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What Does a Registered Nurse (RN) Do?
Learn about the key roles and responsibilities of an RN, including patient care, care planning, patient support, documentation, and much more.
Explore the typical duties, roles, and responsibilities of an RN
Nurses play a multifaceted role in healthcare caring for patients and their families, closely collaborating with doctors, specialists, and even the general public. Because nurses have a wide range of responsibilities, they must have a blend of clinical skills, compassion, and versatility.
Here are seven key categories of what nurses do, including specific duties and the skills they need to succeed.
Patient Care
1. Provide direct patient care
Nurses are often the first healthcare professional a person sees—even before a doctor. These direct patient care duties, including assessing symptoms, taking vital signs, and administering medications—are some of the most universal, common responsibilities of a registered nurse:
- Assess and monitor vitals: Nurses record and monitor patients’ vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, oxygenation status, pain levels, and respiratory rate. They may also draw blood and other lab samples as needed and route samples to the lab for testing.
- Use medical equipment: When providing patient care, nurses use a variety of medical equipment including stethoscopes, thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and pulse oximeters. Advanced or specialized nurses may also use EKG (electrocardiogram), ultrasound, or MRI machines.
- Administer medications: Nurses often administer medications, including oral pills, injections, and intravenous (IV) drips, ensuring the correct dosage and timing while monitoring for reactions. Advanced practice nurses, such as Nurse Practitioners (NPs), play a larger role in diagnosing conditions and managing care, as well as prescribing medications.
- Provide wound care: Nurses may treat various types of wounds, including surgical incisions, ulcers, and burns by cleaning them, applying dressings, and monitoring the wounds for signs of infection.
- Assist with daily living activities: For patients who are unable to care for themselves, nurses can assist with essential tasks like bathing, dressing, eating, and mobility, all while maintaining the patient's dignity.
2. Offer patient education and advocacy
Beyond providing direct care, nurses play a vital role in educating patients—helping them understand their conditions and empowering them to actively participate in their own health. Nurses also:
- Educate patients’ families: Nurses explain illnesses, treatments, and post-discharge care instructions in a way that is easy to understand, helping patients and their families manage their health at home and prevent readmission.
- Answer questions: Healthcare and medical conditions can be confusing. That’s why nurses often field questions from patients and their families about their condition, treatment plan, and hospital procedures.
- Advocate for patient rights: In addition to educating patients, nurses also listen carefully to the patients’ needs and wishes. This helps ensure the patient’s wishes are respected, and that they receive ethical and culturally sensitive care.
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Collaborate
3. Work closely with healthcare teams
Nurses often work within a healthcare team of doctors, nurses’ aides, and other healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists or other specialists. They help ensure that all members of the team are informed and aligned with a patient's care plan. Nurses also:
- Communicate with the healthcare team: Nurses regularly report a patient's condition to doctors, other types of nurses, and other specialists who are part of the patient’s care team, providing crucial updates.
- Document patient information: Nurses carefully document every aspect of a patient's care, including medications administered, observations, and conversations, creating a comprehensive record that can be accessed by the team, ensuring continuity of care.
- Coordinate patient care: Nurses are often responsible for coordinating various aspects of a patient's care, such as scheduling tests, arranging specialist consultations, and planning for a smooth transition from the hospital to home care.
4. Work in administrative and leadership roles
Some nurses choose to move beyond the bedside to take on leadership and administrative positions within healthcare facilities. Nurse administrators may:
- Manage staff: Nurse supervisors oversee and coordinate the work of other nursing staff, creating schedules, delegating tasks, and ensuring the smooth operation of a unit or department.
- Oversee quality control: Nurse administrators help develop and implement policies and procedures that ensure compliance with healthcare regulations and standards and help improve the quality of patient care.
- Provide resource management: Nurse administrators manage budgets, allocate resources, and make decisions about staffing levels and equipment to ensure the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare services.
