Licensed Practical Nurse
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.
Annual openings
657
BLS median wage
$73,880
Typical education
High school (GED), plus completion of an approved Licensed Practical Nurse training program.
10-year growth
+12%
Career requirements
What does this career require?
The education, credentials, and on-the-job competencies Colorado employers expect for this role.
Typical education
High school (GED), plus completion of an approved Licensed Practical Nurse training program.
Credential requirement
A certification is required for this job.
Credential detail
To practice, you will need to pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and be certified.
Work experience
No previous work experience is required; however it could be an additional step on a career pathway.
Experience detail
Work experience as a Certified Nurse Assistant, Emergency Medical Technician, etc. is highly valued. LPN Training programs will include clinical work experience. If this is the first job, previous experience developing the listed knowledge and abilities, if possible in a Healthcare environment, is preferred.
Employer competency information
Feedback from employers identifies the following critical competencies and how they apply for this job
- Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Writing — Effective communication (such as with changes in a patient’s status) with patients, family, and co-workers lay a foundation for success. Recognizing diversity in communication, educating patients and families, and creating effective documentation (often leveraging technology) of issues and actions are examples of keys to success.
- Customer Focus — Healthcare is customer service driven – patients and families must have good experiences with staff and outcomes to return for additional care, reimbursements also depend on it.
- Critical & Analytical Thinking and Problem Solving & Decision Making — Monitoring the patient, being proactive to identify changes and items to address, prioritizing potential actions, understanding when to take action versus when to escalate an issue, and then taking the appropriate action.
- Medicine and Psychology — Must have the knowledge to work with a broad range of medical issues from a newborn to the elderly (pharmacology, anatomy, lab results, triage, surgery, medications, immunizations, procedures, and preventative health), including an understanding of a patient’s behaviors, such as with dementia.
- Health & Safety — Must understand a broad range of safety needs and issues from Day 1 in order to treat people safely.
- Teamwork and Integrity — The team and patient care success depends on you being ready to work on-time and your ability, take responsibility to complete your duties, and to work well with a broad range of people.
Is this work a fit?
What the work actually feels like
How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.
Automation exposure
Low exposure
Tasks here lean on judgement and people skills that are hard to automate.
A typical day
- Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
- Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
- Collect samples, such as blood, urine, or sputum from patients, and perform routine laboratory tests on samples.
- 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.
- Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
- Record food and fluid intake and output.