Nurses at the bedside are struggling.
With increasingly high workload demands and staffing rates hitting all-time lows, it is no surprise that nurses are exploring careers beyond the bedside.
If you are one of them, you are not alone.
You have dedicated so much of your time to the field of nursing, and now, you are left with ample hours of hands-on experience, a degree related to nursing, and credentials following your name. But where can you go from here? If not the bedside, then where?
First, do not fret – there are plenty of options! Let’s break down some of the best career changes for nurses to make.
Do you love developing individualized care plans for patients? Is patient education your forte?
The role of a nurse case manager might be the career change you are looking for!
Case managers will work directly with patients and the healthcare team to educate, serve as a patient resource, and ensure that care plans are being implemented.
Whether you choose to specialize (i.e. rehabilitation, home health, and hospice care) or stay general, this role can be done completely remote!
According to ZipRecruiter, the national average salary for a nurse case manager is $71,077.
If the hustle and bustle of bedside nursing has you worn out, this is one of the many career changes for nurses that might be right up your alley!
Are you passionate about increasing efficiency in healthcare systems? Can you collect information and form it into executable initiatives? Nurse consultants do just that and some!
From legal to clinical there are several avenues that you can take in this career, and your nursing expertise is incredibly valuable to each. However, it is important to note that some fields of consulting may require additional certifications.
Consultants can work in various areas of healthcare, from hospital settings to private practices, law offices, and insurance companies!
The workflow of a nursing consultant can be very autonomous, and not to mention, the pay is great, too! On average, a nurse consultant makes $79,624.
As a bedside nurse, there is nothing more fulfilling than seeing patients return to a healthy state.
If you can no longer serve at the bedside but want to continue helping others achieve health-related goals, perhaps you would benefit from pursuing a career as a nurse health coach!
Health coaches work directly with patients to establish realistic and holistic health goals that align with personal interests, economic and social statuses, and psychological well-being.
This healthcare service is one of the most wonderful career changes for nurses to make who are looking to continue to develop relationships and make positive impacts on patients’ lives.
In most cases, nurse health coaches are self-employed, so the average salary is truly dependent on how large their patient pool is as well as their rate per service provided. However, large institutions may seek to hire health coaches to serve as an additional resource to its employees.
The average salary of a nurse health coach is $62,883.
As the famous line goes, “the numbers don’t lie,” and this is no different for healthcare systems.
From the vast technology and machinery within a facility to electronic medical records (EMR) and patient surveys, healthcare-related data is everywhere.
If you have nursing expertise and a love for data collection and analyzation, the work of a nurse informaticist is the perfect career change for you!
Healthcare software developer, Health Catalyst, outlines the three major roles of a nurse informaticist as:
As medical technology continues to advance, the need for nursing informaticists will grow exponentially, and it is one of the most sought-after careers for 2022. The average salary is $102,230.
In a healthcare facility, safety is everything, which means the demand for risk managers is consistently high.
If you are a seasoned bedside nurse, I am sure you have experienced various instances where safety systems could have been better for both the patient and healthcare staff.
Nurse risk managers are responsible for the development and oversight of various programs that address safety, financial, and patient problems. This path could be one of the best career changes for nurses to take, especially if they have an interest in system and policy improvement!
With a background in bedside nursing, it is valuable that a nurse risk manager utilizes this expertise to create tangible and scalable goals that will benefit both the patient and staff members on the care team.
Not only does the work from this career improve the workplace environment, but positive patient outcomes as well! It truly can be a win-win for both healthcare team members and patients, what more could you ask for?
The average salary for a healthcare risk manager is $90,107.
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