Registered Nurse Job Description: Duties, Requirements, Template & Pay (2026)
A registered nurse (RN) assesses patients, administers medications and treatments, coordinates care with physicians and the wider team, and teaches patients and families how to manage their conditions. This page covers what RNs actually do on a shift, a copy-paste registered nurse job description template you can adapt for med-surg, ICU, long-term care or home health, the requirements that are legally required versus merely traditional, and what RN applicants cost on social media across 173 nurse campaign-months in Boostpoint's 2026 benchmark.
Registered nurse duties and responsibilities
The title covers a very wide range of work. A med-surg RN on a hospital floor manages five or six patients a shift, passes meds, hangs IVs, catches deterioration early and documents constantly. An ICU nurse manages one or two, on drips and ventilators. A long-term care RN supervises LPNs and CNAs across a 30-bed unit and spends much of the shift on assessments, care plans and family calls. A home health RN drives between visits and works alone. The duties below are the common core; the setting decides the emphasis, and the job description should say which setting it is in the first line.
Day to day, registered nurse responsibilities include:
- Assess patients on admission and throughout the shift: vital signs, pain, skin, mental status, fall risk; recognize and escalate changes in condition
- Administer oral, IV, IM and subcutaneous medications and monitor for reactions; manage IV access and infusions
- Carry out physician and provider orders; perform procedures such as wound care, catheter insertion, tube feeding and specimen collection
- Develop, update and document nursing care plans; chart in the EHR (Epic, Cerner/Oracle Health, PointClickCare) accurately and on time
- Coordinate care with physicians, therapists, case management and pharmacy; give and receive shift report
- Direct and delegate to LPNs, CNAs and nursing assistants; supervise care delivery on the unit
- Educate patients and families on diagnoses, medications, discharge instructions and self-care
- Respond to emergencies: codes, rapid responses, falls; provide first aid and life support as needed
- Maintain compliance with infection control, medication safety, restraint and documentation standards
Registered nursing is the largest healthcare occupation in the country, with about 3.39 million RNs employed in 2024 and roughly 189,100 openings a year through 2034, most of them replacement openings as nurses retire or leave the bedside. The median wage was $46.90 an hour in 2025, or $97,550 a year, with hospital, specialty and travel roles well above that. The shortage is not evenly spread: it's concentrated in rural hospitals, long-term care and night shifts, which is exactly where job descriptions need to work hardest. Our nursing shortage solutions page has the market picture.
Registered Nurse job description template
Copy this into your ATS or job board, replace the bracketed fields, and cut what doesn't apply. It's written in the order nurses read: pay, shift, ratio, unit — then the duties. RNs are almost always employed when they apply, and they screen postings on those four facts before reading anything else.
Job title
Registered Nurse (RN) — [Med-Surg / ICU / ED / Long-Term Care / Home Health], [Full-time / Part-time / PRN], [Days / Nights, 12-hour shifts], [City, State]
Summary
[Facility] is hiring a registered nurse for our [unit / 40-bed skilled nursing unit / home health team] in [City]. Pay is $[XX]–$[XX]/hour based on experience [plus $X/hour night differential, $X/hour weekend differential], with a $[X,XXX] sign-on bonus. Typical ratio is [1:5 on days / 1:6 on nights] with [a charge nurse and CNA support on every shift]. [Self-scheduling / every third weekend / no mandatory overtime.] [State] RN license required; [BLS / ACLS] required or obtained during orientation.
Responsibilities
- Assess, plan, implement and evaluate nursing care for assigned patients
- Administer medications and treatments per provider orders; manage IV therapy
- Document assessments, interventions and outcomes in [Epic / PointClickCare]
- Supervise and delegate to LPNs and CNAs; give and receive report
- Educate patients and families; coordinate discharge planning with case management
- Respond to changes in condition and emergencies per facility protocol
- Maintain compliance with infection control, medication safety and documentation standards
Requirements
- Current [State] RN license (or compact license) in good standing
- Graduate of an accredited nursing program (ADN or BSN)
- BLS certification; [ACLS / PALS within X months of hire]
- [1+ year of acute care / long-term care experience preferred; new graduates welcome with residency program]
- Able to lift and reposition patients, stand for a 12-hour shift, and pass a background check and health screening
Preferred
- BSN
- Specialty certification ([CCRN / CEN / CMSRN / gerontological nursing])
- Experience with [Epic / Cerner / PointClickCare]
- [Bilingual English/Spanish]
Schedule and pay
- $[XX]–$[XX]/hour depending on experience and certifications
- [Night differential $X/hour; weekend differential $X/hour; charge pay $X/hour]
- [Sign-on bonus $X,XXX paid over X months]; [relocation assistance]
- [Three 12-hour shifts per week, self-scheduling, every third weekend]
Benefits
- Medical, dental and vision from day [1 / 30]
- [401(k) / 403(b) with X% match]
- Paid time off [X hours per year] and [X] paid holidays
- Tuition reimbursement [$X,XXX per year] and paid certification renewals
- [Nurse residency program for new graduates]; [clinical ladder with pay steps]
- [Free parking, meals on shift, uniform allowance]
Requirements: what's required, what's preferred, and what kills applications
Nursing has a short list of non-negotiables set by the state board and a long list of things employers add out of habit. Only 11% of nurses who click an RN ad finish the application — the lowest completion rate of any hourly role we track except CDL drivers — and the requirements section is usually the reason.
