According to the Florida Center for Nursing, the number of Florida nursing jobs is steadily on the rise, growing at about 5% per year. However, Florida, like most of the country, is experiencing an extreme shortage of qualified nurses. It is expected that over 8,000 new nursing jobs in Florida will be created for each of the coming years. Most of these Florida nursing jobs will be created in hospitals and home health agencies.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN) working in Texas or California are called licensed vocational nurses (LVN). Licensed vocational nurses provide basic bedside patient care under the direction of physicians and registered nurses. Training programs last about a year, offered at community colleges, vocation schools, and technical colleges. An individual must pass the NCLEX-PN, which is a state licensing examination, required to work as a licensed vocational nurse. License vocational nurses oversee the bedside care provided by nursing assistants. Licensed vocational nurses are also known as registered practical nurse in Ontario, as enrolled nurses in Australia, and as state enrolled nurses in the United Kingdom.