Practical Nursing

Alternative Job Titles for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

• Charge Nurse
• Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN)
• Clinic Nurse
• Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN)
• Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN)
• Office Nurse
• Pediatric LPN (Pediatric Licensed Practical Nurse)
• Private Duty Nurse
• Radiation Oncology Nurse
• Triage LPN (Triage Licensed Practical Nurse)

Job Tasks and Activities for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

• Administer basic health care or medical treatments.
• Administer intravenous medications.
• Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
• Analyze quantitative data to determine effectiveness of treatments or therapies.
• Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
• Answer telephones to direct calls or provide information.
• Apply bandages, dressings, or splints.
• Apply compresses, ice bags, or hot water bottles.
• Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers.
• Assist patients with hygiene or daily living activities.
• Clean medical equipment or facilities.
• Clean rooms and make beds.
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment.
• Collect biological specimens from patients.
• Collect samples, such as blood, urine, or sputum from patients, and perform routine laboratory tests on samples.
• Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
• Explain medical procedures or test results to patients or family members.
• Help patients with bathing, dressing, maintaining personal hygiene, moving in bed, or standing and walking.
• Inventory and requisition supplies and instruments.
• Maintain inventory of medical supplies or equipment.
• Maintain medical facility records.
• Make appointments, keep records, or perform other clerical duties in doctors' offices or clinics.
• Manage preparation of special meals or diets.
• Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
• Measure the physical or physiological attributes of patients.
• Monitor patient conditions during treatments, procedures, or activities.
• Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
• Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
• Order medical supplies or equipment.
• Perform clerical work in medical settings.
• Prepare medical supplies or equipment for use.
• Prepare or examine food trays for conformance to prescribed diet.
• Prepare patients for examinations, tests, or treatments and explain procedures.
• Prepare patients physically for medical procedures.
• Provide basic information to guests, visitors, or clients.
• 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.
• Provide medical treatment or personal care to patients in private home settings, such as cooking, keeping rooms orderly, seeing that patients are comfortable and in good spirits, or instructing family members in simple nursing tasks.
• Record food and fluid intake and output.
• Record patient medical histories.
• Schedule patient procedures or appointments.
• Set up equipment and prepare medical treatment rooms.
• Sterilize equipment and supplies, using germicides, sterilizer, or autoclave.
• Sterilize medical equipment or instruments.
• Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
• Supervise patient care personnel.
• Test biological specimens to gather information about patient conditions.
• Train patients, family members, or caregivers in techniques for managing disabilities or illnesses.
• Treat patients using physical therapy techniques.
• Wash and dress bodies of deceased persons.
• Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.

Interests for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

• Social
  Helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others.
• Realistic
  Designing, building, or repairing equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors.
• Conventional
  Following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting.

Skills for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

In order of importance

• Service Orientation
  Looking for ways to help people.
  Importance: 78/100
• Coordination
  Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
  Importance: 75/100
• Social Perceptiveness
  Understanding people's reactions.
  Importance: 75/100
• Monitoring
  Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
  Importance: 72/100
• Active Listening
  Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
  Importance: 72/100
• Speaking
  Talking to others.
  Importance: 72/100
• Reading Comprehension
  Reading work-related information.
  Importance: 69/100
• Critical Thinking
  Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
  Importance: 69/100
• Time Management
  Managing your time and the time of other people.
  Importance: 66/100
• Judgment and Decision Making
  Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
  Importance: 66/100
• Active Learning
  Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
  Importance: 60/100
• Writing
  Writing things for co-workers or customers.
  Importance: 56/100
• Complex Problem Solving
  Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
  Importance: 56/100
• Instructing
  Teaching people how to do something.
  Importance: 53/100
• Learning Strategies
  Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
  Importance: 53/100
• Systems Analysis
  Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
  Importance: 50/100
• Systems Evaluation
  Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
  Importance: 47/100
• Mathematics
  Using math to solve problems.
  Importance: 47/100
• Persuasion
  Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
  Importance: 47/100
• Negotiation
  Bringing people together to solve differences.
  Importance: 47/100
• Management of Personnel Resources
  Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
  Importance: 47/100
• Science
  Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
  Importance: 41/100
• Operations Monitoring
  Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
  Importance: 41/100
• Operation and Control
  Using equipment or systems.
  Importance: 41/100
• Quality Control Analysis
  Testing how well a product or service works.
  Importance: 25/100
• Management of Material Resources
  Managing equipment and materials.
  Importance: 22/100
• Operations Analysis
  Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
  Importance: 19/100
• Technology Design
  Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
  Importance: 19/100
• Troubleshooting
  Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
  Importance: 19/100
• Management of Financial Resources
  Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
  Importance: 16/100
• Programming
  Writing computer programs.
  Importance: 6/100
• Equipment Selection
  Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
  Importance: 3/100

