Health care · Ohio
Licensed practical nurse: what the job actually is
Giving hands-on nursing care, medicines and treatments under the direction of RNs and doctors, most often in nursing homes, clinics and home care.
By Nick Gonzalez, founder, U.S. Air Force veteranChecked against official Ohio sources Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
The work
What this job actually is
- Hands-on nursing: medicines, wound care, vital signs, feeding tubes, catheters and a lot of helping people move safely.
- Working inside a team led by RNs and doctors. You collect information and report changes; you are not the one who sets the plan.
- Very often, a nursing home or rehab center, where one LPN may pass medicines to a whole hallway of residents.
- Paperwork and charting at every turn, because state inspectors and insurers read it.
- A faster door into nursing than an RN degree, and a common first step toward one.
A Tuesday
What a normal day looks like
Not a good day or a bad one. The ordinary version, which is what you would actually be living.
- 6:00 a.m.: Report from the night nurse on your hall of residents.
- 7:00: Morning medicine pass. Dozens of residents, each with a list, each with their own way of taking pills.
- 9:30: Wound care and a blood sugar check. A resident seems more confused than yesterday; you tell the RN supervisor.
- 11:00: A family member stops you in the hall with questions about their mom.
- 12:00: Lunch medicines, then help the aides with a resident who fell, and fill out the incident report.
- 2:00 p.m.: Charting, a call to the pharmacy about a missing medicine, and report to the next shift.
Honestly
Who loves this, and who should not do it
- You want to be a nurse sooner, and you are willing to keep going to school later.
- You like routine, practical tasks done well.
- You get along with older people and enjoy knowing residents over months, not hours.
- You want to run the show. LPNs work under RNs and doctors.
- A heavy patient load and a ticking clock stress you out.
- You do not want to work weekends and holidays; long-term care runs every day.
The route in
How you actually get there in Ohio
Complete a Board-approved practical nursing program
Ohio law requires LPN applicants to finish a nursing education program approved by the Ohio Board of Nursing. Check the Board's approval list and the program's NCLEX pass rate before you sign up.Apply on Ohio eLicense and do the background check
The Board's process is the same one RN students use: apply for licensure by examination no more than 60 days before graduation, and complete a BCI and FBI criminal records check with the Board as the direct copy receiver.Pass the NCLEX-PN
Once the Board makes you exam-eligible, Pearson VUE sends your Authorization to Test and you schedule the exam. Pass it and you are licensed.Consider the bridge to RN
The Board's approved RN list includes LPN-to-RN programs, some run by Ohio career-technical centers, so working as an LPN while you finish an RN credential is a real, common path.
While you are still in high school
- Ask your career center about its health science program. Ohio's Health Science career field lists licensed practical nurse among the jobs it prepares students for.
- Get your nurse aide certification. It is on Ohio's list of industry-recognized credentials for graduation and puts you in the same buildings LPNs work in.
- Use College Credit Plus for general college courses so a later RN degree goes faster.
Where this comes from: Ohio Revised Code 4723.09: RN and LPN licensure by examination · Ohio Board of Nursing: RN/LPN licensure exam process for nursing students (brochure) · Ohio Board of Nursing: approved registered nursing education programs (PDF) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce: Health Science career field (career-tech) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce: industry-recognized credentials, Health career field · Ohio Department of Higher Education: College Credit Plus FAQs (costs, course rules) · Ohio Revised Code 3365.03, College Credit Plus eligibility. Rules change, so check the official page before you rely on a detail.
The money
What it pays in Ohio
Last on purpose. Pay matters, but it is a bad reason to pick a job you would dislike for thirty years.
- $61,950
- Median pay in Ohio, a year
- $29.78
- Median pay in Ohio, an hour
- 39,900
- People doing this job in Ohio
- $62,070
- Median pay in the Akron area, a year
Most people in Ohio earn between $50,030 (the lowest-paid tenth, usually new starters) and $74,120 (the highest-paid tenth) a year.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: Ohio and Akron, OH metro area. Median means half earn more and half earn less.
Try it this week
Spend a morning where LPNs work
Call a nursing home near you and ask about volunteering or a visit with the activities staff.
Watch the medicine cart if you can: how long it takes, how often the nurse is interrupted.
Talk to one resident for twenty minutes and ask what a good nurse does for them.
Write down whether you would want to come back next week.
Questions to ask somebody who does it
- What does a medicine pass look like on your hall, start to finish?
- How many residents or patients are you responsible for?
- What can an RN do that you cannot, and does it matter day to day?
- Are you planning to bridge to RN? Does your employer help pay for it?
Can you own one?
Not really: this job is almost always done for an employer.
Questions
Quick answers
- How much does a licensed practical nurse make in Ohio?
- The median pay for a licensed practical nurse in Ohio is $61,950 a year ($29.78 an hour), according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for May 2025. Most people earn between $50,030 and $74,120.
- How do you become a licensed practical nurse in Ohio?
- Complete a Board-approved practical nursing program. Apply on Ohio eLicense and do the background check. Pass the NCLEX-PN. Consider the bridge to RN.
Close cousins
Jobs like this one
- Registered nurseWatching patients closely, giving their care and medicines, and catching the thing that is going wrong before it turns into an emergency, usually on twelve-hour shifts.$82,510 a year
- Nursing assistant (STNA)Helping people with the basic care they cannot manage alone (bathing, dressing, eating, moving, toileting), mostly in nursing homes, under the supervision of nurses.$39,010 a year
- Medical assistantKeeping a doctor's office running: rooming patients, taking vital signs, giving some shots and doing basic tests, plus a lot of front-desk and computer work.$42,810 a year
Still deciding?
Start with you, then look at the work
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