NSXNational Skills ExchangeSign in
Back to Framework

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

SOC 29-2061.00Job Zone 3 · Medium Preparation

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.

Context coveredLong-term care, skilled nursing, physician-office practice, hospital med-surg, and home health settings; LPN/LVN scope of practice as defined by state nurse-practice acts.

Sources:O*NET v30.2O*NET Resource Center — Occupational Information Network, v30.2 (Sept 2025). Opens in new tab.SkillsCrosswalkSkillsCrosswalk — O*NET enrichment + adjacency index. Opens in new tab.
Emerging
Entry / Apprentice
  1. Vital signs and routine assessments — collect and document on stable patients under an RN's review.
  2. Medication administration within LPN scope — administer per state-practice-act limits and facility protocol.
  3. Standard treatments (wound dressings, urinary catheter care, oxygen titration) — perform on routine assignments.
  4. Patient identifiers and safety checks — execute reliably before any procedure or administration.
  5. Charting in the EHR — enter assessments, treatments, and outcomes accurately under RN review.
  6. Patient education on common conditions — deliver from facility-approved materials under supervision.
  7. Specimen collection (blood draws within scope, urine, wound cultures) — obtain per protocol.
  8. Communication with the RN charge — escalate appropriately on out-of-norm findings.
  9. Infection control and isolation precautions — apply consistently across patient encounters.
  10. Personal protective equipment + body mechanics — apply on transfers and treatments.
Developing
Mid-level / Established
  1. Multi-patient assignments — organize and prioritize across an LPN-staffed hallway shift.
  2. IV initiation and maintenance within LPN scope — perform reliably where state practice permits.
  3. Treatment plans for common diagnoses — execute from RN-developed plans with reduced oversight.
  4. Stable but complex patients — provide care across multiple comorbidities under RN supervision.
  5. Family-member interactions on common concerns — handle directly and route clinical questions to the RN.
  6. Patient education and discharge teaching — deliver on a routine basis without RN follow-up.
  7. Newer LPNs and nursing assistants — guide on facility routines during their first weeks.
  8. EHR documentation for regulatory compliance — complete accurately across an entire shift.
  9. Common procedures (Foley insertion, NG tube management, glucose monitoring) — perform independently.
  10. Subtle changes in patient status — recognize and report to the RN charge or attending.
Proficient
Senior / Expert IC
  1. Complex routine patients in long-term care — provide care autonomously within scope of practice.
  2. Charge-LPN responsibilities (where the state and facility permit) — coordinate hallway team during a shift.
  3. Specialty-area protocols (dialysis support, hospice, post-op recovery) — apply within scope.
  4. Difficult patient and family conversations on routine clinical issues — handle within LPN authority.
  5. New protocols and EHR changes — implement and coach LPN and CNA peers.
  6. Preceptorship of new-grad LPNs — host structured orientations.
  7. Quality and safety concerns — identify, report, and follow through using facility processes.
  8. Care-team coordination (dietary, social work, rehab) — collaborate substantively in care conferences.
  9. Common-issue physician collaboration — communicate findings clearly enough to prompt the right order.
  10. Cross-shift handoffs and SBAR-style reports — deliver clearly to incoming staff.
Advanced
Lead / Principal / Executive
  1. LPN charge or supervisor role in long-term care — manage staffing, breaks, and care assignments across a unit.
  2. Restorative care or specialty-program leadership — design and audit on a unit alongside RN leadership.
  3. Preceptorship and clinical-teaching role for the LPN program — coach across cohorts.
  4. Survey readiness (state, CMS) — prepare the unit and represent staff in walkthroughs.
  5. Unit-level quality measures (medication errors, falls, pressure ulcers) — interpret trends and respond.
  6. Career pathway coaching (LPN-to-RN bridge programs) — mentor staff who want to advance.
  7. Senior advocate for LPN-staff voice — represent on facility committees and in leadership meetings.
  8. Regulatory and scope-of-practice updates — interpret and operationalize for the team as states evolve.
  9. Mass-care or surge-staffing situations — lead the LPN response with composure.
  10. Long-term-care operations — partner with administration on staffing models and clinical practice.

AI-at-Work Competency Framework

Sources:Anthropic Economic IndexAnthropic Economic Index — release_2026_03_24. Opens in new tab.Jadhav & Danve, 2026Skill Automation Feasibility Index — Jadhav & Danve, 2026 (arXiv:2604.06906). Opens in new tab.WEF Skills TaxonomyWEF Skills Taxonomy 2021 — Building a Common Language for Skills at Work. Opens in new tab.

A 4-level framework describing how a worker at each mastery level uses, directs, and evaluates AI tools in this occupation. Each statement cites its evidence inline. Subscribe for $19.99/mo to read the full framework — or sign in if you have a subscription.

  1. Emerging
  2. Developing
  3. Proficient
  4. Advanced
Monthly subscription · Stripe-hosted · unlocks AI-at-Work and Pathsmith™ Durable Skills across the full library

Pathsmith™ Durable Skills Framework

Sources:Pathsmith™ Durable SkillsPathsmith™ Durable Skills Framework — America Succeeds + CompTIA. Opens in new tab.O*NET v30.2O*NET Resource Center — Occupational Information Network, v30.2 (Sept 2025). Opens in new tab.
Subscriber feature

Ten durable-skill domains mapped to four proficiency levels for this occupation. Subscribe to unlock the full Pathsmith™ Durable Skills Framework across all 1,016 occupations.

Monthly subscription · Stripe-hosted · unlocks AI-at-Work and Pathsmith™ Durable Skills across the full library
Show O*NET source anchors58 anchors · skillscrosswalk.com

O*NET enrichment · skillscrosswalk.com

Suggest an O*NET correction

Source anchors that ground each statement

Related titles
Licensed Practical Nurse · Charge Nurse · Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN) · Clinic Nurse · Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN) · Licensed Care Coordinator (LCC) · Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) · Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) · Long Term Care LPN (Long Term Care Licensed Practical Nurse) · Medical LPN (Medical Licensed Practical Nurse) · Nursing Home LPN (Nursing Home Licensed Practical Nurse) · Office Nurse
RAPIDS apprenticeships
0230 · Licensed Practical Nurse
O*NET skills
Service OrientationCoordinationSocial PerceptivenessMonitoringActive ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingReading ComprehensionJudgment and Decision MakingTime ManagementActive LearningComplex Problem SolvingWritingLearning StrategiesInstructingSystems Analysis
Knowledge domains
Customer and Personal ServiceEnglish LanguagePsychologyMedicine and DentistryAdministration and ManagementEducation and TrainingTherapy and CounselingMathematics
Abilities
Oral ExpressionOral ComprehensionWritten ComprehensionProblem SensitivitySpeech ClarityDeductive ReasoningInductive ReasoningNear VisionSpeech RecognitionWritten Expression
Work styles
DependabilityAttention to DetailCooperationEmpathyCautiousnessIntegrity
Technology
Categorization or classification softwareMedical softwareVideo conferencing softwareCloud-based data access and sharing softwareInventory management softwareSpreadsheet softwareElectronic mail softwareOffice suite softwareOperating system softwareWord processing software
Tasks · seed anchors for statements
  1. Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
  2. Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
  3. Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
  4. 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.
  5. Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
  6. Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
  7. Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
  8. Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.
CIP education codes
51.390151.3999

Sources: O*NET v30.2 (CC BY 4.0), SkillsCrosswalk.com, LER.me®, Anthropic Economic Index, SAFI (Jadhav & Danve, 2026), WEF Skills Taxonomy 2021, Pathsmith™ Durable Skills Framework. © 2026 EBSCOed.