To get an LPN license in Tennessee, you need to finish a practical nursing program approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, pass the NCLEX-PN, and clear a fingerprint-based criminal background check. Once the Board issues your license, it is valid for two years and must be renewed with documentation that you have kept your skills current.
Approved Practical Nursing Program
Your program has to be approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing itself. The Board approves schools directly rather than deferring to a national accrediting body, though many Tennessee programs also carry national accreditation. A typical practical nursing program runs about 12 months and pairs classroom work in nursing fundamentals, pharmacology, and patient care with supervised clinical hours in real healthcare settings.1Tennessee College of Applied Technology. Practical Nursing
Graduating from a non-approved program will not get you to the exam. If you are choosing a school, confirm its status with the Board before enrolling.
The NCLEX-PN Exam
After you graduate, you must pass the National Council Licensure Examination for Practical Nurses.2Justia. Tennessee Code 63-7-110 – Practical Nurse Licensure The NCLEX-PN is a computerized adaptive test built by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. It covers four content areas: safe and effective care environment, health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity, and physiological integrity.
Registration costs $200, paid to Pearson VUE, the testing vendor. A separate application fee goes to the Tennessee Board of Nursing.3Tennessee Board of Nursing. Board of Nursing Fee Schedule If you fail, you can retake the exam, though the Board may attach conditions to repeated attempts.
Criminal Background Check
Every applicant submits fingerprints for a background check that runs through both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. A prior conviction does not automatically disqualify you, but you may have to supply additional documentation or appear before the Board for an individual eligibility determination. The Board weighs the nature and severity of the offense in deciding whether to grant a license.4Tennessee Department of Health. Tennessee Department of Health Professional Boards – Background Checks
If You Are Already Licensed in Another State
You do not have to retake the NCLEX-PN if you already hold an LPN license elsewhere. Tennessee allows licensure by endorsement. You will need an official verification of your current license from the other jurisdiction, a fingerprint background check, and proof that your nursing education was substantially equivalent to what Tennessee required when you were first licensed.5Legal Information Institute. Tenn Comp R and Regs 1000-01-.04 – RN/LPN Licensure by Endorsement Applicants educated outside the United States must add a credentials evaluation from the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools.
Tennessee also belongs to the Nurse Licensure Compact, which lets LPNs and RNs practice across compact states on a single multistate license. To hold a Tennessee multistate license, your primary state of residence must be Tennessee, your license must be active and unencumbered, and you must pass the required background checks. Primary residence is determined by where you hold your driver’s license, are registered to vote, or file federal income taxes; property ownership alone does not establish it.6Nurse Licensure Compact. Frequently Asked Questions If you move to another compact state, you have 60 days to apply for a license there, after which your former multistate license converts to a single-state license.
What a Tennessee LPN Can Do
Tennessee law defines practical nursing as performing selected nursing care acts for compensation under the direction of a licensed physician, dentist, or registered nurse.7FindLaw. Tennessee Code 63-7-108 – Practice of Practical Nursing That “under the direction of” phrase is what sets an LPN apart from an RN. Day to day, LPNs administer medications, monitor vital signs, help patients with daily activities, and perform wound care.
LPNs contribute to nursing assessments by collecting, reporting, and recording patient data, and they can plan episodic care for patients whose conditions are stable. They do not develop comprehensive care plans on their own or make independent clinical judgments the way an RN does. Changes to a care plan happen in collaboration with an RN, not unilaterally.8Tennessee Secretary of State. Rules of the Tennessee Board of Nursing Chapter 1000-02 – Rules and Regulations of Licensed Practical Nurses
IV Therapy Limits
LPNs may administer selected IV push medications, but only after completing a course of study based on Infusion Nurse Society Standards, or a formal institutional IV training program completed before January 1, 2007. Even with training, the rules impose firm limits: IV push medications only through peripheral lines, only to adults weighing more than 80 pounds, and never to pediatric or prenatal obstetrical patients.8Tennessee Secretary of State. Rules of the Tennessee Board of Nursing Chapter 1000-02 – Rules and Regulations of Licensed Practical Nurses
Some substances are off-limits regardless of training. LPNs cannot administer chemotherapy drugs, blood or blood products, thrombolytics, moderate sedation agents, anesthetics, paralytics, or any medication that requires the nurse to titrate dosages based on patient assessment or lab values.
Renewing Your License
Tennessee LPN licenses last two years.9Tennessee Department of Health. Board of Nursing – About Renewal is handled online, and you can file up to 60 days before expiration. The renewal fee is $100.3Tennessee Board of Nursing. Board of Nursing Fee Schedule If you let the license lapse, you cannot legally practice until you finish reinstatement, which may involve additional fees and documentation.
You are also required to keep the Board updated on name and address changes, and to disclose new criminal convictions or out-of-state disciplinary actions. Either can affect your Tennessee license.
Continued Competence
Tennessee does not require a fixed number of continuing education hours. Instead, every licensee keeps a personal file documenting continued competence, and at each renewal you must show evidence of at least two items from a Board-approved list. The options include:10Legal Information Institute. Tenn Comp R and Regs 1000-01-.18 – Standards of Nursing Competence
- A satisfactory employer or nursing peer evaluation.
- Evidence of continuing employment in a nursing position.
- A written self-evaluation against the standards of the profession.
- Obtaining or maintaining relevant national certification.
- At least 10 contact hours of continuing education or in-service applicable to nursing practice during the renewal period.
- A two-week Board-approved nursing refresher program.
- A two-week Board-approved comprehensive employer orientation program.
- Successfully retaking the NCLEX-PN.
Other qualifying options include publishing a nursing article in a professional journal, performing qualifying volunteer work, or developing and implementing a professional competency plan. The Board does not dictate which two items you choose.11Tennessee Board of Nursing. Tennessee Board of Nursing Continuing Competence Requirements
Practicing or Using the Title Without a License
Only someone holding a current, active license from the Tennessee Board of Nursing may call themselves a Licensed Practical Nurse or use “LPN.” An expired license does not entitle you to keep using the title.
Practicing as an LPN without a valid license is a Class B misdemeanor in Tennessee, punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.12Justia. Tennessee Code 40-35-111 – Authorized Terms of Imprisonment and Fines for Misdemeanors The Board can separately deny, revoke, or suspend a license under Tennessee Code 63-7-115.13Justia. Tennessee Code 63-7-115 – Grounds for Denial, Revocation, or Suspension
Civil penalties layer on top of the criminal exposure. Type A penalties, for violations posing an imminent threat to patient safety (including willfully practicing without a license), run from $500 to $1,000. Type B penalties, for violations that directly affect patient care but fall short of imminent danger, run from $100 to $750. Type C penalties, for less direct violations, run from $50 to $500.14Legal Information Institute. Tenn Comp R and Regs 1000-01-.07 – Discipline of Licensees, Unauthorized Practice of Nursing, Civil Penalties