Whether an Indiana LPN can delegate to unlicensed staff is more nuanced than a yes-or-no answer. Indiana Code 25-23-1-27.1 lists LPNs among “licensed health professionals” and states that the Nurse Practice Act does not prohibit performance of tasks delegated by a licensed health professional, as long as those tasks don’t exceed the delegating professional’s scope.3Indiana State Board of Nursing. Indiana Nurse Practice Act Compilation But the LPN scope definition in 25-23-1-1.3 does not list delegation as a function, while the RN scope in 25-23-1-1.1 does.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 25-23-1-1.3 – Practical Nursing The result is that LPN delegation authority in Indiana is limited and facility-specific. If your employer’s policies allow it, confirm the arrangement is consistent with Board of Nursing guidance before relying on it.
Practicing in Other States
Indiana joined the Nurse Licensure Compact on July 1, 2020.4NCSBN. NLC States Map If Indiana is your primary state of residence, your LPN license is a multistate license that lets you practice in other NLC member states without a separate license there. Two limits matter for scope. First, the multistate license is tied to residency; if you move to another compact state, you have 60 days to apply for a license in your new home state, and moving to a non-compact state means losing multistate privileges.5NURSECOMPACT. Frequently Asked Questions Second, when you practice in another compact state, you follow that state’s scope rules, not Indiana’s. Differences can be significant, so check before you start.
What Happens When an LPN Practices Outside Scope
The Indiana Board of Nursing can investigate complaints alleging a violation of the practice act or administrative code. Grounds for discipline under Indiana Code 25-1-9-4 include fraud to obtain a license, practicing while impaired, criminal convictions bearing on ability to practice, knowingly violating nursing regulations, and professional incompetence, which explicitly includes “undertaking professional activities that the practitioner is not qualified by training or experience to undertake.”6Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Indiana Professional Licensing Agency Compilation
If the Board finds a violation after investigation and hearing, available sanctions include:
- Reprimand or censure, a formal finding on your record without restricting practice.
- Probation, allowing continued practice under Board-set conditions that vary case by case.
- Suspension, typically indefinite, with the Board setting a minimum period before reinstatement can be requested.
- Revocation, ending the license entirely, with no reapplication for seven years.
- Fines up to $1,000 per violation, except for findings of incompetence due to physical or mental disability.
The Board can also combine sanctions, such as suspension followed by probation.7Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Report a Professional
The most common way Indiana LPNs trigger discipline is practicing outside scope, often without realizing it. Performing a procedure without training, conducting independent assessments, or failing to defer to the supervising provider on clinical judgment all qualify as violations under the administrative code’s unprofessional conduct provisions.3Indiana State Board of Nursing. Indiana Nurse Practice Act Compilation The protective habits are the same ones the code already asks for: know the boundaries, decline tasks you’re not trained for even when pressured, and document communications with supervising providers.
One boundary readers often assume about scope but that Indiana handles differently: the state has no continuing education requirement for LPN license renewal.8Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. Nursing Licensing Information Ongoing competence is still your responsibility under the administrative code, and employers or specialty certifications may impose their own training requirements, but the Board itself does not condition your license on contact hours.