Looking for jobs outside hospitals

[etuttle1]

Looking for advice from nurses who have worked outside the hospital. I have been a bedside nurse at an urban hospital for over two years now and have come to realize that bedside nursing is just not for me. I am grateful for the experience bedside nursing has provided me at the start of my nursing career, but I am ready to find my passion!

I love providing education and resources for my patients, but bedside nursing does not allow me much time for this. I feel like I'm putting a bandaid on a big problem and never am actually treating the real issues of my patients in the hospital.

What careers have you found more fulfilling than bedside nursing and how did you go about transferring out of the hospital world? I feel like all the job openings I keep finding are in the hospitals. Any advice is appreciated!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Most of us love patient/family interaction, so I completely understand your frustration. Unfortunately, US "health care" does not place a very high value on health education & other preventative measures - so there's no economic incentive to provide these services.

However, the 'unintended consequences' of moving into electronic documentation have given rise to more non-patient care jobs for experienced nurses such as OP. For instance, my organization is rapidly expanding the numbers of Clinical Documentation Specialists - these RN-only jobs are focused on helping ensure that provider documentation is adequate. Very ironic, right? EHRs were supposed to be the answer to everything... make life easier so that nurses would have more time at the bedside. But instead, they're creating even more non-clinical Nursing Jobs.