Licensed Practical Nurse Job Description

A licensed practical nurse is the licensed clinician who carries out the hands-on portion of a care plan: checking vital signs, giving medications, changing dressings, collecting specimens and watching for the small changes that signal a patient is getting worse. In some states the same license carries the title licensed vocational nurse. The work happens under the direction of a registered nurse, physician or other licensed provider, and each state's nurse practice act and board of nursing decide how close that supervision must be and which tasks fall inside the LPN's lane.

Where the job happens shapes what it looks like. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts nursing and residential care facilities as the largest employer of LPNs and LVNs, at 37 percent of jobs, followed by hospitals at 16 percent, home healthcare services at 12 percent and physicians' offices at 11 percent.

In a skilled nursing facility, the LPN usually owns a hall or unit for the shift. The morning med pass is the core of it: working down the electronic medication administration record, crushing tablets for residents on modified diets, holding a blood pressure medication when the reading is low, checking blood glucose before insulin, and documenting every refusal. Between passes come treatments such as pressure injury dressings, tube feedings, catheter care and nebulizers, plus the calls to the physician and the family when a resident spikes a fever or falls. Federal rules for Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes require a facility to designate a licensed nurse as charge nurse on each tour of duty, and on a given shift that licensed nurse may be an LPN directing the certified nursing assistants on the unit.

In a physician practice, the rhythm is faster and more procedural. The LPN rooms patients, takes vitals and histories, gives vaccines and injections, runs point-of-care tests, removes sutures, and works the phone queue for refill requests and post-visit questions. In home health, the LPN travels to patients' homes on visits scheduled by an RN case manager, doing wound care, medication setup and teaching, then documents on a tablet before the next stop. Correctional facilities, dialysis units, schools, rehab hospitals and staffing agencies round out the map.

What separates a strong LPN from an average one is observation and escalation. A resident who is suddenly sleepier than usual, a wound that smells different on Tuesday than it did on Monday, a patient whose oxygen saturation drifts down a few points overnight: catching those changes, writing them up in clear SBAR form and getting the right person on the phone is where an LPN prevents an emergency transfer. The license is built for that judgment within limits, which is why knowing exactly where those limits sit in your state matters as much as clinical skill.

The entry path is short and well defined. Candidates complete a state-approved practical or vocational nursing program, which according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics typically takes about 1 year. Programs run at community colleges, technical schools and some high schools, and they mix classroom work in anatomy, pharmacology and nursing fundamentals with supervised clinical rotations in settings such as long-term care, medical-surgical units and clinics. Before enrolling, check that the program is approved by your state board of nursing, because graduation from an approved program is what makes you eligible to sit for licensure.

The licensing exam. After the program, candidates must pass a licensing exam: the NCLEX-PN, developed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). NCSBN's 2026 NCLEX-PN Test Plan took effect in April 2026, and it sets the exam length at a minimum of 85 items and a maximum of 150, answered during a five-hour period. The exam has carried NCSBN's Next Generation NCLEX format since that version launched on April 1, 2023, which uses innovative item types to better measure clinical judgment and decision making. Your state board issues the license once you pass and meet any other requirements it sets.

Certifications worth adding. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that optional certifications for LPNs and LVNs are available through professional associations in areas such as gerontology, wound care and IV therapy, and that some employers require or prefer CPR or basic life support certification. In practice, a typical early-career stack looks like this:

• Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider card from the American Heart Association, valid for two years
• Wound Care Certified (WCC) from the National Alliance of Wound Care and Ostomy, a credential NAWCO offers to LPN/LVNs as well as RNs
• An IV therapy course or certification that meets your own state board's rules, where your state allows LPNs to provide infusion therapy

Skills that matter on the floor. Medication administration accuracy, head-to-toe observation, wound staging, glucose management, and clean charting in whatever electronic record the employer runs, such as PointClickCare in long-term care or Epic in hospital systems. Delegation is part of the job too: supervising certified nursing assistants while staying inside your state's rules on what an LPN may assign.

