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Acute Care Nurses

Occupation · SOC 29-1141.01

Provide advanced nursing care for patients with acute conditions such as heart attacks, respiratory distress syndrome, or shock. May care for pre- and post-operative patients or perform advanced, invasive diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

Also called: Cardiovascular ICU Nurse (Cardiovascular Intense Care Unit Nurse) · Cardiovascular Surgery Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (Cardiovascular Surgery ACNP) · Charge Nurse · Staff Nurse · Acute Care Nurse · Cardiac Interventional Care Nurse · DSU Nurse (Day Surgery Unit Nurse) · MSN (Medical Surgical Nurse) · PCU RN (Progressive Care Unit Registered Nurse) · Vascular Access Registered Nurse (Vascular Access RN) · Admission Nurse · Admission Nurse Coordinator

Job family: Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

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Download .md

A source-stamped Markdown brief of this occupation — paste it into an agent, or fetch /roles/role-29-1141-01/context.md directly.

AI work map

A fast read on where AI already shows up in this occupation, where it stays a copilot, where humans remain in the loop, and what the labor market is doing. Built from observed Claude.ai conversations mapped to O*NET tasks and from published research — measures of usage and exposure, not advice or predictions that the job is going away.

Use as a copilot

Task areas where people work with AI — iterating, learning, or checking — staying in the loop rather than handing the task off.

  • Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. · 0.8%
  • Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members. · 0.6%
  • Provide formal and informal education to other staff members. · 0.5%
See collaboration patterns →

Keep a human in the loop

Task areas where a human was still judged necessary in a large share of observed conversations — not a safety ruling, an observed-need signal.

  • Treat wounds or superficial lacerations. · 97.1% need a human
  • Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. · 95.0% need a human
  • Provide formal and informal education to other staff members. · 91.5% need a human
See the boundary tasks →

46th-percentile task overlap — yet about 189,100 openings a year (+4.9% projected, BLS), and observed AI use leans 6919% copilot, not hand-off (AEI) . What exposure means →

AI & job outlook

What today's research says about this occupation's exposure to AI, how AI is actually being used in it, and where employment is headed. These are positions within published studies — measures of exposure and usage, not predictions that this job will disappear.

Exposure to current AI

Each study uses its own scale, so the raw scores are not comparable across rows — the percentile (this job's rank among all U.S. occupations with data) is the comparable figure, and sizes the bars.

Measure Rank vs all occupations Percentile Score
Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.) Moderate 55th 0.2
LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou) Moderate 48th 0.6
AI assistant applicability (Microsoft) Moderate 39th 0.1

OpenAI's exposure study scores tasks three ways: with a language model alone (α 0.0), with simple added tooling (β 0.3), and including AI-powered software (γ 0.6). Higher means more of the job's tasks could be done at least twice as fast — not that they will be automated away.

This job mostly cannot be done remotely (Dingel–Neiman) — its hands-on tasks sit outside what software-based AI reaches.

How AI is actually used in this job

Among measured AI assistant conversations mapped to this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15), these task types came up most. These are shares of observed AI conversations — not shares of the job, of worker time, or of what could be automated.

Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members. 2.4%
Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions. 1.1%
Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. 0.3%
Treat wounds or superficial lacerations. 0.2%

Job outlook

Independent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment projection for 2024–2034 — a labor-market forecast, not an AI-impact forecast.

Outlook About average · +4.9% by 2034
Projected annual openings 189,100
Employment 2024 → 2034 3,391,000 → 3,557,100

“Annual openings” counts new jobs plus replacements for workers who leave the occupation, so it can be large even when growth is modest.

Where this work sits on the global GenAI gradient

The ILO's 2025 global study scores generative-AI exposure on the international ISCO-08 occupation system, not US SOC. Bridged through the published (and approximate, many-to-many) IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 crosswalk, this US occupation corresponds to the international occupation below. Exposure here means how much of the work's tasks today's AI can attempt — task overlap, not automation, adoption, or jobs lost.

25% mean task exposure (2025)
47th percentile of 427 placed occupations
+0 pts shift 2023 → 2025
International occupation (ISCO-08) Task exposure (2025) Most tasks fall in
Nursing Professionals · 2221 25% Not exposed

Read the whole six-band gradient on the GenAI exposure gradient page. The crosswalk is approximate: a US occupation can map to several international ones, and the ILO scores describe the international occupation, not this exact US role.

