Clinical Nurse Specialists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 42% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 74% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 26% of the time, stays with people.
Direct nursing staff in the provision of patient care in a clinical practice setting, such as a hospital, hospice, clinic, or home. Ensure adherence to established clinical policies, protocols, regulations, and standards.
$97,550 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on17 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet13 h
- Stays with people10 h
Clinical Nurse Specialists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 17 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 13 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 10 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Develop and maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or patient care standards, based on evidence-based practice guidelines or expert opinion (about 3 h); Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems (about 2 h); Maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or infection control standards (about 2 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 74%
- 17%
- 9%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 11%. Today's estimate: 42%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.042% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 238th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 4 of its 30 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.12% to 0.068% (released February and March 2025); 0.052% to 0.063% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.034% to 0.042% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.12% | 151 of 708 | 9 of 30 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.068% | 218 of 703 | 6 of 30 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.052% | 239 of 655 | 7 of 30 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.083% | 173 of 672 | 9 of 30 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.063% | 221 of 677 | 7 of 30 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.034% | 254 of 434 | 3 of 30 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.042% | 238 of 447 | 4 of 30 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 14% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 86%
- No robot shown 14%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 10% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Develop and maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or patient care standards, based on evidence-based practice guidelines or expert opinion.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 1 work day3.3 h to 3.1 work days | 61%Half by now | |
| Develop, implement, or evaluate standards of nursing practice in specialty area, such as pediatrics, acute care, and geriatrics.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | 31%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Lead nursing department implementation of, or compliance with, regulatory or accreditation processes.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 10% | 2.1 work days3.3 h to 1.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Design evaluation programs regarding the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 10% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.3 work weeks | 20%Half by May 2027 | |
| Design patient education programs that include information required to make informed health care and treatment decisions.Done more than monthly by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 1 work day2.5 h to 3.1 work days | 52%Half by now | |
| Develop nursing service philosophies, goals, policies, priorities, or procedures.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | 44%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or infection control standards.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | 96%Half by now | |
| Instruct nursing staff in areas such as the assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation of disability, illness, management, technology, or resources.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 1.7 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide specialized direct and indirect care to inpatients and outpatients within a designated specialty, such as obstetrics, neurology, oncology, or neonatal care.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide direct care by performing comprehensive health assessments, developing differential diagnoses, conducting specialized tests, or prescribing medications or treatments.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Participate in clinical research projects, such as by reviewing protocols, reviewing patient records, monitoring compliance, and meeting with regulatory authorities.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 5 h1.7 h to 2.1 work days | 73%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Clinical Nurse Specialists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 42% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 74% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (70% to 74% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Clinical Nurse Specialists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Develop and maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or patient care standards, based on evidence-based practice guidelines or expert opinion (61% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing practice or organizational systems (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Maintain departmental policies, procedures, objectives, or infection control standards (96% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Clinical Nurse Specialists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Lead nursing department implementation of, or compliance with, regulatory or accreditation processes; Instruct nursing staff in areas such as the assessment, development, implementation, and evaluation of disability, illness, management, technology, or resources; and Provide specialized direct and indirect care to inpatients and outpatients within a designated specialty, such as obstetrics, neurology, oncology, or neonatal care. Together such tasks are about 26% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Clinical Nurse Specialists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.042% went to this job's tasks, the 238th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 4 of its 30 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 6%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Clinical Nurse Specialists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 14% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 30 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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