All the Things You can do with a Nursing Degree

All the Things You can do with a Nursing Degree Stating the obvious, you can certainly use a nursing degree to obtain a job at a hospital. You may also seek out, and probably find a position within, a private practice, or medical clinic. Those positions are of course the common areas that nurse look to upon graduating nursing school. There are however a number of areas that you may not think of, perhaps a little less common, yet viable places for a nurse to be employed.

Private Companies Some large companies now employ nurses on a full time basis. The job essentially involves relatively short visits with company employees that may be sick or have an injury. As the on duty nurse, you would examine and evaluate the patient. You would then offer recommendations based on their condition, making suggestions of over the counter medications and products, or a visit to their primary care doctor. A position such as this can be very different than what most nurses do, as you are generally not surrounded by medical emergencies, and you don't have regular patients. In order to be successful in a position of this type, you would need to be ok with working alone, and not alongside other nurses. Your job would most likely not involve shift work, overtime, or holiday work, so there are some advantages.

Related: International Nurses Association - What does a Certified Nurse Midwife Do? School Nurse Most schools that are average size or larger now employ a nurse. It may or may not be full time, depending on the school’s needs. The main benefit to this position is, you would probably maintain the same hours and holidays as the teachers. As an elementary school nurse you may or may or may not work alone, depending on the size of the school and number of students.

Working in a high school, again would depend on the number of students, however, if there is more than one nurse, it is generally no more than a staff of two. If you are looking to coincide hours with your own school aged children, this could be a perfect fit. Requirements for this position would be that you have a desire to work with children, and pediatric experience would be a plus.

Virtual Nurse Help Line With so many jobs going virtual today, it’s no wonder that nursing jobs are evolving in that direction as well. You cannot accurately diagnose someone without physically seeing them; however you can offer advice and direction based on information provided by the caller. Most virtual nurse help line jobs are available in increments of 4 hour shifts, and you would be required

to have a dedicated line, a computer, and a quiet office setting. You would be expected to be 100% available during your designated shift.

Event Nurse An event nurse is a job that is recently becoming popular. Essentially, you attend events and have a small room available to evaluate someone in an emergency. You would also be expected to make your way through a crowd to tend to a person that was unable to transport themselves. In a case such as that, most likely your job would entail providing care until emergency personnel arrived to transport said person to a hospital. Some of the locations for event nurses would be: • Arena’s • Stadiums • Concert Halls • Auditoriums • Coliseum • Fairs & Carnivals • Concerts Outdoors An event nurse can be very different, and exciting, you would attend events and meet numerous people. The negative with being an event nurse would be that in many situations you could be faced with a person intoxicated and uncooperative. Working as an event nurse would involve being very patient and understanding, as you would deal with a variety or patients and conditions. You would also need to consider that you would most likely not have regular hours, so it may work out well for a nurse looking for occasional and part time employment.

Related: 5 Things About Being a Nurse Midwife that You Didn't Learn in School Sheltered Workshop Many people may not realize just how many workshops provide training and jobs for adults with disabilities. Most of the workshops provide an on-site nurse, or nurses. As a general rule, the workshops operate a regular Monday thru Friday working schedule, with holidays off. As a nurse working with patients with developmental disabilities, you would have the opportunity work with some very special individuals. Many people with developmental delays are unable to communicate well, which would mean that you would need to diagnose without much verbal interaction from the patient. A staff member can often offer input as to the patient’s needs, however much of diagnosis would be in the hands of the nurse. Wheelchair bound patients would need to be monitored closely for bedsores, and some of the attendees’ may have feeding tubes that need to be monitored. In

most cases, the center nurse is responsible for maintaining on site medications, and making sure the medications are distributed properly.

Retirement Community Don’t confuse a retirement community with a nursing home! The residents will not take kindly to being referred to as nursing home residents. People living in a retirement community are generally very active and productive senior citizens. They are far from considering themselves as “old� and still live very active lives. Many of the retirement communities offer the services of a nurse. In some cases there is a nurse on staff 24/7, however, most retirement homes provide nursing services during weekdays only. You may be involved in helping to organize medications for residents that vary depending on the facility or community itself. The positive side of this position is working with people that have a world of experience, knowledge, and usually a great sense of humor that they are willing to share with you.

This can be one of the more rewarding nursing careers, especially if you prefer working with senior citizens.

Research Facility Most large research facilities employ at least one full time nurse to provide input from a nursing standpoint. A position such as this would virtually have no hands on involvement with patients, however you would be contributing to the welfare of patients as part of a research team. If you enjoy science and research, this would be a good field to consider.

Gyms and Health Clubs Some large health clubs and gyms may employ nurses to work and be available during their busiest hours of operations. The hours may be irregular, and peak hours for such facilities are often split, which would involve split shifts. Much of this type of position would involve evaluating people for exercise regimens, although the occasional emergency may prevail. If you have nursing experience in the athletic field, this may be of particular interest to you.

Spas and Resorts Your first reaction to this type of position is, do they offer discounts to employees? The good news is, many do, in fact, many offer their employees free services. As a spa or resort nurse, you would work with people that are having services provided at that location. Much of this may involve heat related issues, although the occasional injury can occur that requires an emergency response. The hours for nurses at a spa or resort would totally be at the discretion of the facility director, they could range from part time weekdays, to 24/7, depending on needs.

There are numerous jobs for nurses that do not involve working in a hospital, clinic, or private practice. No longer are you destined to work in a clinical setting just because you have a nursing license. Explore what your area of interest is, and then research potential nursing jobs within that field.

You may be surprised how many non-healthcare related nursing jobs that are available. Depending on your requirements of part time, full time, or even occasional, you can find the perfect job, for a near perfect nurse.

Related: International Nurses Association - What's Your Superpower? Tshirt Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest and Twitter