Working with AI in this job

How people actually apply AI to this occupation's tasks, from Claude.ai (Free and Pro) conversations in the Anthropic Economic Index, 2026-01-15. This is one AI assistant's consumer sample — not all AI, not the whole workforce. Autonomy and the collaboration mix are model-rated estimates; figures below the sample floor are hidden.

Augmentation vs. automation 69.2% working with AI · 10.3% handed to AI
Most common way people use AI here Learning · you ask AI to explain or teach
Typical AI autonomy 4.0 / 5 · higher = AI acts more independently
Used for work (vs. personal / coursework) 13.4%

What people delegate to AI

The role's most common tasks in AI conversations, each tagged with how people work with the AI on it. “Usage” is the share of observed conversations, not of the job.

Task How Usage
Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. Learning 0.8%
Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members. Learning 0.6%
Provide formal and informal education to other staff members. Learning 0.5%
Treat wounds or superficial lacerations. Learning 0.3%

Where a human is still needed

Tasks where the model most often judged that a person remained necessary — a useful read on the current boundary, not a guarantee.

Treat wounds or superficial lacerations. 97.1%
Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. 95.0%
Provide formal and informal education to other staff members. 91.5%
Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members. 88.9%

What people most often hand AI here

Example prompts phrased from the tasks people most often delegate to AI in this occupation (Anthropic Economic Index). Each shows the underlying measured task and its share of observed AI use. They are suggested phrasings of real tasks — starting points, not endorsed instructions.

  • Help me assist patients in organizing their health care system activities.

    From: Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities. · 0.8% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.

    From: Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members. · 0.6% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me provide formal and informal education to other staff members.

    From: Provide formal and informal education to other staff members. · 0.5% of measured AI use · learning

  • Help me treat wounds or superficial lacerations.

    From: Treat wounds or superficial lacerations. · 0.3% of measured AI use · learning

Tasks

All 27 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation, ordered by importance. Each links to its own page with AI-exposure and observed-use detail.

Work activities

Knowledge, skills & abilities

O*NET importance rating, from 1 (not important) to 5 (extremely important).

Knowledge

Medicine and Dentistry 4.8
Customer and Personal Service 4.3
Education and Training 4.3
English Language 4.0
Psychology 3.8
Therapy and Counseling 3.6
Administration and Management 3.5
Public Safety and Security 3.4
Biology 3.4

Abilities

Oral Comprehension 4.3
Written Comprehension 4.3
Oral Expression 4.3
Problem Sensitivity 4.3
Deductive Reasoning 4.1
Inductive Reasoning 4.1
Written Expression 4.0
Information Ordering 4.0
Near Vision 4.0
Speech Recognition 4.0
Speech Clarity 4.0
Category Flexibility 3.3
Flexibility of Closure 3.3
Selective Attention 3.3

Essential skills

Reading Comprehension 4.1
Speaking 4.1
Critical Thinking 4.1
Active Listening 4.0
Writing 4.0
Active Learning 4.0
Monitoring 4.0
Learning Strategies 3.4

Transferable skills

Service Orientation 4.1
Social Perceptiveness 4.0
Coordination 4.0
Complex Problem Solving 4.0
Judgment and Decision Making 4.0
Instructing 3.5
Time Management 3.5
Persuasion 3.1
Systems Evaluation 3.1

Skills in demand

Skills employers ask for in job postings for this occupation (Lightcast), with whether each is a common or specialized skill.

Tools & technology

Example Category
eClinicalWorks EHR software Medical software Hot technology
Microsoft Access Data base user interface and query software Hot technology
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet software Hot technology
Microsoft Office software Office suite software Hot technology
Microsoft Outlook Electronic mail software Hot technology
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation software Hot technology
Microsoft Teams Project management software Hot technology
Microsoft Word Word processing software Hot technology
SAP software Enterprise resource planning ERP software Hot technology
Allscripts Professional EHR Medical software
Amkai AmkaiCharts Medical software
Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR Medical software
Cerner Millennium Medical software
ChartWare EMR Medical software
e-MDs software Medical software
GE Healthcare Centricity EMR Medical software
IBM Lotus Notes Electronic mail software
Medscribbler Enterprise Medical software
MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR Medical software
NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR Medical software
SOAPware EMR Medical software
StatCom Patient Flow Logistics Enterprise Suite Medical software
SynaMed EMR Medical software
Texas Medical Software SpringCharts EMR Medical software

Work context

How characteristic each condition is of the job, on O*NET's 1–5 context scale (higher = more present in day-to-day work). Each condition links to how it varies across all occupations.

