Registered Nurses
In short: today's best AI models could do about 37% 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 39% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The conversations, in-person and hands-on work, about 62% of the time, stays with people.
Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required.
3,379,720 people do this job in the US. $97,550 a year.
Reviewed on September 30, 2026: what each task is made of, and what handing it over would ask.
A typical 40-hour week
- AI could take on0 h
- A person checks AI's work14 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet1 h
- Stays with people25 h
Registered Nurses, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 0 hours, 14 hours become checking its work, 1 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 25 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Manage a unit's staff, budget and plans (about 3 h, a person checks); Keep detailed reports and records (about 2 h, a person checks); Order and interpret diagnostic tests (about 1 h, a person checks).
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.
- 29%
- 9%
- 2%
- 37%
- 23%
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.
What handing it over would take, now
The 37% within reach splits by what a model would need. The dates, pace and reliability follow the controls above. Estimates.
of the working time. The material can be handed to a model and the result handed back.
of the working time. The model has to be connected to the system the work lives in.
is conversation short enough by length. This site leaves conversation with people, so it is not in the total.
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, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 25%. Today's estimate: 37%.
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 27 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.017% to 0.0025% (released February and March 2025); 0.012% to 0.012% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.017% | 468 of 708 | 4 of 27 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0025% | 639 of 703 | 1 of 27 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.012% | 438 of 655 | 2 of 27 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.016% | 422 of 672 | 4 of 27 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.012% | 467 of 677 | 4 of 27 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 27 |
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 44% 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 56%
- No robot shown 42%
- 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.
What changes for the people in this job
From the task-by-task review, by the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five. It says which parts of the work stay with people and which change, not whether anyone keeps a job: that depends on decisions no data set can see.
What stays with people
60% of the working time: the conversation, in-person and hands-on parts of the tasks.
- Assess health needs and home settings, the in-person work, 6%
- Supervise nursing staff or a unit, the in-person work, 6%
- Manage a unit's staff, budget and plans, the in-person work, 5%
- Provide care, first aid and immunizations, the hands-on work, 4%
- Give medications and watch for reactions, the hands-on work, 4%
- Monitor all aspects of patient care, the hands-on work, 4%
What becomes checking the machine
36% of the working time: desk work a model could do by then, in tasks where a mistake costs something or a licensed person signs. A person checks it.
- Manage a unit's staff, budget and plans, costly if wrong, 8%
- Keep detailed reports and records, severe if wrong, 6%
- Order and interpret diagnostic tests, a licensed person signs, 3%
- Plan community health programs with families, costly if wrong, 3%
- Modify treatment plans, a licensed person signs, 3%
- Direct infection control programs, severe if wrong, 3%
What to learn
- Judgment where errors are severe. Some tasks are severe if wrong. Knowing when not to trust an output matters more there than speed.
- Signing off under your license. Some tasks need a licensed, certified or sworn person to do or sign them. The license, and the judgment it stands for, stays with the person.
- Reviewing work you did not do yourself. The tasks under What becomes checking the machine, where a mistake costs something, stay a person's to check or sign: spotting what a draft gets wrong is a skill of its own.
- The conversations. About 38% of the time is conversation and in-person work, which this site leaves with people: listening, explaining, persuading, calming.
- Briefing a model and checking its drafts. About 29% of the time is documents and data, the part models reach first: writing a clear brief, giving the right material, and checking what comes back.
Your own version of this job: read it against your job description. The headline is free; the full personal report, every task with its timeline and what to learn, is $19 (a sample).
The tasks
Sorted by . 27 tasks from . 2 have a worked example.
| Task | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Budgets, schedules and plans on paper, and leading the staff in person.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 3.3 h50 min to 6.7 h | Documents 60%, in person 40% | 55%Desk part half by now |
| Assess the needs of individuals, families, or communities, including assessment of individuals' home or work environments, to identify potential health or safety problems.Visits and interviews in person, then the written assessment.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 1.3 h25 min to 2.5 h | In person 50%, documents 30%, hands-on 20% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.Leading staff on the unit, in person.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 3.3 h | In person 80%, documents 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Work with individuals, groups, or families to plan or implement programs designed to improve the overall health of communities.Meeting people where they live, and the planning behind it.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 2.5 h50 min to 6.7 h | In person 60%, documents 40% | 38%Desk part half by now |
| Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.Charting in the patient record system.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Systems 80%, documents 20% | 100%Half by now |
| Monitor all aspects of patient care, including diet and physical activity.Rounds on the unit: seeing each patient, with a look at the chart.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Hands-on 60%, documents 20%, in person 20% | 20%Desk part half by now |
| Direct or coordinate infection control programs, advising or consulting with specified personnel about necessary precautions.Reviewing cases and writing precautions, and advising staff on the units.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 h25 min to 5 h | Documents 50%, in person 50% | 47%Desk part half by now |
| Administer medications to patients and monitor patients for reactions or side effects.Hands-on at the bedside, with the entry in the chart.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Hands-on 70%, in person 20%, systems 10% | 10%Desk part half by now |
| Provide health care, first aid, immunizations, or assistance in convalescence or rehabilitation in locations such as schools, hospitals, or industry.Hands-on care, with talk to the patient.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 4% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Hands-on 70%, in person 30% | Stays with people |
| Observe nurses and visit patients to ensure proper nursing care.Rounds in person: watching care and talking with patients and staff.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | In person 60%, hands-on 40% | Stays with people |
| Instruct individuals, families, or other groups on topics such as health education, disease prevention, or childbirth and develop health improvement programs.Teaching people face to face, and preparing the material.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 38 min17 min to 2.5 h | In person 70%, documents 30% | 30%Desk part half by now |
| Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans.Conversation on the unit, around the chart.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 4% | 25 min13 min to 58 min | In person 60%, documents 40% | 40%Desk part 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. Made of: how the task's time splits among five kinds of doing. Only the documents and systems parts can count as within reach, so a task that is 30% documents can be at most 30% 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).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Registered Nurses is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 37% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 39% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (38% to 39% 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 Registered 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: Manage a unit's staff, budget and plans (55% of the task's time now, 60% by the end of 2028); Keep detailed reports and records (100% of the task's time now); and Order and interpret diagnostic tests (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Registered Nurses stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Provide care, first aid and immunizations; Observe nurses and visit patients; and Prepare patients and assist with treatments. Together such tasks are about 18% of the working time, and the people and body parts of the other tasks stay with people too.
- What should Registered Nurses learn as AI takes on more of the work?
- By the job's own task-by-task review, the first things to learn are judgment where errors are severe; signing off under your license; and reviewing work you did not do yourself. By the end of 2028 on the long-run pace at four in five, about 60% of the working time stays with people, 36% becomes checking a model's work and 1% could be handed over with lighter checks. It says which parts of the work change, never whether anyone keeps a job.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Registered 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 Registered Nurses?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 44% 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: Aletta (Autonomous Robotic Phlebotomy Device) for "conduct laboratory tests". 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 27 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, reviewed one task at a time on September 30, 2026 for what each is made of (documents, business systems, conversation, in person, hands-on), 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. The Work Bench has 2 worked examples of its tasks: a brief, a rubric written beforehand, one attempt by an AI model and its grade.
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