| Requirement | What to know |
|---|---|
| State RN license | Required by law. Ask for the license number and state as a form field; verify it against the board yourself. Say whether you accept a compact (NLC) license — travel and relocating nurses look for that line. |
| ADN vs. BSN | Both qualify for licensure. Requiring a BSN removes roughly a third of the RN workforce from your pool; unless you're chasing Magnet status or the role is leadership, list BSN as preferred and offer tuition support. |
| BLS / ACLS / PALS | BLS is standard. ACLS and PALS are unit-specific; say "obtained within 90 days" rather than requiring them on day one, and pay for the course. |
| Experience | "2+ years acute care" is the line that quietly excludes new graduates and long-term care nurses. If you can train, say "new grads welcome" and describe the orientation. If you can't, say why in one sentence. |
| Physical requirements | Include them: lifting and repositioning, 12-hour shifts on your feet, exposure to infectious materials. They're legally useful and nurses expect them. |
| Background check and health screening | Required in nearly every state for patient-facing roles. State it; don't make it a pre-application step. |
| Cover letter, references, résumé upload | Not needed to start a conversation. Nurses apply from a phone between shifts; every upload field cuts completion. Collect these after the phone screen. |
How to customize it for your setting
Hospital (med-surg, tele, ICU, ED)
Lead with unit, shift and ratio; name the EHR; describe the residency for new graduates. Specialty units should state the certification path and who pays for it. Our best job boards for nurses guide compares where hospital RN postings actually convert.
Long-term care and skilled nursing
The RN is usually a supervisor: say how many LPNs and CNAs report to them and how many residents the unit holds. Nurses leave SNFs over staffing, so a truthful ratio beats a generous sign-on bonus. Pay and cost data for the whole team is in our RN, LPN and CNA recruiting cost breakdown.
Home health and hospice
Visits per day, territory, mileage reimbursement and the documentation system are the four facts. Autonomy is the draw; describe it.
PRN and per-diem
State the minimum shift commitment, the PRN rate (usually $8–$15/hour above base with no benefits) and how scheduling works. See PRN and per-diem staffing costs for how the math compares with agency.
What it costs to reach registered nurses on social
Registered nurse campaigns ran a median of $19.08 per applicant across 173 campaign-months in our 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark, with the middle half between $12.76 and $34.84 and a blended (volume-weighted) figure of $20.00. Only 11% of nurses who clicked finished the application — against 31% for caregivers and 18% for CNAs — which is why RN campaigns cost more than caregiver campaigns despite buying similar attention.
That completion gap is the lever. RN campaigns that ask for license state, unit experience and shift preference in three tap-to-answer questions, with no résumé upload, sit at the low end of the band; campaigns that redirect to a careers portal sit at the high end. The broader healthcare picture — including why the sector's $11.47 blended cost hides a caregiver-to-therapy split of 8x — is on our healthcare recruiting page, and the agency alternative is priced in nurse staffing agency costs.
Writing the ad version
The ad is not the job description. It answers pay, shift, ratio and unit in the first two lines: "RNs — $38–$48/hr + $6 nights, 1:5 days on med-surg, self-scheduling, $10K sign-on. [Hospital], [City]. Apply in 60 seconds." Knockout questions: license state, years of RN experience, unit experience (multiple choice), shift preference. No résumé, no cover letter, no portal.
A 15-second video of the unit with a nurse saying what the ratio actually is on a bad day outranks any stock photo of a stethoscope. Nurses talk to each other about staffing; a posting that's honest about it gets shared.
Frequently asked questions
What are the duties and responsibilities of a registered nurse?
Assessing patients and recognizing changes in condition; administering medications and IV therapy; carrying out provider orders and performing procedures; documenting care in the EHR; coordinating with physicians and the care team; supervising LPNs and CNAs; educating patients and families; and responding to emergencies. The emphasis shifts by setting — bedside care in hospitals, supervision in long-term care, autonomous visits in home health.
What qualifications does a registered nurse need?
Graduation from an accredited nursing program (an associate degree or a bachelor's degree in nursing), a passing score on the NCLEX-RN, and a license from the state board of nursing (or a multistate compact license). BLS certification is standard; ACLS, PALS and specialty certifications depend on the unit. A BSN is preferred by many hospitals but is not required for licensure.
How much do registered nurses make?
The 2025 national median was $46.90 an hour, or $97,550 a year, per O*NET/BLS. Pay varies widely by state and setting; hospital, specialty and travel roles sit above the median, and night and weekend differentials commonly add $3–$8 an hour.
What should an RN job description template include?
The unit and setting, shift pattern and hours, nurse-to-patient ratio and support staff, the pay range with differentials and any sign-on bonus, the EHR system, license and certification requirements, physical requirements, and benefits including tuition support and clinical ladders. Pay, shift and ratio belong in the first two lines.
Why is it so hard to hire registered nurses?
Demand is growing faster than the workforce, most working RNs are employed and not searching job boards, and application completion for RN roles is the lowest of any hourly healthcare role at 11%. Employers who reach employed nurses on social media, keep the application to a few questions, and state ratio and pay plainly fill roles that job-board postings don't.
Pay, employment and outlook figures: O*NET OnLine (Registered Nurses, 29-1141), 2025 wage data, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–34 projections. Licensure requirements per state boards of nursing and the Nurse Licensure Compact. Cost-per-applicant figures: Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark (registered nurse role family, 173 campaign-months). Last updated August 2026.