Experience. The LPN is an entry-level license, so new graduates are hired straight out of school, and long-term care is a practical first stop because it builds medication and assessment volume quickly. After a year or two, LPNs can specialize in wound care, IV therapy, dialysis or pediatrics, or take on charge nurse duties. A natural next step is an LPN-to-RN bridge program, which gives credit for prior coursework toward an associate or bachelor's degree in nursing.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 666,900 LPN and LVN jobs in 2025 and projects employment to grow 3 percent from 2025 to 2035, which it rates as about as fast as the average for all occupations. In raw terms that is a projected change of 19,700 jobs, taking the occupation to 686,700 in 2035. The bigger number is turnover: BLS projects about 51,800 openings for LPNs and LVNs each year, on average, over the decade, and expects many of them to come from the need to replace workers who move to other occupations or leave the labor force, for example to retire.

NCSBN's workforce data add context. NCSBN's 2024 National Nursing Workforce Survey, which drew responses from 137,902 LPN/VNs, found the median age of LPN/VNs was 50 in 2024, up from 47 in 2022. 41 percent of LPN/VNs in that survey reported plans to leave the profession in the next 5 years. NCSBN itself calls elevated intent to leave "more informative than predictive," so read it as a warning sign rather than a forecast. The same survey found 32 percent of LPN/VNs named a nursing home or extended care setting as their primary practice position in 2024, a slight increase from 31 percent in 2022.

Pay by setting. The BLS May 2025 national median for the occupation is $64,400, but industry matters. In nursing care facilities, the OEWS median for LPNs and LVNs was $70,430, with a 90th percentile of $82,840. In general medical and surgical hospitals the median was $60,590, in home health care services $63,580, and in offices of physicians $59,520. Home health's 90th percentile reached $90,950. When comparing offers, ask how each employer's rate compares with those industry figures, and weigh shift differentials, mileage and on-call pay alongside the base wage.

Regulation. The federal policy story LPNs in long-term care should know is a staffing rule that was undone. In the May 10, 2024 Federal Register, CMS published a final rule for Medicare and Medicaid nursing homes that required 3.48 total nurse staffing hours per resident day and a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Two federal district courts then vacated the hours-per-resident-day and 24/7 RN provisions at the summary judgment stage, and a public law barred HHS from implementing, administering or enforcing certain provisions of the rule until September 30, 2034. CMS repealed those provisions in an interim final rule with comment period published December 3, 2025, effective February 2, 2026. With that repeal, the hours-per-resident-day minimums and the 24/7 RN requirement from the 2024 rule are off the books.

Dear Director of Nursing,

I am applying for the LPN position on the long-term care unit at Brookside Health and Rehabilitation. I earned my practical nursing certificate from Lakeview Technical College in December, passed the NCLEX-PN in February, and hold an active state license along with a current BLS Provider card.

My final clinical rotation was a ten-week placement on a 40-bed skilled nursing unit, where I took over the morning medication pass for a hall of residents under my preceptor's supervision. I learned to work through the electronic MAR without cutting corners: verifying every resident with two identifiers, checking apical pulses before digoxin, and documenting each refusal and the reason. I also helped stage and dress pressure injuries with the unit's wound nurse and started measuring and photographing wounds weekly so the care team could see healing trends at a glance.

The moment that stays with me came on an evening shift, when a resident who normally chatted through dinner was quiet and picking at her food. Her temperature was normal, but her oxygen saturation was lower than her baseline. I reported it to the charge nurse using SBAR, and the provider ordered a chest X-ray that confirmed early pneumonia. She was treated on the unit instead of being sent to the emergency department.

Before nursing school I spent three years as a certified nursing assistant, so I know how much a shift depends on clear communication with aides. I give direction respectfully, follow up, and pitch in when the floor is short.

I would welcome the chance to talk about how I can support your residents and team. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, Jordan Ellis