Occupation
Licensed practical nurse
Licensed practical nurses deliver hands-on nursing care within a scope of practice set by their regulator, usually alongside registered nurses and physicians. The work is heavily patient-facing — wound care, medications, observations, personal care — and is common in long-term care, community settings, and hospital wards.
Also known as: Registered practical nurse · LPN · Enrolled nurse · Licensed vocational nurse · Nursing associate
Occupation content
Part of Healthcare and clinical services
What the work involves
- Take and record vital signs, wound measurements, and other routine clinical observations.
- Give medications and treatments that fall inside the jurisdiction's practical-nursing scope.
- Change dressings, manage catheters and drains, and carry out other bedside procedures.
- Assist patients with mobility, hygiene, and feeding where their condition requires it.
- Report changes in a patient's condition to the registered nurse or clinician responsible.
- Keep charting current so the next shift inherits an accurate record.
How people commonly enter
- A practical or vocational nursing programme at a college, institute, or further-education provider.
- An employer-sponsored or apprenticeship-style nursing associate route where one exists.
- A recognised-credential assessment route for nurses trained outside the jurisdiction.
Typical training: Certificate or college diploma
Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Team based · Public facing · Shift work · Physically active · Fast paced · High responsibility
Related interests
Social (helping) · Realistic (hands-on) · Investigative (analytical)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
- Numerical reasoning
- Safety judgment
- Situational judgment
- Attention and concentration
- Reading comprehension
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Healthcare and clinical services.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- O*NET OnLine — Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses (29-2061.00) · United States
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- UK National Careers Service — Nursing associate · United Kingdom
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- Canada Job Bank — Explore an occupation (search: licensed practical nurse) · Canada
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Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Healthcare and clinical services in Canada, not a figure for Licensed practical nurse. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Healthcare and clinical services family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: education pathways
Some roles in Healthcare and clinical services may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Healthcare and clinical services: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Licensed practical nurse”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)