Top Non-Bedside Nursing Jobs and Specialties

Nursing is a difficult job. Particularly for bedside nurses. You work long hours. You see difficult things. Pay is ok, but it could be better. And after years on the job, you start to feel…burnt out. It’s not good for you. It’s not good for your coworkers. It’s certainly not good for the patients.

Fortunately, it is possible to stay in the nursing profession without spending the rest of your life as a bedside nurse. All of the jobs featured on our list today feature more comfortable hours and greater autonomy for nursing professionals who want to leave the hospital behind. Some of them even pay better. Read on to learn more about the top non-bedside nursing jobs.

Sales

Sales are admittedly more than several steps removed from the responsibilities of a traditional nurse, but it is a perfectly valid career into which you can pivot using your nursing degree. For example, you know those sales reps who come to the hospital all the time?

Sure. Sometimes they bring sandwiches.

Well, that could be you bringing the sandwiches. You don’t have to have a healthcare background to become a medical salesperson but it helps. You know how to talk to doctors and administrators. You know how hospitals work. Perhaps most importantly, you understand the jargon. You know what features medical professionals will be interested in when it comes to a new product. These are valuable skills that can translate into decent money and a comfortable career path.

Doctor’s Office

For many people, doctor’s office nurses are their primary exposure to the profession. The people who take vitals, administer vaccines, etc. are nurses. They work hard and put in long busy days, but at the same time, the gig has several key advantages over traditional bedside nursing.

Such as?

Well. For one thing, there are no emergencies involved. The people who come in might be sick, but they won’t be on the brink of death. Your hours are better too. Most doctor’s offices are open Monday-Saturday during normal business hours. This means you can work a full day and be home by dinner.

To ice the cake, doctor’s offices are usually closed on holidays which means you won’t have to miss every other Thanksgiving for the rest of your life.

Health Coach

Health coaches may assist patients with goals—losing weight, lowering blood pressure, etc. or they may be brought in to educate them about a chronic condition. For example, when a person is newly diagnosed with diabetes, a health coach is often one of the first people they come into contact with.

The relationship may or may not be long-term, but in almost all cases it will be pleasantly less intimate or intrusive than bedside nursing. Best of all, these positions are generally open to nurses with no additional educational requirements. If you are already working as a registered nurse, you can apply to these jobs without returning to school. It’s a come-as-you-are situation.

Education

Those people who taught you in nursing school? They were nurses! It seems obvious, and yet heading back to the classroom is an idea that often slips the mind of nurses who are looking for a change of pace. Higher education is a rewarding, and often, surprisingly flexible way to earn a living as a nurse.

Highly flexible you say? That’s music to my ears.

More flexible than twelve-hour night shifts at any rate. Yeah. For one thing, there are no educational emergencies. You won’t be called in unexpectantly. If you can’t make it to work for a good reason, it won’t be the end of the world. And your working hours will be much more manageable. Classes are two hours instead of twelve, and much of the work takes place at home or in your office, grading papers and thinking up new lesson plans.

It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination, but for someone who is used to spending forty hours a week on their feet, it is a much more comfortable one.

Most nursing educators at least have a graduate degree while some will even have their Ph.D. It’s an investment of time and money, but one that can open more doors for you later down the road if you decide you want to branch out from education.

MiscHealth Services

Then there are miscellaneous healthcare-adjacent jobs that nurses are well suited to. For example, laser hair removal. While the work is hardly urgent or even necessary, it does require a careful hand and a knowledgeable professional. The lasers are hot and dangerous. Without a well-trained operator, they could do serious harm.

Then there’s botox. Vaccine administration. Etc. Jobs that require medical knowledge but don’t come with nearly as much pressure as you’ll encounter working in a hospital.

As with many of the other jobs on this list, these gigs have normal business hours. No nights. No holidays. Sometimes, no weekends. And here’s the kicker: you may even make more money.

Start Your Own Practice

Nurse practitioners in many states are able to start their own practice, operating in much the same capacity as a general practitioner. This is a great way to start your own business and enjoy extremely high levels of autonomy as a nurse.

Becoming a nurse practitioner takes years of education and quite a bit of money to accomplish. However, for many, it is a worthwhile way to explore the field of nursing.

Depending on where you live, nurse practitioners can make diagnoses and prescribe medications. Check with your state laws to find out what your options would be as a nurse practitioner.