Career
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses
Care for patients under the direction of nurses and doctors.
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
- Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
- Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
- Provide basic patient care or treatments, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enemas or douches, rubbing with alcohol, massaging, or performing catheterizations.
- Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on people & care, then objects & tools?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Coordination, Monitoring.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
Under 2 years of education after high school (postsecondary nondegree award), for a median of $64,400 a year and 51,800 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse TrainingCIP 51.3901
- Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants, OtherCIP 51.3999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Registered Nurses$97,550 · +5.6%
- Paramedics$60,600 · +5.7%
- Nurse Practitioners$132,300 · +41.0%
- Acute Care Nurses
- Nursing Assistants$42,260 · +2.6%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.