AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 29-2061.00
Will AI replace Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses?
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses: AI can already handle 2 of 22 tasks; the work mostly needs a standard-tier model.
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Every task, scored
The 22 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, from most to least exposed. 2 reach 60 or more, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| 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. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Supervise nurses' aides or assistants. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Sterilize equipment and supplies, using germicides, sterilizer, or autoclave. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Record food and fluid intake and output. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Make appointments, keep records, or perform other clerical duties in doctors' offices or clinics. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Collect samples, such as blood, urine, or sputum from patients, and perform routine laboratory tests on samples. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Prepare patients for examinations, tests, or treatments and explain procedures. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Set up equipment and prepare medical treatment rooms. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Apply compresses, ice bags, or hot water bottles. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Wash and dress bodies of deceased persons. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Clean rooms and make beds. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Inventory and requisition supplies and instruments. | Estimated | Standard | |
| Help patients with bathing, dressing, maintaining personal hygiene, moving in bed, or standing and walking. | Estimated | Efficient | |
| Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Provide medical treatment or personal care to patients in private home settings, such as cooking, keeping rooms orderly, seeing that patients are comfortable and in good spirits, or instructing family members in simple nursing tasks. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Prepare or examine food trays for conformance to prescribed diet. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 22 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 22 of 22. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A standard-tier model or lower covers 81% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 81% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 19% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 648,410
- Median annual wage
- $64,400
- Middle half of earners
- $59,000 to $76,030
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- +2.6%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Registered Nurses 70% skill overlap, about 11 months to move Exposure36
- Nurse Practitioners 61% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure41
- Nursing Assistants 61% skill overlap, about 14 months to move Exposure32
- Acute Care Nurses 58% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure50
- Critical Care Nurses 58% skill overlap, about 15 months to move Exposure54
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses and AI
Will AI replace Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses?
AI already handles 2 of the 22 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, at a task exposure of 60 or more, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 29 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears. BLS projects employment to change by +2.6% from 2024 to 2034.
What is the AI exposure of Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses?
29 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 22 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 22 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses tasks can AI already do?
The tasks with the highest exposure are: Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary; Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions. They are the tasks that reach 60 or more.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A standard-tier model or lower covers 81% of the role's importance-weighted task work. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, and what do they earn?
648,410 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $64,400 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of +2.6% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/licensed-practical-and-licensed-vocational-nurses
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