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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3221

Nursing associate professionals

Nursing associate professionals provide basic nursing and personal care for people in need of such care due to effects of ageing, illness, injury, or other physical or mental impairment. They generally work under the supervision of, and in support of, implementation of health care, treatment and referrals plans established by medical, nursing and other health professionals. Tasks include - (a) providing nursing and personal care and treatment and health advice to patients according to care plans established by health professionals; (b) administering medications and other treatments to patients, monitoring patients’ condition and responses to treatment, and referring patients and their families to a health professional for specialized care as needed; (c) cleaning wounds and applying surgical dressings; (d) updating information on patients’ condition and treatments received in record-keeping systems; (e) assisting in planning and managing the care of individual patients; (f) assisting in giving first-aid treatment in emergencies. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Assistant nurse - Associate professional nurse - Enrolled nurse - Practical nurse Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Clinical nurse consultant - 2221 - Professional nurse - 2221 - Specialist nurse - 2221 - Professional midwife - 2222 - Associate professional midwife - 3222 - Nursing aide (clinic or hospital) - 5321 - Nursing aide (home) - 5322 Note The distinction between professional and associate professional nurses should be made on the basis of the nature of the work performed in relation to the tasks specified in this definition. The qualifications held by individuals or that predominate in the country are not the main factor in making this distinction, as training arrangements for nurses vary widely between countries and have varied over time within countries.

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 165 of 427 for holding up against AI.

78.3
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 21.7 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 21.7 = 78.3

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

43
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, matched to one US job

34
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 42.9 · hand skill 42.9 · cramped spaces 16.2 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 43 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 61.8, while the average is 21.7. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 61.8

    Updating information on patients' condition and treatments received in record-keeping systems

    Medium
  2. 26.5

    Assisting in planning and managing the care of individual patients

    Low
  3. 15

    Providing nursing and personal care and treatment and health advice to patients according to care plans established by health professionals

    Very Low
  4. 12

    Administering medications and other treatments to patients, monitoring patients' condition and responses to treatment, and referring patients and their families to a health professional for specialised care as needed

    Very Low
  5. 8.3

    Assisting in giving first-aid treatment in emergencies.

    Very Low
  6. 7

    Cleaning wounds and applying surgical dressings

    Very Low

6 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

AI helps you
63
AI does it for you
26

Helping wins by 37 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 4114

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.2. This one is above that.