Exposed to Disease or Infections 5.0
Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams 5.0
Telephone Conversations 4.9
Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team 4.8
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets 4.8
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate 4.7
Contact With Others 4.7
Physical Proximity 4.7
Time Pressure 4.5
Consequence of Error 4.5
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled 4.5
Dealing With Unpleasant, Angry, or Discourteous People 4.5
Exposed to Sounds, Noise Levels that are Distracting or Uncomfortable 4.4
Coordinate or Lead Others in Accomplishing Work Activities 4.3
Frequency of Decision Making 4.2
Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals 4.2
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results 4.1
Health and Safety of Other Workers 4.0
Conflict Situations 4.0
Spend Time Standing 4.0
Freedom to Make Decisions 4.0
Spend Time Walking or Running 3.9
E-Mail 3.9
Deal With External Customers or the Public in General 3.7
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks 3.6
Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers 3.5
Dealing with Violent or Physically Aggressive People 3.5
Spend Time Bending or Twisting Your Body 3.4
Wear Specialized Protective or Safety Equipment such as Breathing Apparatus, Safety Harness, Full Protection Suits, or Radiation Protection 3.4
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls 3.4
Exposed to Cramped Work Space, Awkward Positions 3.3
Exposed to Contaminants 3.2
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions 3.1
Exposed to Hazardous Conditions 3.0
Level of Competition 2.9
Written Letters and Memos 2.6
Exposed to Radiation 2.5
Public Speaking 2.5
Spend Time Keeping or Regaining Balance 2.4
Spend Time Sitting 2.3

How to get in

Job zone
Zone 4 — Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Typical entry-level education
Bachelor's degree · BLS, the typical path — not a requirement
Related experience
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Preparation level
SVP (7.0 to < 8.0) — total schooling plus on-the-job experience.

What to study: Health Professions and Related Programs . Fields of study crosswalked to this occupation (NCES CIP–SOC), not a requirement.

Education of current workers

Share of people in this occupation at each level of education.

Bachelor's Degree 57.1%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) 19.1%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate 9.5%
Master's Degree 4.8%
Post-Master's Certificate 4.8%
Doctoral Degree 4.8%

Interests & work styles

The interests and personal qualities O*NET associates with people who do this work.

Work styles

Attention to Detail 10.0
Integrity 9.0
Cautiousness 8.0
Cooperation 7.0
Self-Control 6.0
Stress Tolerance 5.0
Empathy 4.0

Interest areas

Health Care Service 6.7
Social Service 5.0
Medical Science 4.7
Life Science 3.8
Personal Service 3.4

Career interests (Holland / RIASEC)

Social 5.8
Investigative 5.7
Realistic 3.7
Conventional 3.3

Wages & employment

U.S. · annual wages (BLS OEWS)

$66k10th$79k25th$94kMedian$108k75th$135k90th
Annual wages by percentile — U.S. (BLS OEWS). The light band spans the 10th–90th percentile; the darker band is the middle half (25th–75th); the line is the median.
3.39M20243.56M2034 (proj.)+4.9% · About average
Projected U.S. employment, 2024–2034 (BLS Employment Projections). A labor-market forecast for the occupation, not an AI-impact forecast.
10th percentile $66,030
25th percentile $78,610
Median (50th) $93,600
75th percentile $107,960
90th percentile $135,320
People employed 3,282,010

Wages and employment are reported by BLS for the broader occupation group this specialty belongs to (SOC 29-1141), not for the specialty alone.

Industries that employ this occupation

Where these workers are employed, by number of jobs (national, BLS OEWS). Pay shown is the occupation's national median, not industry-specific.

