When most people think of the term nurse, they're probably envisioning someone in scrubs or a white coat and taking blood or blood pressure from a patient. We're also most likely envision the setting, which is almost always a hospital. However, many medical professionals fail to realize that there are plenty of other alternative nursing careers that do not involve a hospital.
While some might enjoy the hospital setting, others would prefer to help patients in a different atmosphere. Luckily, there are a variety of other options you might want to pursue as a nurse that go beyond the hospital. Below we’ve listed just a few nursing careers you might want to consider.
Alternative Nursing Careers To Consider
Nurse Educator
Many nurses will prefer to stay in the classroom helping others, instead of working out in the field. There aren’t many jobs as rewarding as a nurse educator. Here you’ll be passing down what you’ve learned through your experiences and shaping the next generation of nurses. While you will initially work hands-on in the field to create education plans, you will eventually focus all of your efforts on educating soon-to-be nurses. It also doesn’t hurt that the average salary for a nurse educator is around $70,000.
Corporate Consultant
If the word corporate makes you shiver and look for someplace to hide, you’re not alone. However, as a corporate consultant in the nursing field, you won’t be stuck behind a desk all day. In fact, most of the time you will spend will be either educating staff members or sitting in on leadership meetings for specific facilities. If you’re flexible, curious, and open to change, a career in corporate consulting could be the best fit for your nursing background. Each day will be different, so there’s no better time to pursue a new career than now!
Nurse Case Manager
A nurse case manager is one of the most popular nursing careers not just because of its stellar salary, but because of the ability for nurse case managers to interact with peers and staff members on a daily basis. Once you move to the role of case manager, you will spend less hands-on time with patients and more time working with staff nurses, physicians, and other hospital personnel. Your main duty will be to help develop a care plan for patients and help determine a patient’s placement if further treatment is necessary. This might mean you will help coordinate a patient’s placement in a rehabilitation, hospice, social service, or metal health facility. This will give you the opportunity to see a patient’s treatment from beginning to end, which many nurses find very rewarding.
Correctional Nurse
While this might seem like an odd choice for a career, many nurses actually love their career as a correctional nurse. While the setting is certainly unconventional, the principles are the same. Here you’ll be helping patients with various medical issues, except that you’ll be in a correctional facility. While this career can definitely be rewarding, it isn’t for everyone. The setting can become very intense, with some patients making rude comments or in extreme cases, becoming violent. This is exactly why it takes someone who is able to work under this type of stress and pressure to become a successful correctional nurse.
Nursing IT
If you prefer to work on the more technological side of things, you might want to look into a nursing IT career. Here you’ll be able to combine your love of nursing, with the IT skills you need to keep your practice running smoothly. In addition to changing the healthcare field for the better, RNs working in IT can expect an earning potential that far exceeds a standard nursing position.
If you’re looking for more information about career alternatives for nurses, check out the opportunities at Travel Nurse Source.
