U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration https://www.onetonline.org 15m 3,629 #insights
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Assess, diagnose, and treat individuals and families with mental health or substance use disorders or the potential for such disorders. Apply therapeutic activities, including the prescription of medication, per state regulations, and the administration of psychotherapy.
Sample of reported job titles:
Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Advanced Practice Nurse Psychotherapist (APN Psychotherapist), Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurse, Nurse, Psychiatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse (PMH Nurse)
Tasks
Monitor patients’ medication usage and results.
Document patients’ medical and psychological histories, physical assessment results, diagnoses, treatment plans, prescriptions, or outcomes.
Diagnose psychiatric disorders and mental health conditions.
Evaluate patients’ behavior to formulate diagnoses or assess treatments.
Distinguish between physiologically- and psychologically-based disorders, and diagnose appropriately.
Assess patients’ mental and physical status, based on the presenting symptoms and complaints.
Educate patients and family members about mental health and medical conditions, preventive health measures, medications, or treatment plans.
Write prescriptions for psychotropic medications as allowed by state regulations and collaborative practice agreements.
Collaborate with interdisciplinary team members, including psychiatrists, psychologists, or nursing staff, to develop, implement, or evaluate treatment plans.
Develop and implement treatment plans.
Participate in activities aimed at professional growth and development, including conferences or continuing education activities.
Conduct individual, group, or family psychotherapy for those with chronic or acute mental disorders.
Interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests, such as electrocardiograms (EKGs) and renal functioning tests.
Consult with psychiatrists or other professionals when unusual or complex cases are encountered.
Participate in treatment team conferences regarding diagnosis or treatment of difficult cases.
Develop practice protocols for mental health problems, based on review and evaluation of published research.
Refer patients requiring more specialized or complex treatment to psychiatrists, primary care physicians, or other medical specialists.
Develop, implement, or evaluate programs such as outreach activities, community mental health programs, and crisis situation response activities.
Teach classes in mental health topics, such as stress reduction.
Administer medications, including those administered by injection.
Monitor the use and status of medical and pharmaceutical supplies.
Provide routine physical health screenings to detect or monitor problems such as heart disease and diabetes.
Treat patients for routine physical health problems.
Direct or provide home health services.
Technology Skills
Analytical or scientific software — SAS statistical software
- Data base user interface and query software — Invivo Data EPX ePRO Management System; Microsoft Access
- Medical software — AUDIT-C; Beck Anxiety Inventory; Medical condition coding software ; Zung Depression Rating Scale; 16 more
- Spreadsheet software — Microsoft Excel
Hot Technologies are requirements frequently included in employer job postings.
Work Activities
Assisting and Caring for Others — Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Documenting/Recording Information — Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Providing Consultation and Advice to Others — Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.
Analyzing Data or Information — Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates — Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others — Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others — Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards — Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
Training and Teaching Others — Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
Coaching and Developing Others — Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Working with Computers — Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
Developing Objectives and Strategies — Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
Processing Information — Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
Developing and Building Teams — Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
Communicating with People Outside the Organization — Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others — Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates — Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.
Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
Detailed Work Activities
Monitor patient progress or responses to treatments.
Record patient medical histories.
Analyze patient data to determine patient needs or treatment goals.
Diagnose medical conditions.
Evaluate patient functioning, capabilities, or health.
Explain medical procedures or test results to patients or family members.
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment.
Develop medical treatment plans.
Maintain medical or professional knowledge.
Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment.
Treat patients using psychological therapies.
Establish nursing policies or standards.
Refer patients to other healthcare practitioners or health resources.
Examine patients to assess general physical condition.
Administer basic health care or medical treatments.
Design public or employee health programs.
Teach health management classes.
Administer intravenous medications.
Maintain inventory of medical supplies or equipment.
Work Context
Face-to-Face Discussions — 97% responded “Every day.”
Telephone — 86% responded “Every day.”
Electronic Mail — 90% responded “Every day.”
Freedom to Make Decisions — 76% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Contact With Others — 66% responded “Constant contact with others.”
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 76% responded “Every day.”
Structured versus Unstructured Work — 55% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Frequency of Decision Making — 57% responded “Every day.”
Duration of Typical Work Week — 69% responded “More than 40 hours.”
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 50% responded “Extremely important.”
Work With Work Group or Team — 48% responded “Extremely important.”
Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results — 52% responded “Very important results.”
Exposed to Disease or Infections — 56% responded “Every day.”
Consequence of Error — 66% responded “Extremely serious.”
Physical Proximity — 41% responded “Very close (near touching).”
Time Pressure — 41% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People — 52% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Coordinate or Lead Others — 52% responded “Very important.”
Letters and Memos — 41% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Spend Time Sitting — 48% responded “More than half the time.”
Deal With External Customers — 45% responded “Extremely important.”
Frequency of Conflict Situations — 31% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Deal With Physically Aggressive People — 45% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Responsible for Others’ Health and Safety — 31% responded “High responsibility.”
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 28% responded “Very important.”
Job Zone
- Title
- Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master’s degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
- Related Experience
- Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
- Job Training
- Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
- Job Zone Examples
- These occupations often involve coordinating, training, supervising, or managing the activities of others to accomplish goals. Very advanced communication and organizational skills are required. Examples include pharmacists, lawyers, astronomers, biologists, clergy, neurologists, and veterinarians.
- SVP Range
- Over 4 years of preparation (8.0 and above)
Training & Credentials
- State training
- Local training
- Certifications
- State licenses
- Apprenticeships
- Have a career path or location in mind? Visit Apprenticeship.gov
to find apprenticeship opportunities near you.
Skills
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.
Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Active Learning — Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Judgment and Decision Making — Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Service Orientation — Actively looking for ways to help people.
Writing — Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Complex Problem Solving — Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Instructing — Teaching others how to do something.
Learning Strategies — Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Coordination — Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
Negotiation — Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Time Management — Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Systems Analysis — Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Systems Evaluation — Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Knowledge
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.
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.
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.
Education and Training — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
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.
Sociology and Anthropology — Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Biology — Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Law and Government — Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Philosophy and Theology — Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Administration and Management — Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Public Safety and Security — Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Computers and Electronics — Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Education
How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:
Abilities
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 that there is a problem.
Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Inductive Reasoning — The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Written Comprehension — The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Selective Attention — The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Interests
Social — Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Investigative — Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Work Values
Relationships — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Working Conditions — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
Support — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Work Styles
Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others’ needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Self-Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Independence — Job requires developing one’s own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Analytical Thinking — Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Social Orientation — Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Leadership — Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
Innovation — Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Wages & Employment Trends
Median wage data for Registered Nurses.
Employment data for Registered Nurses.
Industry data for Registered Nurses.
- Median wages (2020)
- $36.22 hourly, $75,330 annual
- State wages
- Local wages
- Employment (2020)
- 3,080,100 employees
- Projected growth (2020-2030)
Average (5% to 10%)- Projected job openings (2020-2030)
- 194,500
- State trends
- Top industries (2020)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2020 wage data
and 2020-2030 employment projections.
“Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2020-2030). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.
Job Openings on the Web
- State job openings
- Local job openings
Sources of Additional Information
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.
Actively assisted with the O*NET data collection, helping to identify occupational experts who can be surveyed about their work in the occupation.
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