Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SCI
Registered Nurses
Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required.
Also called: Charge Nurse, Emergency Department RN (Emergency Department Registered Nurse), Operating Room Registered Nurse (OR RN), Staff Nurse, Certified Operating Room Nurse (CNOR), Oncology RN (Oncology Registered Nurse), Psychiatric RN (Psychiatric Registered Nurse), Relief Charge Nurse.
O*NET 29-1141.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $97,550
- Middle half earn $80,330 to $112,350. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 56% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +5% · Faster than average
- 3,391,000 jobs in 2024, projected 3,557,100. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Registered nurses".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Record patients' medical information and vital signs.
- Administer medications to patients and monitor patients for reactions or side effects.
- Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.
- Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.
- Provide health care, first aid, immunizations, or assistance in convalescence or rehabilitation in locations such as schools, hospitals, or industry.
- Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans.
- Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.
- Monitor all aspects of patient care, including diet and physical activity.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening4.0 / 5
- Speaking4.0 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Writing3.8 / 5
- Monitoring3.8 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Psychology4.6 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service4.4 / 5
- Medicine and Dentistry4.4 / 5
- English Language4.2 / 5
- Administrative3.5 / 5
- Mathematics3.4 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic41
- Investigative62
- Artistic6
- Social76
- Enterprising23
- Conventional63
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- advanced nurse practitioner · DE Akademischer Krankenpfleger/Akademische Krankenschwester · FR infirmier de pratique avancée/infirmière de pratique avancée
- nurse responsible for general care · DE Krankenpfleger Allgemeine Krankenpflege/Krankenschwester Allgemeine Krankenpflege · FR infirmier de soins généraux/infirmière de soins généraux
- specialist nurse · DE Fachkrankenpfleger/Fachkrankenschwester · FR infirmier spécialiste/infirmière spécialiste
- auxiliary nursing and midwifery vocational teacher · DE Lehrkraft für Krankenpflege- und Geburtshilfekräfte · FR formateur en institut de formation d’aide-soignant ou d’auxiliaire de puériculture/formatrice en institut de formation d’aide-soignant ou d’auxiliaire de puériculture
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Registered community nurses (2232)70,400 employed
- Registered specialist nurses (2233)82,300 employed
- Registered nurse practitioners (2234)91,500 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “看護師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥321,500
- Middle half earn ¥278,800 to ¥376,700 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 903,060
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.23. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-1141).
Related careers
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