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LVN - Job Outlook

Nursing care facilities will offer the most new jobs for licensed vocational nurses as the number of aged and disabled persons in need of long-term care rises. In addition to caring for the aged and the disabled, licensed vocational nurses in nursing care facilities will care for the increasing number of patients who will have been discharged from hospitals, but have not recovered enough to return home.

• employment of licensed vocational nurses in hospitals is expected to continue to decline
• employment of licensed vocational nurses is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2016
• best job opportunities are in nursing care facilities and in home health care services
• home health care agencies will offer the most new jobs for LVNs
• licensed vocational nurses will be needed in nursing care facilities to care for the increasing number of patients

Employment of licensed vocational nurses is expected to grow much faster than the average in home healthcare services. This growth is in response to an increasing number of older persons with functional disabilities, consumer preference for care in the home, and technological advances that make it possible to bring increasingly complex treatments into the home.

Employment of licensed vocational nurses in nursing care facilities is expected to grow faster than the average but overall, employment of licensed vocational nurses is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2016 in response to the long-term care needs of an increasing elderly population and the general growth of healthcare.

Applicants for jobs in hospitals may face competition as the number of hospital jobs for licensed vocational nurses declines. Replacement needs will be a major source of job openings, as many workers leave the occupation permanently. An increasing proportion of procedures which once were performed only in hospitals, is being performed in physicians' offices and in outpatient care centers such as ambulatory surgical and emergency medical centers, due largely to advances in technology. As a result, employment of licensed vocational nurses is projected to grow faster than average in these sectors as healthcare expands outside the traditional hospital setting.

Sacramento - The California Board of Registered Nursing prevailed in a state Court of Appeal decision upholding the BRN's position that Excelsior College graduates, like other out-of-state school graduates, must fulfill all California licensing requirements, including supervised clinical practice, in order to qualify for licensure as a registered nurse in California.

Ruth Ann Terry, BRN Executive Officer, stated, "This decision is of critical importance to the quality and safety of RN practice in California. It affirms the Board's position that there is nothing more basic to safe nursing practice than ensuring that students learn hands-on skills through sufficient hours of supervised clinical practice in patient settings." Read more about BRN's position that Excelsior College graduates must fulfill all California licensing requirements.