Nursing Careers That Are Not Bedside

So you are looking for nursing careers that are not bedside!

If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s showed us the incomparable value of nurses.  Nursing is not an easy job and unsurprisingly any nurses become curious about nursing careers that are not bedside, either in or out of the clinical environment.   In this post we hope to open our eyes to some  really interesting non-bedside nursing jobs.

Sometimes it just comes down to coupling  together your  nursing knowledge and experience with  whatever you’re passionate about . If you have  any other skills or interests, mesh them together to come up with more ideas about non-clinical or direct patient jobs for nurses!

The point is there’s more than one way to make  an income as a nurse.   We’re going to  dive into the possibilities of alternative nursing careers and some you might not have ever thought of.   Maybe you are thinking of some kind of  work from home job as a nurse.  We are going to look at those kinds of nursing jobs, and much more.

One of the first things you should do, however, before jumping from the bedside to a non-clinical nursing job is to update your resume.  The resume for a hospital job is going to be very different than for a non-bedside nursing job.  If you are not sure where to start, we advise you get some professional help.  Resume writing services may be an option for you.  You can watch our video about the effectiveness of resume writing services HERE.

You can also check out our recommended professional resume writers on Fiverr.

Freelance Nurse Writer or Medical Writer

The first of the eleven nursing careers that are not bedside we are going to look is either becoming a freelance or employed nurse medical writer.

Maybe you are a Mom of younger children and maybe you love writing .  There is a need for healthcare writers with clinical backgrounds.   Some of your first writing jobs might be to  write  for a blog.  That won’t pay you a lot, but it will get you started and help you build a portfolio.    This is also something you can do as a side job or part-time.   You can  get paid to do web writing and I can still   share your nursing knowledge in a different  type of way .

You can write before you go to work and  grow over time to where you might make enough to cover  one 12-hour shift a month.  Keep at it and you could start replacing  two 12-hour shifts.  It doesn’t mean you have to give up your clinical chops, maybe switch to nust PRN.  It’s just a different   mindset of going to work because you have to or  because you want to instead of because you have to.

Editing It might be quite a nice outlet if you  are a creative person.  The median annual salary for a medical writer is $66,599 as suggested by Salary.com.

Case Manager

You can become a case manager and work from home. It’s a different type of nursing  administrative work.  It is going to pay a little bit lower, but it  just depends on what you end doing .  Both hospitals and health insurance companies employ nurse case managers.  The trend these days is moving more toward being a remote nursing job.  However, this is not true for all companies and most likely not for hospital based case managers.

Nurse Case Managers work create plans of care for patients.  These plans might be for care after a hospitalization or for ongoing care of a chronic illness.  Insurance based nurse case managers are work with patients to coordinate the care in accordance with their insurance coverage.  This is not to limit their care, rather it is to ensure their care is aligned with their health insurance benefits so the patient does not have any large or unexpected costs.  These nurse case managers are sometimes known as Care Coordinators as well.

Closely related to the insurance company Nurse Case Manager is the Utilization Review Nurse.  The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) has loads of information about nurse case manager and the opportunities you might find in this nursing career.

Telehealth is a big thing right now, especially with the pandemic.  There’s a lot of companies looking  for nurses to do telehealth work.  You don’t have to do it all the time.  Telehealth is something you could do  part-time and still work at the bedside.

The salary range for nurse case managers is $58,995 to $75,257 according to Salary.com

 

Medical Sales Representative

Being a Medical Sales Representative takes you away from the bedside, but it doesn’t mean you are leaving the clinical area.  It’s a big income opportunity and it usually requires some travel. This can be a lucrative nursing career that is not bedside, but many nurses shy away from it because of the sales nature.  It is not for everyone.  You need to have the personality and persistence to be successful.

Nurses working in the Medical Sales field will be employed by drug companies, medical device companies, or medical services companies.  There is a wide variety of jobs for nurses looking to get into Medical Sales.  If you are new to this, you might have to start with a more entry level position than where you are now.  Still, this is one of the more lucrative nursing careers that are not beside.  A simple glance at online job boards will give you a good idea of the kinds of clinical and education background these companies are looking for.

If you have never been in sales before, don’t worry.  Selling skills can be taught.  You just need to be very self motivated to make this nursing career work.  Persistence is a key trait of a successful medical sales representative.  Don’t go into this nursing career if you are looking for a job to coast through.  Also, be expected to do some traveling, either locally, statewide, regionally, or nationally.  More experienced medical sales representatives may also have clients on an international level.