Knowledge for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

In order of importance

• Customer and Personal Service
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  Importance: 75/100
• English Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
  Importance: 73/100
• Psychology
  Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
  Importance: 68/100
• Medicine and Dentistry
  Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
  Importance: 67/100
• Administration and Management
  Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  Importance: 58/100
• Education and Training
  Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
  Importance: 55/100
• Therapy and Counseling
  Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
  Importance: 53/100
• Mathematics
  Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
  Importance: 51/100
• Administrative
  Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
  Importance: 49/100
• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
  Importance: 49/100
• Public Safety and Security
  Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
  Importance: 45/100
• Telecommunications
  Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
  Importance: 40/100
• Biology
  Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
  Importance: 38/100
• Sociology and Anthropology
  Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
  Importance: 34/100
• Communications and Media
  Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
  Importance: 33/100
• Personnel and Human Resources
  Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  Importance: 32/100
• Law and Government
  Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
  Importance: 31/100
• Chemistry
  Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
  Importance: 30/100
• Philosophy and Theology
  Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
  Importance: 29/100
• Foreign Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
  Importance: 28/100
• Economics and Accounting
  Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
  Importance: 25/100
• Sales and Marketing
  Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
  Importance: 15/100
• Transportation
  Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
  Importance: 15/100
• Physics
  Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
  Importance: 12/100
• Production and Processing
  Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
  Importance: 9/100
• Mechanical
  Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
  Importance: 9/100
• Engineering and Technology
  Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
  Importance: 9/100
• Food Production
  Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
  Importance: 7/100
• Geography
  Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
  Importance: 6/100
• Design
  Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
  Importance: 3/100
• Fine Arts
  Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
  Importance: 2/100
• History and Archeology
  Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
  Importance: 1/100

Physical Abilities for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

In order of importance

• Oral Expression
  Communicating by speaking.
  Importance: 75/100
• Problem Sensitivity
  Noticing when problems happen.
  Importance: 75/100
• Written Comprehension
  Reading and understanding what is written.
  Importance: 75/100
• Oral Comprehension
  Listening and understanding what people say.
  Importance: 75/100
• Speech Clarity
  Speaking clearly.
  Importance: 72/100
• Deductive Reasoning
  Using rules to solve problems.
  Importance: 69/100
• Near Vision
  Seeing details up close.
  Importance: 69/100
• Inductive Reasoning
  Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
  Importance: 69/100
• Speech Recognition
  Recognizing spoken words.
  Importance: 69/100
• Written Expression
  Communicating by writing.
  Importance: 60/100
• Information Ordering
  Ordering or arranging things.
  Importance: 56/100
• Trunk Strength
  Using your lower back and stomach.
  Importance: 53/100
• Static Strength
  Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
  Importance: 53/100
• Category Flexibility
  Grouping things in different ways.
  Importance: 53/100
• Manual Dexterity
  Holding or moving items with your hands.
  Importance: 50/100
• Flexibility of Closure
  Seeing hidden patterns.
  Importance: 50/100
• Memorization
  Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
  Importance: 50/100
• Time Sharing
  Doing two or more things at the same time.
  Importance: 50/100
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
  Keeping your arm or hand steady.
  Importance: 50/100
• Finger Dexterity
  Putting together small parts with your fingers.
  Importance: 50/100
• Selective Attention
  Paying attention to something without being distracted.
  Importance: 50/100
• Control Precision
  Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
  Importance: 47/100
• Speed of Closure
  Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
  Importance: 47/100
• Perceptual Speed
  Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
  Importance: 47/100
• Fluency of Ideas
  Coming up with lots of ideas.
  Importance: 47/100
• Number Facility
  Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
  Importance: 47/100
• Stamina
  Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
  Importance: 47/100
• Multilimb Coordination
  Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
  Importance: 47/100
• Extent Flexibility
  Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  Importance: 47/100
• Far Vision
  Seeing details that are far away.
  Importance: 47/100
• Mathematical Reasoning
  Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
  Importance: 44/100
• Auditory Attention
  Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
  Importance: 44/100
• Visual Color Discrimination
  Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
  Importance: 44/100
• Visualization
  Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
  Importance: 41/100
• Originality
  Creating new and original ideas.
  Importance: 41/100
• Gross Body Coordination
  Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
  Importance: 41/100
• Hearing Sensitivity
  Telling the difference between sounds.
  Importance: 38/100
• Gross Body Equilibrium
  Keeping your balance or staying upright.
  Importance: 35/100
• Response Orientation
  Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
  Importance: 35/100
• Reaction Time
  Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
  Importance: 31/100
• Dynamic Strength
  Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
  Importance: 28/100
• Depth Perception
  Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
  Importance: 28/100
• Wrist-Finger Speed
  Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
  Importance: 28/100
• Explosive Strength
  Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
  Importance: 25/100
• Rate Control
  Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
  Importance: 22/100
• Speed of Limb Movement
  Quickly moving your arms and legs.
  Importance: 22/100
• Spatial Orientation
  Knowing where things are around you.
  Importance: 3/100
• Peripheral Vision
  Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
  Importance: 3/100

