Healthcare Practitioners
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Also called: Charge Nurse, Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN), Clinic Nurse, Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN)
US median pay
$64,400
per year, 2025
Job growth 2025–35
+3%
about average or slower
Openings a year (US)
51,800
666,900 employed
Typical entry education
Postsecondary nondegree award
Preparation 3/5 · Medium preparation
What this job is
Care for ill, injured, or convalescing patients or persons with disabilities in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions. May work under the supervision of a registered nurse. Licensing required.
What they do day to day
- 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.
- Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
- Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
- Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.
- Record food and fluid intake and output.
- Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers.
Skills and knowledge that matter most
Skills
- Service Orientation4.1/5
- Social Perceptiveness4.0/5
- Coordination4.0/5
- Time Management3.6/5
- Judgment and Decision Making3.6/5
- Complex Problem Solving3.2/5
- Instructing3.1/5
- Systems Analysis3.0/5
Knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service4.0/5
- English Language3.9/5
- Psychology3.7/5
- Medicine and Dentistry3.7/5
- Administration and Management3.3/5
- Education and Training3.2/5
Importance rated by people working in the job (1 = not important, 5 = extremely important).
Education and preparation
Preparation level 3 of 5 — Medium preparation. Usually vocational training, an associate's degree or an apprenticeship.
Typical entry education (BLS): Postsecondary nondegree award.
Highest education of people in this job:
- Some college38%
- Post-secondary certificate35%
- Associate's degree16%
Who this job suits
Mostly Social
Helping, teaching and caring for people
Realistic
Hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
Conventional
Organising data, details and procedures
Based on the Holland (RIASEC) interest profile for this occupation.