The salary range for Medical Sales Representatives is $55,478 to $70,253 according to Salary.com.  However, this is the salary.  Many Medical Sales Representatives make much more in bonus and commissions.

Legal Medical Consultant

Attorneys are always looking or expertise to help whtm with the medical cases they are working on.  In this position you are using your clinical knowledge and experience, plus your research skills to help law firms get all the facts straight.

Most nurse who go into this non-clinical nursing job are very experienced and have some form of post-secondary education in addition to certifications.  The larger percentage of nurses in the legal consultant career are self-employed.  They need to have, or develop, business, marketing, and sales skills in addition to the skills they need to be a credible clinical consultant,  LegalNurse.com is an excellent resource to look into this aspect of the legal medical consultant career.

A smaller subset of this career field are nurse paralegals.  These nurses have the additional formal training as a paralegal and employed by law firms.  Like the Legal Nurse Consultant, you can find nurse paralegals also working on a contract basis.  Most of the time this kind of work is done remotely.

The median annual salary for a Legal Medical Consultant is $77,224 as suggested by Salary.com

Risk Manager

Risk Managers look at different risks in the hospital, for example, falls.   They might investigate all the falls in the hospital and then they work to try to prevent them.  We know if a patient falls, it costs the hospital a lot of money, and it causes a lot of unnecessary physical and emotional strain on the patient.  Falls can lengthen their length of stay, or they could even have a worse healthcare outcome than expected, because a fall can really set patients back.

The median salary for all risk managers, hospital or otherwise, is $119,169.  You’ll have to dig a bit deeper to find out what hospitals in your area are paying.  You can start at Salary.com.

Educator

There are many universities   that do a lot of education online.   They always need instructors and it is something you can do from  home .away from the bedside.

The nursing profession needs more instructors because the demand for nurses is really high. The lack of nursing school faculty is one limiting factor in meeting the demand for more nurses.  This means we need a lot of people in nursing school, so they become nurses and we need great educators, someone who is able to share their talent, skills and experience with nursing students to make them great nurses.

If education is something you’re passionate about look into it because there is a real need for awesome educators.

According to Salary.com, the media income for a professor of nursing is $98,876.

Information Technology

This is another one of the popular nursing careers that are not at the bedside.  Healthcare information technology companies need the nursing  perspective all the time  If you have a knack or interest in technology, this would be something up your alley.

Related to this is website development.  If you have a creative streak in you that is not getting fulfilled, you can  build healthcare websites.  You can also consult on the graphic  designer for healthcare companies  Being a nurse, you can elevate that  and you what you know patients like to see.  Your nursing insights can help companies better understand how to market to potential patients.

The range of salary for all sorts of information technology analysts is $68,145 to $80,783, according to Salary.com.

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More Nursing Careers That Are Not Bedside

Research Nurse Coordinator

This is a different way to use your  nursing brain, but you’re still being a nurse.   Research Nurse coordinators help the physician and patients work together on clinical trials.

They’re asking patients questionnaires, researching different medications and procedures and reporting on it.

Research nurse may be a good fit for you, so check it out.

Salary.com reports that Research nurse coordinators make between $68,133 and $80,650.

School Nurse

School nursing can be an interesting job. The job of a school nurse is definitely a busy one. You never know what’s gonna walk into your clinic and you take care of belly aches to some serious things like allergic reactions or kids that have seizures and if you’re, the only nurse you really have so much autonomy.

You don’t have physicians like in the hospital around your floor that you can ask questions. There are protocols and procedures that you follow, but a lot of things that you do are based on your nursing experience and your critical thinking skills what’s great about school nursing.

You also have time off during the Summer, breaks in the Fall, Spring and Winter, and all the major holidays.  That’s a really big plus and you don’t have to work the weekends like the bedside nurses.

The pay ranges for school nurses will vary widely depending upon the location and size of your school district.  The median salary is $52,626 according to Salary.com.

Holistic Health Nurse

If you have a interest in alternative medicine, this is a potential nursing career that is not at the bedside for you.  Many nurses  know that medicinal isn’t the only way to go.  There may be an alternative route for your patients.   It’s very intriguing nursing career you can  get into or just a different type of nursing.

Most holistic health nurses work in some sort of wellness clinic.  Their salaries will be similar to other clinic nurses.