Glossary
Licensed Practical Nurse Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential licensed practical nurse terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key licensed practical nurse vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in licensed practical nurse training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Aseptic technique
- Practices that prevent the spread of microorganisms during care.
- Baseline
- A patient’s normal condition, used to spot changes.
- Care plan
- A written plan describing a patient’s problems, goals and nursing interventions.
- Delegation
- Assigning tasks to CNAs or other staff while remaining accountable.
- eMAR
- Electronic medication administration record.
- Five rights
- Right patient, drug, dose, route and time. Many programs add documentation and reason.
- Narcotic count
- A shift-change count of controlled substances done by two nurses.
- NCLEX-PN
- National Council Licensure Examination for practical nurses.
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- An agreement that lets nurses with a multistate license practice in member states.
- Ostomy
- A surgical opening, such as a colostomy, that diverts waste to a pouch.
- Pressure injury staging
- A system (stages 1–4, unstageable, deep tissue) for describing pressure wounds.
- PRN medication
- A medication given as needed rather than on a schedule.
- SBAR
- Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation: a structured way to communicate with providers.
- Scope of practice
- The tasks a licensed nurse may legally perform, defined by each state’s nurse practice act.
- Sliding scale insulin
- Insulin doses adjusted according to a patient’s current blood glucose.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Licensed Practical Nurse practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Licensed Practical Nurse training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.