Many nurses want to continue working in the profession but don’t want to continue working with patients. After the past few years, who can blame them?
If this describes how you’re feeling, there are plenty of options for your next steps. Nurse.org compiled about 20 jobs you can switch to.
“Fortunately, the medical field has been growing more flexible in recent decades. Career opportunities for nurses beyond the bedside are no longer limited to school nurse, nursing home, or home health jobs,” the website wrote.
Here are the top five non-bedside jobs you might want to consider:
Nursing informatics
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society defines it as: “Nursing informatics is the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice.”
It can be a lucrative option for those who qualify. In a 2017 HIMSS survey of informatics nurses, 46% of respondents said they made more than $100,000 annually, an increase of 13% over the 2014 study.
According to Nurse.org, registered nurses usually need at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing and experience working with electronic health care records. In addition, you should have clinical experience, strong computer skills, and an ability to analyze data and statistics. Many of these jobs will allow you to work from home.
The American Medical Informatics Association says the demand for nursing informatics specialists/analysts could reach 70,000 in the next five years.
Nurse case manager
A nurse case manager, also known as a care coordinator, “specializes in the organization and collaboration of patient care and treatment by all members of the care team,” according to Nurse.org.
Baby boomers, and other generations to a lesser extent, often have more than one chronic condition, with caregivers on different teams treating each problem. Case workers coordinate these teams so the patient doesn’t end up being readmitted to the hospital.
Case manager jobs are expected to be in greater demand as baby boomers age, with openings not only in hospitals and clinics, but also in the public and nonprofit sectors.
According to Payscale.com, the average base salary for a nurse case manager in 2022 is about $75,367.
Cruise ship nurse
We’ve told you that Disney hires nurses, and so do cruise ships.
ZipRecruiter estimates these jobs pay about $80,581 per year, but they say more than half of current cruise ship nurses earn less.
According to Nurse.org, a recent job post from Norwegian Lines was looking for nurses with emergency room and ICU experience. The job entailed living onboard for 14 weeks with vacations of 7 weeks at a time. All accommodations, meals and benefits were paid for.
Legal nurse consultant
Legal nurse consultants are registered nurses who share their expertise with attorneys to evaluate relevant, complex information in legal cases. They bridge the gap between the legal process, health care science and patient outcomes.
Being a legal nurse consultant allows you to work in a variety of environments, from government agencies to being self-employed.
“The pay per hour is often set by the nurse and could be very lucrative ($300 an hour) for reviewing the legal documents, with additional fees if called for deposition,” Cheryl Bergman, professor at the school of nursing at Jacksonville University in Florida, told Nurse.org.
Nurse educator
Do you find helping new nurses to be the most rewarding part of your job? You might want to consider becoming an educator.
Nurse.org says you’ll likely need at least a master of science in nursing degree to be able to teach. A doctor of nursing practice degree will prepare you for leadership positions.
“For salaries, it really depends on the region of the country,” Bergman said. “Additionally, the place of employment, such as a community college vs. a large state university, will have varying salary ranges.”
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