Critical Care Nurses
In short: today's best AI models could do about 43% 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 the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 57% of the time, stays with people.
Provide specialized nursing care for patients in critical or coronary care units.
$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 yet0 h
- Stays with people23 h
Critical Care Nurses, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 17 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 23 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests (about 3 h); Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs (about 3 h); Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs (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.
- 43%
- 4%
- 53%
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, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 40%. Today's estimate: 43%.
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, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 29 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.078% to 0.11% (released February and March 2025); 0.023% to 0.023% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.078% | 209 of 708 | 5 of 29 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.11% | 146 of 703 | 5 of 29 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.023% | 351 of 655 | 1 of 29 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.015% | 425 of 672 | 3 of 29 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.023% | 380 of 677 | 3 of 29 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 29 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 29 |
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 48% of this job's working time as physical work. For 1% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 1% in a purpose-built cell. 0.01 of 3, the 641st highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 52%
- No robot shown 47%
- In a purpose-built cell 1%
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 . 29 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 33 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 7% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 6% | 13 min4 min to 33 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Document patients' medical histories and assessment findings.Done several times a day by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Set up and monitor medical equipment and devices such as cardiac monitors, mechanical ventilators and alarms, oxygen delivery devices, transducers, or pressure lines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Perform approved therapeutic or diagnostic procedures, based upon patients' clinical status.Done more than weekly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Administer medications intravenously, by injection, orally, through gastric tubes, or by other methods.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Advocate for patients' and families' needs, or provide emotional support for patients and their families.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min8 min to 1.3 h | 100%Half by now | |
| Collaborate with other health care professionals to develop and revise treatment plans, based on identified needs and assessment data.Done several times a day by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people |
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 Critical Care Nurses is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 43% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 44% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (43% to 44% 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 Critical Care Nurses 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: Compile and analyze data obtained from monitoring or diagnostic tests (100% of the task's time now); Prioritize nursing care for assigned critically ill patients, based on assessment data or identified needs (100% of the task's time now); and Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Critical Care Nurses stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Monitor patients for changes in status and indications of conditions such as sepsis or shock and institute appropriate interventions; Supervise and monitor unit nursing staff; and Monitor patients' fluid intake and output to detect emerging problems, such as fluid and electrolyte imbalances. Together such tasks are about 57% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Critical Care Nurses?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. 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 Critical Care Nurses?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 48% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 1% of the working time. Its index is 0.01 of 3. One example: Amazon Vulcan for "ensure that equipment or devices are properly stored after use". 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 29 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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