Activities	Care for ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled people in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions. May work under the supervision of a registered nurse. Must have a nursing license.
Outlook	Average job growth
Median Income	$39,000 per year in 2006
Work Context & Conditions	Most licensed practical nurses in hospitals and nursing homes work a 40-hour week, usually wearing a special uniform. Because patients need round-the-clock care, some L.P.N.s work nights, weekends, and holidays. They often stand for long periods and help patients move in bed, stand, or walk.
Minimum Education Requirements	Technical Program
Skills	Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Management of Personnel Resources, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management, Troubleshooting, Mathematics, Active Learning, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Operation Monitoring, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Science
Abilities	Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Problem Sensitivity, Inductive Reasoning, Oral Comprehension

Job Category		Healthcare Practitioners & Technical
Job Description		Licensed practical nurses (LPNs), or licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), care for the sick, injured, convalescent, and disabled under the direction of physicians and registered nurses. Most LPNs provide basic bedside care. They take vital signs such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration. They also treat bedsores, prepare and give injections and enemas, apply dressings, give alcohol rubs and massages, apply ice packs and hot water bottles, and monitor catheters. LPNs observe patients and report adverse reactions to medications or treatments. They collect samples for testing, perform routine laboratory tests, feed patients, and record food and fluid intake and output. They help patients with bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene, keep them comfortable, and care for their emotional needs. In states where the law allows, they may administer prescribed medicines or start intravenous fluids. Some LPNs help deliver, care for, and feed infants. Experienced LPNs may supervise nursing assistants and aides. In addition to providing routine bedside care, LPNs in nursing care facilities help to evaluate residents’ needs, develop care plans, and supervise the care provided by nursing aides. In doctors’ offices and clinics, they also may make appointments, keep records, and perform other clerical duties. LPNs who work in private homes may prepare meals and teach family members simple nursing tasks.
Working Conditions		Most licensed practical nurses in hospitals and nursing homes work a 40-hour week, but because patients need around-the-clock care, some work nights, weekends, and holidays. They often stand for long periods and help patients move in bed, stand, or walk. LPNs may face hazards from caustic chemicals, radiation, and infectious diseases such as hepatitis. They are subject to back injuries when moving patients and shock from electrical equipment. They often must deal with the stress of heavy workloads. In addition, the patients they care for may be confused, irrational, agitated, or uncooperative.
Salary Range		Median annual earnings of licensed practical nurses were $39,000 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $33,400 and $46,700. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $28,300, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $53,600. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of licensed practical nurses in 2006 were: Employment services ($44,690), home healthcare services ($39,510), nursing care facilities ($40,580), general medical and surgical hospitals ($38,080), and offices of physicians ($35,020.)

Education Required		All States and the District of Columbia require LPNs to pass a licensing examination after completing a State-approved practical nursing program. A high school diploma or its equivalent usually is required for entry, although some programs accept candidates without a diploma or are designed as part of a high school curriculum. In some employment settings, such as nursing homes, LPNs can advance to become charge nurses who oversee the work of other LPNs and of nursing aides. Some LPNs also choose to become registered nurses through numerous LPN-to-RN training programs. Most practical nursing programs last about 1 year and include both classroom study and supervised clinical practice (patient care). Classroom study covers basic nursing concepts and patient care-related subjects, including anatomy, physiology, medical-surgical nursing, pediatrics, obstetrics, psychiatric nursing, the administration of drugs, nutrition, and first aid. Clinical practice usually is in a hospital, but sometimes includes other settings.
Recommended High School Courses		Economics and Accounting, Biology, Mathematics, Health
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Education and Training, English Language, Psychology, Mathematics, Therapy and Counseling, Customer and Personal Service, Medicine and Dentistry
Certification and Licensing		All states and the District of Columbia require LPNs to pass a licensing examination after completing a state-approved practical nursing program. The National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX-PN, is required in order to obtain licensure as an LPN. The exam is developed and administered by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. The exam covers four major Client Needs categories: safe and effective care environment, health promotion and maintenance, psychosocial integrity, and physiological integrity.

Interest Area		Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Achievement Get a feeling of accomplishment. Social Service Do things for other people. Ability Utilization Make use of individual abilities. Co-workers Have co-workers who are easy to get along with. Activity Busy all the time.
Skills		Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Management of Personnel Resources Motivate, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Troubleshooting Determine what is causing an operating error and deciding what to do about it. Mathematics Use math to solve problems. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Judgment and Decision Making Be able to weigh the relative costs and benefits of a potential action. Operation Monitoring Watch gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information. Science Use scientific methods to solve problems.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Deductive Reasoning Able to apply general rules to specific problems to come up with logical answers, including deciding whether an answer makes sense. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Inductive Reasoning Able to combine separate pieces of information, or specific answers to problems, to form general rules or conclusions. This includes coming up with a logical explanation for why seemingly unrelated events occur together. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Related Jobs		Technologist, Surgical, Dental Hygienist, Optometrist, Physician Assistant, Technician, Emergency Medical, and Paramedic, Dentist, Orthodontist, Therapist, Respiratory, Aide, Psychiatric, Chiropractor
Job Outlook		Licensed practical nurses held about 753,600 jobs in 2008. About 25 percent of LPNs worked in hospitals, 28 percent in nursing care facilities, and another 12 percent in offices of physicians. Others worked for home health care services; employment services; community care facilities for the elderly; public and private educational services; outpatient care centers; and Federal, State, and local government agencies. About 19 percent worked part time. Employment of LPNs is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2018 in response to the long-term care needs of a rapidly growing elderly population and the general growth of healthcare. Replacement needs will be a major source of job openings, as many workers leave the occupation permanently. Applicants for jobs in hospitals may face competition as the number of hospital jobs for LPNs declines; however, rapid employment growth is projected in other health care industries, with the best job opportunities occurring in nursing care facilities and in home health care services. Employment of LPNs in hospitals is expected to continue to decline. Sophisticated procedures once performed only in hospitals are being performed in physicians’ offices and in outpatient care centers such as ambulatory surgical and emergency medical centers, largely because of advances in technology. Consequently, employment of LPNs in most health care industries outside the traditional hospital setting is projected to grow faster than average. Employment of LPNs is expected to grow much faster than average in home health care services. Home health care agencies also will offer the most new jobs for LPNs because of an increasing number of older persons with functional disabilities, consumer preference for care in the home, and technological advances that make it possible to bring increasingly complex treatments into the home. Employment of LPNs in nursing care facilities is expected to grow about as fast as average because of the growing number of aged and disabled persons in need of long-term care. In addition, LPNs in nursing care facilities will be needed to care for the increasing number of patients who have been discharged from the hospital but who have not recovered enough to return home. However, changes in consumer preferences towards less restrictive and more cost-effective care from assisted living facilities and home health care agencies will limit employment growth.
More Information		National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses, Inc., National League for Nursing, National Association for Practical Nurse Education and Service, Inc.
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos102.htm O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/29-2061.00