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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Acute Care Nurses?
Task-level automation exposure for Acute Care Nurses: 27 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
41%
weighted task index
27 of 27 tasks scored
Median Salary
$97,550 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Very High
3,379,720 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.6%
employment change
180,800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 53 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$39,880 – $140,270
Highest medians
California $140,270
Hawaii $136,320
Oregon $129,010
Washington $124,200
Alaska $109,480
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $39,880
Alabama $77,080
Mississippi $77,090
South Dakota $78,060
Iowa $78,630
State figures come from the 29-1141 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 41%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 11%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 59%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 9%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 75/100
High
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
27 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 15%
4 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 52%
14 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 33%
9 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#18307 · Core · 42% automatable
Discuss illnesses and treatments with patients and family members.
interpersonal — Medical communication needs empathy and clinical accountability
Communicate detailed medical information to patients or family members.
#18298 · Core · 42% automatable
Diagnose acute or chronic conditions that could result in rapid physiological deterioration or life-threatening instability.
decision support — AI suggests differentials; clinician examines and owns diagnosis
Diagnose medical conditions.
#18302 · Core · 18% automatable
Perform emergency medical procedures, such as basic cardiac life support (BLS), advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and other condition-stabilizing interventions.
physical manipulation — Hands-on emergency resuscitation and physical intervention
Treat medical emergencies.
#18303 · Core · 55% automatable
Assess urgent and emergent health conditions, using both physiologically and technologically derived data.
decision support — Treatment goals need clinical accountability and context
Analyze patient data to determine patient needs or treatment goals.
#18310 · Core · 18% automatable
Set up, operate, or monitor invasive equipment and devices, such as colostomy or tracheotomy equipment, mechanical ventilators, catheters, gastrointestinal tubes, and central lines.
physical manipulation — Diagnostic instruments applied to patients by hand
Prepare medical supplies or equipment for use. Operate diagnostic or therapeutic medical instruments or equipment.
#18308 · Core · 62% automatable
Document data related to patients' care, including assessment results, interventions, medications, patient responses, or treatment changes.
interpersonal — Patient history requires live elicitation and judgment
Record patient medical histories.
#18316 · Core · 16% automatable
Administer blood and blood product transfusions or intravenous infusions, monitoring patients for adverse reactions.
decision support — In-procedure patient monitoring is hands-on clinical work
Monitor patient conditions during treatments, procedures, or activities. Administer blood or other fluids intravenously.
#18301 · Core · 58% automatable
Interpret information obtained from electrocardiograms (EKGs) or radiographs (x-rays).
visual inspection — Image interpretation assists; radiologist owns diagnosis
Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment.
#18323 · Core · 70% automatable
Perform administrative duties that facilitate admission, transfer, or discharge of patients.
text generation — Healthcare forms processed digitally; human verifies edge cases
Process healthcare paperwork.
#18311 · Core · 5% automatable
Obtain specimens or samples for laboratory work.
physical manipulation — Invasive specimen collection needs hands-on clinical skill
Collect biological specimens from patients.
#18300 · Core · 17% automatable
Manage patients' pain relief and sedation by providing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions, monitoring patients' responses, and changing care plans accordingly.
decision support — Post-surgical monitoring is hands-on clinical observation
Monitor patients following surgeries or other treatments. Administer anesthetics or sedatives to control pain.
#18306 · Core · 40% automatable
Collaborate with members of multidisciplinary health care teams to plan, manage, or assess patient treatments.
interpersonal — Treatment planning collaboration is accountable clinical work
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment.
#18318 · Core · 50% automatable
Assess the needs of patients' family members or caregivers.
decision support — Requires direct observation of patient environments
Assess patient work, living, or social environments.
#18313 · Core · 40% automatable
Participate in patients' care meetings and conferences.
interpersonal — Treatment planning collaboration is accountable clinical work
Collaborate with healthcare professionals to plan or provide treatment.
#18309 · Core · 12% automatable
Treat wounds or superficial lacerations.
physical manipulation — Hands-on treatment of acute conditions
Treat acute illnesses, infections, or injuries.
#18321 · Core · 75% automatable
Read current literature, talk with colleagues, and participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in acute care.
information retrieval — AI summarizes medical updates; human retains judgment
Maintain medical or professional knowledge.
#18324 · Core · 30% automatable
Provide formal and informal education to other staff members.
interpersonal — Provider training is clinical, hands-on, accountable
Train medical providers.
#18319 · Core · 42% automatable
Collaborate with patients to plan for future health care needs or to coordinate transitions and referrals.
interpersonal — Medical communication needs empathy and clinical accountability
Communicate detailed medical information to patients or family members.
#18297 · Core · 55% automatable
Analyze the indications, contraindications, risk complications, and cost-benefit tradeoffs of therapeutic interventions.
decision support — Treatment guidance aided; clinical accountability human
Evaluate treatment options to guide medical decisions.
#18299 · Core · 42% automatable
Distinguish between normal and abnormal developmental and age-related physiological and behavioral changes in acute, critical, and chronic illness.
decision support — AI suggests differentials; clinician examines and owns diagnosis
Diagnose medical conditions.
#18305 · Core · 45% automatable
Assess the impact of illnesses or injuries on patients' health, function, growth, development, nutrition, sleep, rest, quality of life, or family, social and educational relationships.
decision support — Functional assessment aided by data, exam human
Evaluate patient functioning, capabilities, or health.
#18322 · Core · 55% automatable
Participate in the development of practice protocols.
text generation — AI drafts nursing policies; clinical board approves
Establish nursing policies or standards.
#18317 · Core · 65% automatable
Assist patients in organizing their health care system activities.
information retrieval — Healthcare process guidance is largely informational
Advise patients on healthcare system processes.
#18304 · Supplemental · 10% automatable
Adjust settings on patients' assistive devices, such as temporary pacemakers.
physical manipulation — Hands-on fitting of prostheses to bodies
Adjust prostheses or other assistive devices.
#18314 · Supplemental · 28% automatable
Prescribe medications and observe patients' reactions, modifying prescriptions as needed.
decision support — AI aids chart review; clinical observation of patient is human
Monitor patient progress or responses to treatments. Prescribe medications.
#18312 · Supplemental · 52% automatable
Order, perform, or interpret the results of diagnostic tests and screening procedures based on assessment results, differential diagnoses, and knowledge about age, gender and health status of clients.
visual inspection — Image interpretation assists; radiologist owns diagnosis
Analyze test data or images to inform diagnosis or treatment. Order medical diagnostic or clinical tests.
#18315 · Supplemental · 55% automatable
Refer patients for specialty consultations or treatments.
decision support — Clinical referral judgment needs licensed human accountability
Refer patients to other healthcare practitioners or health resources.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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