Public Health
5. Provide public health and community outreach
Nurses are important figures in public health, working to promote wellness and prevent disease within the community. They may:
- Administer vaccinations: In clinics and community settings, public health nurses administer vaccines to individuals of all ages, helping to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
- Conduct health screenings: Nurses organize and run health screenings in the community, checking for common health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
- Provide education: Nurses lead community health workshops and seminars on topics such as nutrition, smoking cessation, and disease management and prevention.
- Advocate for health equity. Nurses speak up for patients and communities by addressing barriers to care, promoting access to resources, and supporting policies that improve public health.
Specialize
6. Provide care in specialized settings
A nurse's workplace isn't limited to a hospital. They may work in specialized settings or departments, including:
- Labor and delivery: Labor and delivery (L&D) nurses work closely with expectant mothers throughout their pregnancy, providing education and care. During labor and childbirth, L&D nurses provide help with pain management and assist with delivering babies. After the child has been born, L&D nurses provide education and post-delivery care.
- Nursing homes: Nurses in long-term care facilities manage the chronic conditions of elderly residents, administer medications, and assist with daily living activities like bathing, dressing, and eating, to ensure a high quality of life.
- Schools and universities: School nurses are often the sole health professionals in a school, treating minor injuries, such as cuts and sprains. They may also help manage chronic conditions like asthma or diabetes, in addition to educating students on health and wellness.
- Medical spas or medispas: Nurses may offer cosmetic treatments like Botox and fillers and operate skin rejuvenation devices. Additionally, aesthetic or cosmetic nurses may help doctors with procedures and provide patient education and care plans for pre- and post-procedure support.
- Home health care: Home health nurses visit patients in their own homes to provide care, such as wound care, IV therapy, or post-surgical monitoring, allowing patients to recover in a familiar setting.
- Hospice care: Hospice nurses provide care and comfort to terminally ill patients and their families, focusing on quality of life rather than a cure. They provide palliative or comfort care and offer emotional and spiritual support to both patients and their families. Hospice nurses may care for patients in their homes or work in a care facility.
Critical Care
7. Offer critical and emergency care
Nurses must often think quickly and adapt to rapidly evolving medical situations, especially in emergencies. Critical and emergency care nurses:
- Respond to life-threatening events: Emergency room nurses quickly assess patient conditions to initiate treatment and manage complex trauma cases. These nurses may work closely with emergency medical technicians (EMT). They may use devices such as a defibrillator, which delivers an electrical shock to the heart to restore a regular heartbeat.
- Assist with emergency medical transport flights: Some patients need rapid transport—such as in a helicopter—to a specialized medical facility. Flight nurses are a part of the team on these aircraft. While in flight they assess and stabilize patients, administer medications, monitor vital signs, and coordinate care with ground-based medical teams.
- Assist in emergency procedures: While doctors typically administer advanced emergency procedures, such as intubation, critical care nurses may assist with procedures like intubation and manage ventilators. Surgical or “scrub” nurses also prepare patients for surgery and may assist doctors throughout surgical procedures.
Apply your unique skillset to a career path where you can make a true difference
From direct patient care to administrative duties and advocacy, an RN’s duties are varied, but their goal is always the same: to ensure the best possible outcomes for their patients.
Nursing is a good career choice for people who enjoy helping others in a dynamic work environment.
If you're ready to become a registered nurse and begin making a new impact, explore the many educational pathways to nursing at Herzing University today.
BLS pay estimates calculate the median annual wage for various occupations. Per the BLS the median wage for an occupation is: "The wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount, and half earned less. Median wage data are from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey." Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook 2024. BLS median wage estimates do not represent entry-level wages and/or salaries. Multiple factors, including prior experience, age, geographic market in which you want to work, and degree level and field, will affect career outcomes, including starting salary and earnings as an experienced employee. Herzing neither represents that its graduates will earn the median salaries calculated by BLS for a particular job nor guarantees that graduation from its program will result in a job, promotion, particular wage or salary, or other career growth.