Industry Workers National median pay
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 2,790,380 $93,170
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 134,180 $95,870
Temporary Help Services · National industry 105,740 $96,220
Educational Services · Sector 89,070 $74,360
Finance and Insurance · Sector 48,100 $89,650
Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers · National industry 34,380 $91,370
Management of Companies and Enterprises · Sector 21,530 $95,070
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities · National industry 17,710 $79,700
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services · Sector 14,310 $96,360
Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers · National industry 13,130 $78,030
Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities · National industry 12,230 $81,940
Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability Facilities · National industry 7,670 $77,780

Where this work is most concentrated

Industries where this occupation is far more common than in the economy as a whole. The location quotient is how many times more concentrated it is here (a value of 5 means five times its economy-wide share).

Industry Concentration Workers
Health Care and Social Assistance · Sector 5.67× 2,790,380
Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers · National industry 3.6× 34,380
Residential Mental Health and Substance Abuse Facilities · National industry 2.22× 12,230
Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers · National industry 1.99× 13,130
Temporary Help Services · National industry 1.87× 105,740
Ambulance Services · National industry 1.23× 4,310
Residential Intellectual and Developmental Disability Facilities · National industry 0.93× 7,670
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services · Sector 0.7× 134,180

Part of the Healthcare & Human Services career cluster.

Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay Acute Care Nurses sits at the 46th percentile of AI task-overlap and the 79th percentile of median pay, placed here against 11 adjacent occupations on the same two axes. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Acute Care Nurses Nursing Assistants Paramedics Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses Respiratory Therapists Nurse Midwives AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
AI task-overlap percentile (horizontal) vs. median-pay percentile (vertical), across all scored occupations. This occupation is highlighted; related occupations are plotted alongside it. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation.

Side-by-side comparisons place two occupations’ pay, preparation, skills, and AI exposure on the same page — same data, same scale, no forecast.

What you can do with this

Options the data surfaces for Acute Care Nurses — not advice or a forecast. Each is a real cross-link you can follow into the evidence.

Skills that travel

Capabilities this work builds that are used across many other occupations.

Paths in

How people typically prepare for this work.

Zoom out

On the global GenAI exposure gradient this work sits around the 47th percentile of 427 international occupations.

Write a report on thisheadline · factoids · citation

Acute Care Nurses show 46th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 189,100 annual U.S. openings

  • Acute Care Nurses rank in the 46th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated.Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE
  • The occupation is projected to see about 189,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • BLS projects employment to be about average (+4.9%) from 2024 to 2034.BLS Employment Projections 2024–34
  • Median annual pay is $93,600, across about 3,282,010 U.S. workers.BLS OEWS (May 2024)
  • Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 69% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census.2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2
Copy the whole kit
Acute Care Nurses show 46th-percentile AI task overlap — and about 189,100 annual U.S. openings

• Acute Care Nurses rank in the 46th percentile (Moderate band) for AI task overlap across U.S. occupations — a measure of how much of the work today's AI can attempt, not how much is automated. (Eloundou et al. (GPTs are GPTs) + Felten AIOE)
• The occupation is projected to see about 189,100 U.S. job openings per year (2024–34), counting growth and replacement — a labor-demand projection made independently of AI. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• BLS projects employment to be about average (+4.9%) from 2024 to 2034. (BLS Employment Projections 2024–34)
• Median annual pay is $93,600, across about 3,282,010 U.S. workers. (BLS OEWS (May 2024))
• Of the AI use actually observed for this work, 69% looks like augmentation (drafting, iterating, checking) rather than hands-off automation — from a Claude.ai usage sample, not a census. (2026-01-15-v4-plus-2025-03-27-v2)

Source: Singulariki — "Acute Care Nurses". https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1141-01
Note: AI task overlap measures what today's AI can attempt, not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

AssetsShare imageMethodology & sourcesPress & newsroomThe newsroom

Every line is built only from figures this page already shows and cites. AI task overlap means what today's AI can attempt — not automation, job loss, or a forecast.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Acute Care Nurses." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1141-01

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Acute Care Nurses. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1141-01

BibTeX
@misc{singulariki-role-29-1141-01,
  title  = {Acute Care Nurses},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/roles/role-29-1141-01}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.

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