Are there many jobs RNs can do that do not involve direct patient contact?

[Kara638]

Are there many jobs RNs can do that do not involve direct patient contact and can be done in an office setting or remotely at home? I am planning to be a bedside and ICU nurse after nursing school but I may be having a family soon and I don't want to expose my children to any dangerous virus variants if things get worse later on. I am just wondering if there are a lot of jobs RNs can do that do not involve direct patient contact and can be done in an office setting or remotely at home. 

I assume that if you become a NP you can work full-time remotely very easily, correct?

[Emergent, RN]

There are some jobs I've heard, for experienced nurses.

[Wuzzie]

Kara, I think you need to do some more investigation before you continue your nursing education. You seem to have some unrealistic expectations vs misunderstanding of what working as a nurse entails. I'm not saying you shouldn't be a nurse but your rampant fear of Covid (you're going to be exposed to many more nasty pathogens as a nurse), your desire to not do actual patient care and your idea that NPs work "remotely" is leading me to believe that you haven't done your homework. Nursing may not be a good fit for your needs.

[klone, MSN, RN]

8 hours ago, Kara638 said:

I assume that if you become a NP you can work full-time remotely very easily, correct?

You assume incorrectly.

Doing what, exactly? NPs are typically PCPs. And while there is now some level of telemedicine, you still have to be able to touch patients in real life in primary care.

I thought you said in another thread that you were planning on becoming an ICU nurse and CRNA?

28 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

Kara, I think you need to do some more investigation before you continue your nursing education. You seem to have some unrealistic expectations vs misunderstanding of what working as a nurse entails. I'm not saying you shouldn't be a nurse but your rampant fear of Covid (you're going to be exposed to many more nasty pathogens as a nurse), your desire to not do actual patient care and your idea that NPs work "remotely" is leading me to believe that you haven't done your homework. Nursing may not be a good fit for your needs.

But it does make for interesting reading as I drink my morning coffee.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

57 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

Kara, I think you need to do some more investigation before you continue your nursing education. You seem to have some unrealistic expectations vs misunderstanding of what working as a nurse entails. I'm not saying you shouldn't be a nurse but your rampant fear of Covid (you're going to be exposed to many more nasty pathogens as a nurse), your desire to not do actual patient care and your idea that NPs work "remotely" is leading me to believe that you haven't done your homework. Nursing may not be a good fit for your needs.

Thank you for stating this much more diplomatically than I wanted to.

[Psychnursehopeful, ASN, RN]

9 hours ago, Kara638 said:

Are there many jobs RNs can do that do not involve direct patient contact and can be done in an office setting or remotely at home? I am planning to be a bedside and ICU nurse after nursing school but I may be having a family soon and I don't want to expose my children to any dangerous virus variants if things get worse later on. I am just wondering if there are a lot of jobs RNs can do that do not involve direct patient contact and can be done in an office setting or remotely at home. 

I assume that if you become a NP you can work full-time remotely very easily, correct?

With 3-5 year experience bedside, you certainly can work remotely for an insurance company or some other low paying position. Nps do telemedicine but that's for experienced practitioners. As a new nurse you learn so much from at the bedside. Textbooks and simulations only offer so much. Competent nurses are made at the bedside. 

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

Hi Kara, 

I don't want to assume what you might be thinking, but I'm assuming you might have been thinking of just bridging over to a FNP program after you graduate/pass NCLEX? 

If you graduate w/ your BSN, you could eventually become a FNP, but since it would be a BSN-FNP bridge program, you would need experience to do so.  There are entry-level masters program which take those who already earned a BS or BA degree in another field and train them to be a FNP.  While some of those students in the entry level masters program do not necessarily go and do bedside nursing, they do have to go out and do hands-on work as FNPs.  Whether it's a nurse or FNP, you have to put in the time getting better at your craft before venturing on to do remote work only.  I know with Covid, telehealth was put in place because there was no other option to see patients. At some point, things will go back to having regular visits with regular patients in person, doing assessments, etc..

You certainly do have options as to what area or specialty you might want to seek out after graduation.  There are certainly some options which might not make you as exposed (relatively speaking) as compared to others.  ICU is probably not one of those.  I would just suggest perhaps exploring other nursing floors or specialties and seeing what might fit your future plans.

Best of luck to you.

[Kara638]

Thanks for all of your posts guys. I really appreciate it.

From my research, there are many full-time remote Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) jobs that pay well (over 130k-200k), correct? I have searched the job listings and there are many remote jobs for PMHNPs. One job listing is a full-time remote telemedicine PMHNP W-2 position that is paying 200k yearly. 

This is a specialty that I would be interested in pursuing after getting my RN license. Again, I am just trying to do research on various nurse specialties and jobs right now as I know I do not just want to stop at a RN license. 

[klone, MSN, RN]

You said before that your plan was to become a CRNA. PMHNP is a WILDLY different specialty from anesthesia. What changed in a day?

[Kara638]

6 minutes ago, klone said:

You said before that your plan was to become a CRNA. PMHNP is a WILDLY different specialty from anesthesia. What changed in a day?

Again, I am looking into different nursing specialties right now. If there is a specialty that seems to be a better fit, it would make sense to look into that option as well. Is there anything wrong with considering different specialty options to pursue? 

[klone, MSN, RN]

Are you choosing PMHNP because you like behavioral health, or because you want to work from home?

[Kara638]

42 minutes ago, klone said:

Are you choosing PMHNP because you like behavioral health, or because you want to work from home?

I'm not "choosing" any specialty yet before I have done my full research on them. I am doing research on multiple nurse specialties right now though. Any specialty I end up choosing I obviously would like the specialty, the job, and the work environment(s). Right now both CRNA and PMHNP are specialties I am doing research on so I am just getting more information about both. Obviously both anesthesia and psychiatry/mental health interest me.