HELP!!!"How do I make Lemonade out of this Nursing Profession?"

[lweave2]

Hi Fellow Nurses out there in cyberspace- Need your help! Please put your minds together & brainstorm some great employment opportunities that are out there for me that maybe I just don't know about.

Nursing was never a good healthy fit for me as a career. Had absolutely no idea what I was actually getting into when I got my nursing degree & it was my own fault & my own stupid impulsive decision. Did all kinds of patient-care nursing roles: hospital, nursing homes, assisted living, home health, pediatrics, clinics, doctors offices, methadone clinic. None of the patient care roles were a good fit for me because I'm not wired to be a personal care giver type person. I enjoy helping people but in an indirect way not in their personal space. For example, I loved my administrative positions as a Research Nurse coaching patients through the steps of a clinical trial but research is an unstable field due to grant funding. There has got to be a good fit out there for me some where using my transferable skills in some nontraditional administrative role under the medical umbrella thats not too stressful.

Where are the happy employees who have a Nursing back ground working? What types of employment roles are they doing? I want to find another nich out there which is similiar to my last research coordinator position or something totally out of the box. I am wide open to any career options out there which would appreciate my medical back ground & would really enjoy having me on board. Are there any such companies out there where employees truly enjoy coming into work every day? I just want to work for a good company to get my benefits & where there is a healthy corporate culture & the company needs my skills.

How can I make LEMONADE out of my career history? Also, looking for stable work not prn or contract work where I don't get any benefits. Would love to get your great ideas. -Thank you- Lisa

[Jayden8139]

Try the health insurance companies for Case Manager positions and positions where nurses and doctors work together to approve medically necessary positions. Nurses working in Health insurance make a great deal of money!

[Jayden8139]

That was medically necessary procedures.* Anyway this is still a good way to help people while using your nursing experience and making good money!

[BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN]

Have you looked into nursing education opportunities? I know our hospital has nurses that teach the orientation and in-services and these nurses don't do actual patient care. I don't know your level of education but have you considered teaching? You may be able to really help students with your clinical knowledge, even if you don't want to have direct patient care. Good luck!

[CherylRNBSN]

I sort of fell into managing a medical practice.

I loved it. Hours were 8-5ish, M-F.

I started out doing the billing (easy b/c I had background in that particular specialty, so I knew the terminology. It turned out to be very easy, and a good fit. I loved submitting clean claims and getting reimbursements quickly and accurately ).I occassionally filled in as nurse. Managed a small staff.

What are about pharmaceutical sales?

I just received a mailing for a course talk about university nursing school awarding legal nurse consultant certification.

There's another Poster on AN who works in public health.

Good luck!

[mappers]

Don't rule out research. Look at Community research opportunities. I work for an oncology practice and we employ three research nurses plus a clerical person. Grant funding is not an issue. Our docs agree to participate in trials being sponsored by other groups/universities. I know other Oncology groups do this as well. I have a friend who works at a University in research. She works with MD practices such as cardiology and ortho who trial new equipment, drugs, etc for companies. She is not a nurse, but they have nurses who work for them.

[TiddlDwink]

One area of nursing that requires little hands-on care is Psychiatric nursing. Lots of talking/listening, and occasional medication administration, but mostly just using your communication skills.

[prettymica, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN, NP]

MDS, sales, education, clincal research assistant?

[lovedijah]

Theres a teacher at my school with a RN degree who teaches low level courses for bio and chem. She also teaches Nutrition. I don't know that you can teach at large colleges without at least a masters, but I'm sure you can at community and trade schools. My MIL is an RN who teaches CNA courses.

[RNGriffin]

Have you tried health informatics? You may have to take a couple of additional courses, but this will move you out of the direct care setting into a field that's indirectly associated with patient care. I would also look into getting into the DRG roles within the medical billing & coding profession. You could always look into nursing opportunities that aren't majorly patient care probably a 40 % care and 60% research opportunities.

You have to do some research on other opportunities.

[08RNGrad]

There are many jobs for RN's in research, do you live near a large university? Try drug safety or medical information positions (call center). These both pay more than acute care nursing and involve no patient care. You can either go through a contracting agency or directly through a pharma or CRO. Good Luck!

[Kat_everdeen]

I used to work for a company that was responsible for car insurance claims, they employed nurses to determine what questions need to be asked of an independent doc in order to figure out if the person could continue to claim disability and have the insurance company continue to pay out. Personally I found it to be soul crushing, I had a claimant who was clearly injured and needed pretty serious knee surgery, the independent doc said he needed a clearer Xray to answer definitively what needed to be done on this persons knee, but either way the person needed surgery. They wanted to leave her file in limbo so eventually her claim could be outright denied. I imagine you might be able to find a job in the pharma industry or in a doctors office, possibly plastics. I am not a nurse so this is just an educated guess.