A nursing degree, or BSN, can lead to more careers than you might think. If bedside nursing no longer interests you, or was never your intended career after getting the degree, there are a plethora of other wonderful career options waiting for you.
“The nursing workforce is taking on more and more roles, from traditional patient care to research, from education to forensics, or from informatics to nutrition,” Nightingale College reported. “Career paths for nurses are more diversified than ever. Nurses who decide to change their careers often cite burnout, 12-hour shifts, and workplace incivility as the main workplace challenges they face. So, should a nurse decide they want a job that offers more stability and flexibility, then changing the setting is now more achievable than ever.”
- Physician offices often offer administrative roles with limited patient care responsibilities.
- Research laboratories offer opportunities to study diseases and work closely with scientists.
- Pharmaceutical companies are often in need of nursing-educating individuals for patient education and sales representative roles.
- Insurance and law firms have opportunities for those interested in specializing in medical laws.
- Schools are always in need of school nurses, while higher learning institutions are in need of nurse educators.
- From management to consultant opportunities, the nontraditional possibilities are nearly endless.
For those looking for something a little more similar to the bedside nursing experience, there are many more opportunities to consider. According to the Nurse Journal, wound care nurses average an annual salary of $76,600. These nurses treat wounds and teach patients about how they can care for their wounds from home.
Traveling nurses average $80,000 a year. While they generally perform the same tasks as most other registered nurses, they also have the ability to travel. Nutrition and fitness nurses make roughly the same as wound care nurses, but primarily work in spas, health clubs and surgical recovery sites.
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