Tools and Technology used by Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

• Spirometers
• Nebulizers
• Hypodermic needle
• Intravenous or arterial infusion bags or containers
• Patient stabilization or fall prevention devices
• Patient care beds for specialty care
• Glucose monitors or meters
• Restraint vests and jackets
• Intravenous or arterial extension tubing
• Cardiac output CO monitoring units
• Orthopedic traction hardware or weights
• Medical or surgical suction or vacuum appliances
• Head or neck traction supplies
• Extremity restraints
• Surgical drains or drain sets
• Peripherally inserted central catheters PICC
• Intravenous or arterial tubing adapter or connector
• Respiratory monitoring kits
• Restraint straps or buckles or supplies
• Dispensing pins or needles
• Intravenous infusion pumps for general use
• Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles
• Needleless intravenous injection syringe sets or injection cannulas
• Intermittent positive pressure breathing IPPB machines
• Patient lifts
• Nasogastric tubes
• Medical gas cylinders or related devices
• Pulse oximeter units
• Dial calibrated intravenous flowmeters or regulators
• Patient shifting boards
• Tuberculin syringes
• Ostomy appliances
• Needleless vial or bag withdrawal cannulas or adapters or decanters
• Blood transfusion filters or screens
• Vascular or compression apparel or support
• Medical ultrasound or doppler or pulse echocardiograph or echocardiograph units for general diagnostic use
• Perfusion oxygen or hematocrit saturation monitors
• Hemodialysis units
• Medical acoustic stethoscopes
• Continuous passive motion CPM devices
• Mercury blood pressure units
• Knee therapeutic brace or support
• Cervical collars or neck braces
• Enema kits
• Patient controlled analgesia infusion pumps
• Leg traction supplies
• Tracheostomy tubes
• Medical oxygen tubing or connectors
• Urinary catheterization kits
• Hematology analyzers
• Therapeutic heating or cooling blankets or drapes
• Walkers or rollators
• Full body restraints
• Clinical trapeze bars
• Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers
• Suture removal kits or trays or packs or sets
• Analgesic infusion sets or kits
• Transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation units
• Winged infusion needle set
• Medical syringes without needle
• Medical oxygen masks or parts
• Oxygen therapy delivery system products
• Capillary or hematocrit tubes
• Electrocardiography EKG transmitters or telemetry devices
• Wheelchairs
• Electronic stethoscopes
• Canes
• Apnea monitors
• Electrocardiography EKG units
• Lancets
• Crutches
• Abdominal binders
• Electronic blood pressure units
• Notebook computers
• Tourniquets
• Desktop computers
• Walking braces
• Personal computers
• Tablet computers
• Medical software
  • Electronic medical record EMR software
  • Epic Systems
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
  • Infusion management software
  • MEDITECH software
  • MedicWare EMR
  • Medical condition coding software
  • Medical procedure coding software
  • PointClickCare healthcare software
  • Prescription processing software
  • Telephone triage software
  • eClinicalWorks EHR software
• Video conferencing software
  • FaceTime
  • Zoom
• Electronic mail software
  • Microsoft Exchange
  • Microsoft Outlook
• Spreadsheet software
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Spreadsheet software
• Categorization or classification software
  • Diagnostic and procedural coding software
• Video creation and editing software
  • YouTube
• Office suite software
  • Microsoft Office software
• Cloud-based data access and sharing software
  • Google Drive
• Operating system software
  • Microsoft Windows
• Word processing software
  • Microsoft Word
  • Word processing software
• Internet browser software
  • Web browser software
• Calendar and scheduling software
  • Scheduling software
• Inventory management software
  • Inventory tracking software

Employment Industries for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

• Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities)
  181,400 employed
• Home healthcare services
  78,500 employed
• Offices of physicians
  78,100 employed
• General medical and surgical hospitals; private
  66,300 employed
• Continuing care retirement communities and assisted living facilities for the elderly
  41,900 employed
• Temporary help services
  21,700 employed
• Federal government, excluding postal service
  19,500 employed
• General medical and surgical hospitals; local
  18,600 employed