Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
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.
Most important skills
- Service Orientation
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Psychology
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Administration and Management
- Education and Training
- Therapy and Counseling
- Mathematics
What the work involves
- Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
- Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
- Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
- Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
- 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.
- Help patients with bathing, dressing, maintaining personal hygiene, moving in bed, or standing and walking.
- Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
- Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Realistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Some College Courses (38.2% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (34.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (40.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 87% of occupations compared | 83% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 58% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 88% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 78% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 86% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 85% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 93% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 69% of occupations compared | 39% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0%
- Contact with others most of the time: 17.37%
- Constant contact with others: 82.63%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 6.95%
- Fairly important: 11.64%
- Important: 17.51%
- Very important: 39.94%
- Extremely important: 23.97%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.61%
- Very important: 29.92%
- Extremely important: 69.47%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 5.04%
- Very little freedom: 14.91%
- Limited freedom: 11.05%
- Some freedom: 35.99%
- A lot of freedom: 33.02%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 1.34%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.49%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 11.99%
- Every day: 67.18%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 3.05%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 45.77%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.87%
- Every day: 16.64%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.32%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.41%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 41.29%
- Every day: 31.97%
n = 36, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 15.14%
- Fairly serious: 15.72%
- Serious: 20.12%
- Very serious: 9.87%
- Extremely serious: 39.16%
n = 35, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-2061.00 · SOC 29-2061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8