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LVN Employment

Licensed vocational nurses are employed by hospitals, nursing care facilities and offices of physicians. Other licensed vocational nurses are employed by home healthcare services, employment services, community care facilities for the elderly, public and private educational services, outpatient care centers, and Federal, State, and local government agencies.

Median annual earnings of licensed vocational nurses are above $30,000 but in some areas in California it can be higher than $40,000. The best paying jobs are offered by employment services, home health and nursing facilities. Your pay can be dramatically affected by factors such as employer size and years of experience.

Licensed vocational nurses are professional care givers who assumes responsibility for a group of patients for a designated time frame and provide care to these patients. The LVN provides care within the scope of practice and is immediately accountable to a registered nurse.

Licensed vocational nurses provide personal care services to ill, injured, convalescent, and handicapped persons. LVNs take and record patients' vital signs, dress wounds, give alcohol rubs and massages. LVNs observe patients and report adverse reactions to medication or treatment to the medical personnel in charge. Licensed vocational nurses also administer medication, orally or by subcutaneous or intermuscular injection, and record the time and amount on patients' charts.

Licensed vocational nurses assemble and use equipment such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, and oxygen suppliers, may be asked to collect various samples from patients for testing and may perform routine laboratory tests. They record food and fluid intake and output, bathe, dress, and assist patients in walking and turning.

About one in five licensed vocational nurses are employed part-time. Nursing care facilities will offer the most new jobs. Applicants for jobs in hospitals may face competition as the number of hospital jobs for LVNs declines.

Smoking by nurses creates workplace issues

Smoking by nurses can create workplace problems that must be addressed by health care systems to promote better interactions between nurses and their patients and reduce dissension among staff, according to a first-of-its-kind study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center. Read more about this UCLA study.