1. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,306
Enrollment
6,975
Nurses are important members of healthcare facilities. Some patients would even prefer talking with, and generally being with, nurses instead of doctors. They are often deemed as friendly and understanding. What most people do not know is that there are different career paths available for nurses. One such path is towards being a practical nurse.
Practical nurses, as the name suggests, provide more practical or basic care for patients. They ensure that the patient is comfortable at all times. They are assigned to work with a doctor and/or a registered nurse. They may be assigned to handle laboratory results, take patients' vital signs, and administer treatment courses. Yes, this is one of those roles where you would feel like someone's life is in your hands.
If you have endless patience, you would definitely be a good fit for this role. Of course, you also need to have a stellar performance review in order to succeed.
There are certain skills that many practical nurses have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, patience and speaking skills.
If you're interested in becoming a practical nurse, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 30.1% of practical nurses have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 22.2% of practical nurses have master's degrees. Even though most practical nurses have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a practical nurse can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as licensed practical nurse, progress to a title such as registered nurse and then eventually end up with the title nurse manager.
What Am I Worth?
The role of a practical nurse includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general practical nurse responsibilities:
There are several types of practical nurse, including:
If you're looking for a job that will provide a lot of opportunities, you've come to the right place. Registered nurses are needed everywhere to provide patient care and educate patients about various health conditions.
All registered nurses need to be licensed, but there are three different ways you can go about it. One is earning a bachelor's degree in nursing. Another is to obtain an associate's degree in nursing. Or receive a diploma from a nursing program.
A licensed practical nurse, also known as an LPN, works in a healthcare setting. Their responsibilities range from providing routine care to taking note of patients' health. The LPN is super-important to each patient's visit.
LPNs also serve a critical role in helping doctors and registered nurses when needed. Sometimes, as an LPN, you'll have to explain a lot, including medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes
While, you'll probably work a full-time schedule, it may look a little wonky. Some days you might work a shift that's longer than 8 hours or you might have to take a weekend or night shift. The schooling it takes to become an LPN isn't that long, in fact, most LPN programs take a year to complete.
If healthcare is your name and helping patients is your game, then you might consider a career as a staff nurse. Typically, you'll work in a healthcare facility of some sort, whether that be a hospital or a nursing home.
As a staff nurse, you'll be working closely with doctors and other nurses to ensure patients receive the utmost care and treatment for their health conditions. Usually, this line of work seals the deal with crazy hours. But staff nurses tend to be a little different.
It can vary, but you usually won't work over 40 hours a week. In fact, some weeks you may only work 35 hours. This great schedule does come with a price tag - student debt, to be exact. In order to become a staff nurse, you'll need to earn a bachelor's degree. I mean, you have to know what you're doing in this job so that much makes sense.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active practical nurse jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where practical nurses earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Florida | 16,476 | $64,510 |
2 | Texas | 15,619 | $67,524 |
3 | California | 12,761 | $86,154 |
4 | Pennsylvania | 10,528 | $75,894 |
5 | New York | 9,696 | $77,125 |
6 | Ohio | 8,070 | $68,262 |
7 | Massachusetts | 6,944 | $75,073 |
8 | Georgia | 6,926 | $61,014 |
9 | North Carolina | 6,529 | $68,981 |
10 | Illinois | 6,434 | $62,108 |
11 | Virginia | 5,659 | $74,614 |
12 | Indiana | 5,545 | $63,165 |
13 | Michigan | 5,119 | $68,007 |
14 | Tennessee | 5,052 | $60,242 |
15 | Washington | 4,929 | $77,735 |
16 | New Jersey | 4,716 | $77,197 |
17 | Maryland | 4,170 | $75,318 |
18 | Minnesota | 3,670 | $59,849 |
19 | Missouri | 3,521 | $58,196 |
20 | Arizona | 3,496 | $74,099 |
21 | Colorado | 3,477 | $60,440 |
22 | South Carolina | 3,296 | $64,504 |
23 | Wisconsin | 3,245 | $62,759 |
24 | Louisiana | 2,918 | $66,116 |
25 | Kentucky | 2,512 | $62,616 |
26 | Iowa | 2,429 | $58,568 |
27 | Alabama | 2,396 | $60,595 |
28 | Oklahoma | 2,355 | $59,246 |
29 | Oregon | 2,324 | $80,874 |
30 | Connecticut | 2,279 | $77,076 |
31 | Kansas | 2,063 | $57,793 |
32 | Arkansas | 1,869 | $58,664 |
33 | New Mexico | 1,704 | $69,659 |
34 | Mississippi | 1,536 | $61,675 |
35 | New Hampshire | 1,490 | $73,073 |
36 | Nebraska | 1,409 | $57,304 |
37 | West Virginia | 1,369 | $70,004 |
38 | Maine | 1,318 | $69,097 |
39 | Nevada | 1,279 | $85,226 |
40 | South Dakota | 1,008 | $57,859 |
41 | Montana | 884 | $64,132 |
42 | Idaho | 883 | $73,092 |
43 | Delaware | 882 | $76,373 |
44 | North Dakota | 852 | $58,589 |
45 | Utah | 824 | $70,790 |
46 | Vermont | 660 | $69,429 |
47 | Alaska | 642 | $70,811 |
48 | Rhode Island | 615 | $76,407 |
49 | Wyoming | 392 | $60,707 |
50 | Hawaii | 342 | $65,733 |
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,306
Enrollment
6,975
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,306
Enrollment
9,394
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
Albany, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,140
Enrollment
876
Omaha, NE • Private
In-State Tuition
$13,392
Enrollment
646
Mercedita, PR • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,914
Enrollment
4,155
Buffalo, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$10,099
Enrollment
21,404
Arecibo, PR • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,872
Enrollment
3,553
Bayamon, PR • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,940
Enrollment
4,169
Randolph, VT • Private
In-State Tuition
$15,108
Enrollment
1,350
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 27.3% of practical nurses listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and patience are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Practical Nurse templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Practical Nurse resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
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Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a practical nurse. The best states for people in this position are California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Practical nurses make the most in California with an average salary of $86,154. Whereas in Nevada and Oregon, they would average $85,226 and $80,874, respectively. While practical nurses would only make an average of $77,735 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Pennsylvania
$75,894
Avg. Salary
2. Nevada
$85,226
Avg. Salary
3. West Virginia
$70,004
Avg. Salary
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | University Hospitals | $129,336 | $62.18 | 20 |
2 | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | $110,163 | $52.96 | 20 |
3 | Rutgers University | $108,107 | $51.97 | 8 |
4 | Maxim Healthcare Group | $97,150 | $46.71 | 15 |
5 | Aurora Health Care | $88,899 | $42.74 | 7 |
6 | Planned Parenthood | $82,934 | $39.87 | 23 |
7 | St Joseph's Hospital | $80,021 | $38.47 | 10 |
8 | HCR ManorCare | $79,877 | $38.40 | 11 |
9 | LTCG | $75,788 | $36.44 | 20 |
10 | St. Joseph Regional Medical Center | $74,835 | $35.98 | 7 |
A practical nurse typically provides assistance to doctors and registered nurses, while an RN (registered nurse) provides direct care to patients.
A practical nurse is responsible for a range of hands-on patient care and administrative tasks. This includes monitoring a patient's health, such as vital signs and overall health condition. Changing bandages and inserting catheters. They also provide basic patient care, such as daily physical activities. A practical nurse is subordinate to doctors and registered nurses and will assist them in certain medical procedures.