Practical Nursing

Types of Degrees Practical Nursing Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many practical nursing & nursing assistants graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	44,253
Undergraduate Certificate	42,270
Associate Degree	2,219
Bachelor’s Degree	51
Graduate Certificate	15
Doctor’s Degree	1

What Practical Nursing Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to practical nursing and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Practical Nursing Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

Skills for Practical Nursing Majors

practical nursing majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Practical Nursing Majors

Practical Nursing majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Practical Nursing Major?

People with a practical nursing degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses	12.3%	$46,240
Nursing Assistants	11.5%	$28,540

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Practical Nursing?

This is one of the most frequently chosen healthcare majors. It is the 18th most popular in the country with 239 students graduating with a bachelor’s in practical nursing in 2021. The major attracts more women than men. About 86% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of practical nursing majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	7
Hispanic or Latino	41
White	0
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Practical Nursing. About 5.9% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Practical Nursing

Some degrees associated with practical nursing may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for practical nursing careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	2.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	21.6%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	36.6%
Some College Courses	25.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	13.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	0.8%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	0.2%

Online Practical Nursing Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	1,125	6
Certificate (2-4 Years)	59	0
Associate’s Degree	115	3
Bachelor’s Degree	2	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Practical Nursing

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to practical nursing.

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	308,114
Allied Health Professions	85,413
Health & Medical Administrative Services	85,302
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	79,189
Public Health	42,551
Health Sciences & Services	35,887
Mental & Social Health Services	31,550
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	29,934
Medicine	29,206
Dental Support Services	25,040
Communication Sciences	23,288
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	19,017
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	18,729
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services	10,516
Health/Medical Prep Programs	9,413
Other Health Professions	7,387
Dentistry	6,961
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	5,644
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	5,056
Alternative Medicine & Systems	3,431
Chiropractic	2,698
Medical Illustration & Informatics	2,689
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	2,244
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,845
Optometry	1,789
Medical Science	1,090
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	760
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	468
Alternative Medical Support Services	136
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	116

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.