Jobs for extremely anxious and shy nurse

chrisrn24 · May 17, 2013

Are you working as a nurse currently?

Love2ReadRN · May 17, 2013

Hi Snowyeyes,

First of all, I want to say I know exactly how I feel and to be honest, my anxiety got a lot worse once I started working on the hospital floor (with 5-6 patients). However, having said that, I also gained an insane level of confidence because I was able to do something I was so scared of. You have the tools, YOU CAN DO IT! I feel so strong that I'm a nurse and sure it's difficult but I'm putting in my time until I can get a better job. I love being a bedside nurse but I can't do it forever.

Unfortunately, at least in my area, you need a BSN to move away from bed side nursing. Some jobs (rarely) a BSN is enough to get your foot in the door but really, they want a BSN and 1 year experience..and honestly, I've started seeing 2 years a lot more frequently. Those other jobs ARE highly sought after and they easily go to the BSN prepared nurses. Although being enrolled in a BSN program will help set you apart from the ASN nurses, you still need that BSN to be completed to actually get the good job.

Here are some jobs:

Review Nurse/Insurance Nurse (Usually M-F, work with insurance claims)

Case Management (Usually M-F, works in hospital setting and still works with patients but it's not skills-based which, at least for me, is where the anxiety has come in the past)

Education (No idea on hours... Hard to get into and you need experience...Rarely see job openings...You could work as a patient educator, do in service in the hospital for hospital employees, or work with educating new hired nurses) in fellowship programs)

Doctor office nursing (Varied hours... Only knew 1 ASN with no experience to get this job and it's because she worked for him for ever before and during nursing school.)

Hospital Admin (again you need experience and a BSN)

Good luck :)