NOC 32101: Licensed practical nurses

Licensed practical nurses provide nursing care usually under the direction of medical practitioners, registered nurses or other health team members. Operating room technicians prepare patients and provide assistance to medical practitioners prior to and during surgery. Licensed practical nurses are employed in hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, rehabilitation centres, doctors' offices, clinics, companies, private homes and community health centres. Operating room technicians are employed in hospitals.

Express Entry eligibility

• Skilled work (TEER 0 to 3): yes, TEER 2.
• Canadian Experience Class: counts as skilled Canadian work (1 year in the last 3 years).
• Federal Skilled Worker Program: counts as skilled work (1 year of continuous work in the last 10 years).
• Federal Skilled Trades Program: not one of the eligible trades.
• High-wage occupation (from November 3, 2026): no. No high-wage add-on, and a job offer in it earns no CRS points.

TEER 2: Occupations that usually need a college diploma, an apprenticeship of 2 or more years, or supervisory duties. Every program has other requirements too, such as language test results and, for FSW, a points test.

Category-based draws

• Healthcare and social services

  At least 12 months of full-time work (or the same amount part-time) in this occupation within the last 3 years, in Canada or abroad.

Category lists checked on canada.ca on 2026-10-17. IRCC category-based selection

CRS points for work in NOC 32101

Skilled Canadian work in this occupation earns the standard points, the same before and after November 3, 2026, with no high-wage add-on:

See Canadian work points and the median-wage rule.

Main duties

This group performs some or all of the following duties:

• Licensed practical nurses
• Provide nursing services, within defined scope of practice, to patients based on patient assessment and care planning procedures
• Perform nursing interventions such as taking vital signs, applying aseptic techniques including sterile dressing, ensuring infection control, monitoring nutritional intake and conducting specimen collection
• Administer medication and observe and document therapeutic effects
• Provide pre-operative and post-operative personal and comfort care
• Monitor established respiratory therapy and intravenous therapy
• Monitor patients' progress, evaluate and document effectiveness of nursing interventions and collaborate with appropriate members of health care team
• Provide safety and health education to individuals and their families.
• Operating room technicians
• Prepare patients for surgery by washing, shaving and sterilizing the patients' operative areas
• Assist in surgery by laying out instruments, setting up equipment, assisting surgical teams with gowns and gloves and passing instruments to surgeons
• Monitor patients' status during surgery, such as intake, output and loss of blood, and communicate and document any changes
• Clean and sterilize the operating room and instruments.

For Express Entry your duties must match the lead statement and most of the main duties above.

Example job titles

• graduate nursing assistant
• licensed practical nurse (L.P.N.)
• operating room technician
• registered nursing assistant (R.N.A.)

Employment requirements

• Completion of a vocational, college or other approved program for licensed practical nurses is required.
• Registration with a regulatory body is required in all provinces and territories.
• Completion of a registration examination is required in all provinces and territories.
• Operating room technicians require additional academic training in operating room techniques.

Similar jobs with a different code

• 44101Home support workers, caregivers and related occupations
• 33102Nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates