There are so many career options for nurses outside of the traditional hospital setting. If nursing is your passion, but doing rounds on the patient floor is not, consider one of these five non-bedside nurse jobs that you may not have heard of before.
#1. Public Health Advisor
Non-bedside nurse job #1: public health nurse
With the current outbreak of COVID-19, the Center for Disease Control is receiving a lot of attention. Many look to organizations like the CDC for guidance on how to stay safe through when a public health crisis strikes.
Nurses make great public health advisors because they already have experience working directly with patients in a variety of healthcare settings. They can take their clinical knowledge and years of direct patient care experience and apply it in the public health arena.
Public health advisors develop and implement public health programs. Also, they build relationships with all levels of government organizations and project management. It is also possible to get involved in politics to initiate change at the national level, like former nurse Congresswoman Lauren Underwood.
Working as a public health advisor can be a fascinating new career for nurses. Who knows, one day we could even have a nurse in the oval office!
Recommended Education Level: The minimum requirement for a public health advisor is a BSN or three years of comparable general experience; however, specialized expertise or completion of higher education programs like an MSN with a concentration in Public Health are preferred. You can find more information on job listings and requirements here.
#2. Clinical Trial Nurse
Non-bedside nurse job #2: clinical trial nurse
Clinical trials are the process by which cures for cancer and other diseases are discovered – and they are at the forefront of the ever-changing field of medicine.
A clinical trial nurse serves as coordinators for clinical trials and implements good clinical practice for the emerging treatment modalities. This job is an excellent fit for nurses who are as passionate about patient rights as they are scientific advancement.
At this very moment, thousands of trials are being conducted worldwide in all fields of medicine. For example, one clinical trial aims to prevent the onset of rheumatoid arthritis – as another clinical trial is testing the efficacy of a swab test to detect neurodegenerative disorders. For the nurse with scrutinizing attention to detail and compassion for helping sick patients, becoming a clinical trial nurse would be an exhilarating position to hold.
Recommended Education Level: A BSN is required for most clinical trial nurse roles. Advanced degrees — such as an MSN — are critical for those who wish to assume a leadership role within clinical trials and research nursing.
#3. Movie-Set Nurse
Non-bedside nurse job #3: movie set nurse
Hollywood magic knows no limits. Car crashes, fight scenes, and defying gravity are just some of the ways actors and showbiz execs can get hurt on the job, and it happens more often than we think. This is why it’s so important to have skilled medical professionals on set at all times. Nurses, paramedics, and doctors are all found on the sidelines of silver screen productions to provide first-aid care and more.
Movie productions must staff large groups of people who work long hours. They often work with heavy machinery, putting them at risk for injury. Often, very risky work is being performed. Some action scenes – think the kind with stunt doubles – can cause accidents.
The medical team on-site needs to be able to act quickly in case of incidents and emergencies — making your ER experience a great asset. The ability to stay calm and focused in the wake of accidents are key strengths many nurses already possess.
Nursing gigs in the film industry are fiercely competitive, so you’ll want to accentuate your ability to act quickly and efficiently if you get a chance to interview. The pay may not be great at first – often as low as $15/hour – but there’s no telling where an opportunity may take you. One nurse even got hired to go on tour with Beyonce!
Recommended Education Level: Minimum requirement of an associate’s degree.
#4. Hotel/Resort Nurse
Non-bedside nurse job #4: hotel/resort nurse
People on vacation rarely foresee a need for medical care. But as health care providers, we know that illness and injury can happen anytime, anywhere. Hotels and resorts employ nurses to be on-site in case guests need first-aid or assistance getting more intensive care at a local hospital.
Resort nurse jobs, like this one at Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company, can be pretty sweet gigs (pun intended). Depending on where you find work, you may even be able to spend your days off at the beach or a snowy mountaintop!
Recommended Education Level: Minimum requirement of an associate’s degree.
#5. Legal Nurse Consultant
Non-bedside nurse job #5: legal nurse consultant
Legal nurse consultants (LNC) serve as liaisons between the medical and legal fields in a variety of venues. LNCs can serve as expert witnesses, be employed by law firms that handle medical malpractice or personal injury law, work in forensic environments, and some opt to open their own independent practices.
The American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants has an extensive list of tasks performed by LNCs. These range from medical research to drafting legal documents and helping attorneys prepare for trial. In this riveting career, you’ll get to see the legal side of the medical field and use your nursing expertise in the name of justice.
As an LNC, you can dip your toes in to see how you like the field while building an autonomous career. According to LNC Wendie Howland, any nurse with 8-10 years of experience can serve as an expert witness for an attorney. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn where medical and judiciary interests intersect.
Recommended Education Level: An associate’s degree is the minimum requirement, but for certain positions, particularly in forensics, completing a program of higher education like an MSN with a specialization in Forensic Nursing is recommended.
In conclusion
There are so many non-bedside nurse jobs for experienced RN’s who want to advance their careers out of the bedside. Consider doing a little soul-searching and decide where your nursing career will take you next!
Guest author Pamela Mahler is a content specialist for Aspen University. She is passionate about learning and producing valuable resources that empower others to enhance their lives through education. Aspen University offers CCNE accredited programs at every degree level. Aspen created affordable degrees and 0%-interest payment plans with transparent pricing so that nurses can focus on courses, not the fine print.
Nurses often want to know the pros and cons of travel nursing before making a colossal life-altering career decision. If you have been considering travel nursing as a potential career trajectory, this article is for you.
Travel nursing offers an opportunity for career growth.
For anyone who dreams of entering the healthcare field to help others but doesn’t want to be tied down to working in a single facility, becoming a travel nurse is an appealing option. As a travel nurse, you can spend your days working in different facilities in your immediate area, taking care of patients in their homes, or providing skilled nursing services as needed in different parts of the country—or even the world.
In a lot of ways, travel nursing is amazing. That doesn’t mean, though, that there aren’t any potential drawbacks. If you are considering a career in travel nursing, keep reading to learn a bit more about the pros and cons, and how to get started.
Let’s start with the good stuff. As a travel nurse, you will have the opportunity to live in various towns and cities throughout the nation. In some instances, you may even get to travel to exotic locations in other parts of the world. You’ll get to meet new people and immerse yourself in unfamiliar cultures.
When you work as a travel nurse, you quickly gain valuable work experience. You can gain knowledge that would likely take you years to learn in a single location in a matter of months. And if you don’t love your current nursing job, accepting a travel position can provide you with an easy way to escape.
As a travel nurse, you’ll be able to take more time off throughout the year as you choose. You have a higher degree of flexibility and control over your schedule than you do when working at a single facility. Because travel nurses work through staffing agencies, you will have the opportunity to try out potential employers before committing to a full-time position.
Travel nursing is always in high demand.
Travel nurses have a high level of control over where and when they work, so they often have the freedom to go where they want to go, when they want to go. You may even be able to find work in a specific city when you know there is an upcoming event that you would like to attend. Or you could accept an assignment near a friend or family member’s home if you would like to visit them for a few days (or longer).
Travel nurses are in high demand, too, so there are often attractive sign-on bonuses and other incentives that tend to make this career path look pretty appealing.
Travel Nursing Cons
The pros of working as a travel nurse are numerous, but there are also some drawbacks that you should be aware of when you are trying to decide whether it’s the right career for you. For starters, it doesn’t offer the same sort of stability as you would expect in other nursing positions. As a travel nurse, you are classified as a temporary employee, which makes it much easier for your employer to terminate your working relationship. Being classified as a temporary employee can also make it more challenging to collect unemployment benefits if you are terminated.
While you may have more flexibility in terms of taking time off, you shouldn’t expect that time to be paid. Paid time off is rare for travel nurses and, even when it is available, it’s usually tough to qualify for.
When you take on a new assignment, there will usually be onboarding requirements that can be quite time-consuming, and in many instances, they’re unpaid. Travel nurses also tend to move around a lot, which can make it challenging to build and maintain personal relationships.
Last, if you have what the IRS considers a “tax home,” many of the reimbursements and stipends you receive as a travel nurse are non-taxable. This may seem like a good thing because it means more money on your paycheck. However, it also means a lower gross income on paper. This could be problematic in the eyes of loan officers or when you reach retirement age.
You can meet nurses from all over the world as a travel nurse.
Getting Started as a Travel Nurse
For many people, the pros of being a travel nurse outweigh the cons. If it still sounds like a career that you would be interested in, you will need to have the appropriate qualifications to get started. Most travel nurses are RNs, so you will need to have completed nursing school and become one before you are qualified for the job. Some agencies also work with LPNs, but you will have a much easier time being placed if you are an RN.
Keep in mind that you will need to be licensed to work in states other than your own. If you do not have the proper licensing to work in a state where you would like to be assigned, however, your staffing agency should be able to help you obtain it.
You usually need to have some experience working in a traditional nursing position, too. Before you can start traveling across the country as a nurse, you’ll need to spend a year or two (at minimum) working in a hospital or another facility. If you plan on working in a specialized field, such as ICU or labor and delivery nursing, additional bedside experience may be required.
Of course, you’ll also need the general supplies that are required for nurses. Do some research to discover the best shoes for nurses, find scrubs that are appropriate for the climate in which you will be working, etc.
The Bottom Line
Life as a travel nurse can be challenging, but it is also incredibly rewarding. If you think this career path is right for you, now is a great time to start preparing for your future. Whether you prefer to keep your travel distance relatively small or you dream of helping patients throughout the entire country, when you look and feel your best in your favorite scrubs and are committed to reaching your goals, anything is possible!
Adela Ellis, RN
Adela Ellis is a full-time nurse and part-time ambassador for Infinity Scrubs. Adela attended the University of Arizona and has been a travel nurse for the last six years. She enjoys working with different doctors, nurses, and patients from all over the country and blogging about her experiences. In her free time, she loves true-crime podcasts and cooking for friends and family.
This post has been sponsored by Zebra Pen. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
There is an astronomical amount of information to remember as a first-time nursing student or as a career nurse who returns to college or university for an advanced degree education. With all the meaty textbooks, scientific lectures, and in-patient clinical training, it can make even the most diligent learners feel overwhelmed.
Which leaves many nurses asking, what is the most effective way to retain all of this information?
That is one reason why, as a nurse and healthcare freelance writer, using a Zebra STEEL G-402® Gel Retractable Pen has been my voice for notetaking. It is a pen made for savvy and confident professionals and it allows me to whittle down my most important thoughts on paper instantly.
Here Are 3 Ways Using a Zebra Pen and Paper Will Help You Succeed in Nursing School:
1. Notetaking with a pen boosts memory and helps you retain more information
Taking notes with a laptop has become the norm for our tech-savvy generation of students who want to refer back to every detail that a professor says in class. However, this may not be the best way to learn when it comes to notetaking. In fact, from a learning and memorization standpoint, typing may cause you to remember less compared to taking handwritten notes in class.
A recent study has shown that students using laptops were able to take an overflowing amount of word-for-word notes, but they performed worse when tested on the ideas compared to students who handwrote notes. Writing handwritten notes helps with cognition, especially for students learning complex medical information.
2. Freehand writing with a pen and paper sharpens critical thinking
My professors in college reminded us that the nurses who succeed are the ones who learn how to “think critically” in school. In other words, take the facts and form a judgment. It makes sense to me now—every ATI test in nursing school, as well as the nursing boards, are almost ALL critical thinking/multiple-choice questions.
In the real world, nurses must take the medical facts and form a judgment on how to treat the patient in the correct order. Lives often depend on it. Handwriting allows you to “critically think” about data more effectively than typing. You can form more transparent connections between thoughts, instead of just typing out lecture information verbatim. Another way using pens can help you learn more critically is by using colored pens to organize your thoughts on paper.
3.Freehand writing can help you manage the stress that comes with nursing school
The benefits of putting pen to paper do more than improve brain health and enhance learning in the classroom. Your mental health can benefit from journaling sessions. Expressive writing can help decrease stress, lower blood pressure, improve organ function, and improve your mood. All good things for stressed-out nursing students!
Freehand journaling is a tool that you can use throughout your nursing program and into your nursing career to help keep your mind in a positive state. In fact, writing with a pen increases neural activity in certain areas of the brain in a similar way to meditation.
To thrive in the nursing profession, you must take care of yourself first. Being a nurse in charge of someone’s life can be extremely stressful, especially when dealing with very sick patients. Consider starting a daily journal to help you manage the anxiety that can arise from the responsibility of caring for patient’s lives.
Why I use a Zebra Pen STEEL G-402 gel pen as a nurse and freelance healthcare writer:
I keep a STEEL G-402 and a notebook in my bag, at my desk, and on the side table next to my bed. That way, I can write a quick note to myself at any time. If my mind throws out an idea that I want to remember, I jot it down quickly with my STEEL G-402 so I can remember it later when I sit down to write.
In addition to supplementing my writing and research, the STEEL G-402 is a(n):
Affordable writing accessory for nurses
Heavier weighted pen, which makes it more comfortable to write with for more extended periods
Durable pen with a steel metal barrel so that it doesn’t fall apart like other cheap pens in the hospital
In the nursing profession, where I wear the same scrub uniform as everyone else, there are very few ways that I can distinguish myself as an individual. So, I show it with my zany compression socks, my nifty coffee mug, and my stylish Zebra Pens! Check out more information here to see how you can Choose Different.
The Zebra Pen: A lifelong learning tool for nurses
Working nurses will tell you that nursing school will be the hardest thing you ever do. But by preparing yourself with the right tools to succeed and studying as efficiently as possible, you will tackle your knowledge base with the esteem of a seasoned nurse.
Just remember to keep your laptop close, but your pen closer.
We must teach our kids a foundation for healthy eating habits. Unfourtuanelty, this can be challenging for busy nurse moms, who often struggle to eat properly, exercise regularly, or get enough sleep as it is due to our crazy working-mom lifestyles.
So, how do we help our families adopt healthier eating choices when it seems like life is always getting in the way? Here are a few fun suggestions that have worked for my own family. I hope they help you too!
Involve children in the meal planning process
Teach your kids healthy eating habits by involving them in the meal-planing process.
Kids love to feel like they are a part of things, and they are more likely to want to eat healthy foods if they are included in the food preparation experience.Grant your children some say in which foods you bring into the house.
For example, if I plan to purchase grapes at the store, I will ask my son which color he wants. When we go to the grocery store together, I let him help me select the produce items that he thinks are the most appealing.Search recipes together for inspiration, so you all can be excited about the meals you will have that week.
I personally love Pinterest and use it as my primary means of saving and organizing recipes. Each child can be allowed to make one or two “special requests” for either a specific food they would like to have or a particular meal they want to eat.
Sometimes it is not realistic to prepare a family meal every single night. Here is a solution for that: make double batches when you cook to ensure that you have extra nutritious food that can easily be reheated as leftovers later in the week. When I worked 12-hour day shifts, I would often make a tray of lasagna, enchiladas, or casserole on my days off. That way, my husband could easily prepare healthy dinners for the family in my absence.
By preparing meals ahead of time, we eliminated the temptation to pick up fast food on the way home when we were exhausted and starving.
Encourage children to help out in the kitchen
Teaching kids healthy eating habits by involving them in the kitchen.
Even young children can make handy kitchen porters. They can help mix, measure, and stir years before they are old enough to be trusted near a hot stove or sharp instruments.
My son picked out a set of miniature set of kitchen tools (a small spatula, whisk, and tongs) for himself, and it makes him feel extra special when he assists me in the kitchen.You may have to do a little extra clean up at the end, but be patient and praise your culinary apprentices for helping! Fond memories and a love of cooking will be ingrained for life.
Teach kids healthy eating habits – don’t encourage them to clean their plates if they are full.
Children are very good at self-regulating their food intake. Telling kids they must finish their food, even if they insist that they are not hungry, can cause them to tune out their innate cues of fullness and may set them up to become chronic overeaters later in life.
Lead by example
Kids are always observing, and you need to practice what you preach. The nutrition standards you set for them as a parent will go further than anything you say.However, don’t always expect perfection of yourself. Parenting is hard, and some days just getting the kids fed is an accomplishment.
Holiday get-togethers, family dinners, and parties with cake and candy are perfectly fine in moderation. The point is that if you eat a variety of wholesome foods each day, your children will develop an appreciation for fresh, healthy eating as well.
Additional Information to help teach children healthy eating habits
The American Academy at Pediatrics has an archive of articles with evidence-based advice on healthy eating for children that you can find here. Consult with your children’s pediatrician or primary care provider if you have questions regarding your children’s specific dietary needs.
Cyra-Lea Drummond is a registered nurse with 15 years experience in telemetry, cardiac ICU, cardiac rehab, and home health. She currently lives near Louisville, KY, and enjoys spending her free time playing outside with her husband, son, and their dog Daisy.Content goes here
Being a nurse or a mom is hard work in and of itself. Add the two together and you have one incredibly hard-working, compassionate, multitasking superhero with skills that can save lives.
This holiday season why not give gifts that recognize both talents? The one that is raising children to be strong, capable adults and the one selflessly helping total strangers. After all, there is a fair chance that many nurse moms are not being appreciated or recognized for the dedication and hard work they put in, day after day.
The motherhood/nurse combination is a challenging balance. Next time you run into a nurse mom who looks a little tired, know there is a good chance she hasn’t slept in a week. And give her a high-five.
We hope you enjoy your holiday season and spend lots of quality time with your loved ones!
*This post about gifts for nurse moms contains affiliate links. You can find our disclosure page here.
If the desire for flexibility and autonomy is inspiring you to look outside of the hospital setting for new opportunities, becoming a nurse health coach might be a career worth exploring.
In the hospital setting, burnout in the nursing profession is at an all-time high. As a result, some are looking for alternative ways to work for themselves.
Have you ever wanted complete control over your work schedule while also helping patients make healthier life choices? If the answer is yes, read on.
After all, nurses have many transferable skills that can be used in alternative ways. Read on to learn more about nurse health coaching, and don’t forget to watch the video at the end!
Would you like to be your own nurse boss?
What is a nurse health coach?
Nurse health coaches have the ability to actualize their patient’s healthcare goals outside of the hospital setting by helping them develop the healthiest version of themselves. And by teaching patients how to take great care of themselves, the nurse health coach empowers them for the rest of their lives.
Nurse health coaches work with patients to provide guidance and resources to assist their patients in living a more healthy and balanced lifestyle. In terms of nursing experience, nurse health coaches generally have many years of direct patient care in the hospital setting. They have the desire to have a more direct and positive health impact on their patient’s lives.
Many nurse health coaches are entrepreneurs who work in private practice, although some hospitals and doctors offices hire nurse health coaches as well. According to some surveys, nurse coaches can earn similar or even more income than they do working in hospitals.
What does a nurse health coach do?
Here are a few ways nurse health coaches can help patients:
Understand patients unique healthcare dynamics
Assessing and inspiring your patient to make life-long healthy food and exercise habits
Identifying client opportunities and issues for improved health
Helping patients set achievable goals to have optimal health
Encouraging and empowering patients to reach their goals
Also, nurse health coaches can decrease healthcare spending by:
Helping insurance companies reduce the cost of patient care and disease management, and
Giving patients the tools to improve their overall health and well-being by reducing the incidence of chronic illness and the cost of healthcare
Some nurse coaches work in private practice; some collaborate with other health professionals in a group practice, and others are employees. According to surveys, nurse coaches can earn similar or more income than they do working in hospitals.
Additional benefits:
Nurse health coaches generally have more independence in this role then they do in other nursing careers. For many nurses, this makes a great alternative to bedside nursing where you are constantly working under the eye of administrators.
Plus, while nurse health coaches must work very hard to be successful, the profession offers flexibility with setting one’s schedule, work atmosphere, and patient clientele.
