Registered Nurses
Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required.
Most important skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Judgment and Decision Making
Key knowledge
- Psychology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Medicine and Dentistry
- English Language
- Administrative
- Mathematics
- Therapy and Counseling
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.
- Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.
- Record patients' medical information and vital signs.
- Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions.
- Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans.
- Monitor all aspects of patient care, including diet and physical activity.
- Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.
- Prepare patients for and assist with examinations or treatments.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (55.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (34.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (34.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- License required (national summary): Registered nurses must have a nursing license issued by the state in which they work: graduate from an approved nursing program and pass a qualifying exam; other requirements vary by state (state board of nursing). source (checked 2026-10-25)
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; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · 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 92% of occupations compared | 91% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 91% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 98% of occupations compared | 91% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 53% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 60% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 96% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 87% of occupations compared | 57% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very 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: 2.11%
- Contact with others most of the time: 6.71%
- Constant contact with others: 91.18%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 3%
- Fairly important: 0.69%
- Important: 12.27%
- Very important: 9.65%
- Extremely important: 74.39%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0.47%
- Important: 0.47%
- Very important: 7.73%
- Extremely important: 91.33%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 1.78%
- Very little freedom: 15.66%
- Limited freedom: 1.78%
- Some freedom: 32.15%
- A lot of freedom: 48.63%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: 8.76%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.49%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.22%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 33.07%
- Every day: 42.46%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 7.59%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 7.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 19.28%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 27.42%
- Every day: 38.38%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 8.95%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 10.29%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 38.28%
- Every day: 42.49%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 10.65%
- Fairly serious: 8.33%
- Serious: 14.81%
- Very serious: 8.79%
- Extremely serious: 57.41%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 29-1141.00 · SOC 29-1141 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8