Non Direct Patient Care

Hi I'm on the same boat. I would like to know my options for a non-direct patient for an RN. Does anybody know anything about Nursing Informatics? Please reply if you have any info. Thanks.

[VYisgod]

...What type of things could a person with an RN degree (with a psych degree, and experience as a patient registrar) do in the health-care field that has nothing to do with touching/being near/ patients?

Check it out.

http://healthcareers.about.com/od/nursingcareers/p/NonClinicNurse.htm?r=et

Non-clinical Job Options for Nurses:

Nurses have a variety of options from which to choose. Many options for nurses are similar to some of the non-clinical careers for physicians. Below are a few options:

* Healthcare recruiting

* Healthcare Information Technology (HIT), Nursing Informatics

* Teaching, training: Nursing school, science teacher, medical certifications, etc.

* Medical Writer

* Patient advocate: nurses often serve as successful patient advocates due to not only their clinical knowledge, but also their knowledge of how the healthcare system works.

* Healthcare Executive, hospital administrator, Chief Nursing Officer.

* Medical consulting - nurses may consult with medical practices,insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, law firms, or hospitals on a variety of areas of expertise within the medical and nursing fields.

* Legal Nurse Consultant: nurses may provide clinical expertise and analysis on medical liability cases, or criminal cases needing medical forensic analysis or medical expert testimony.

* Business owner, independent consultant - Some nurses may incorporate themselves as a business, and provide a plethora of services incorporating many of the above roles into their business.

[VYisgod]

And here's one more useful link from City-Data.com - Any suggestions for non-patient care nursing jobs? (paralegal, companies, health insurance)

I am kinda in the same boat with pnurse and some of you out there are a bit harsh! I love medicine, people, not so much. My story is that I became a nurse by default. I went to my university open house and asked about being a Physicians assistant (I went back to school at 30 and felt I was to old for medical school). I was told that the program was so demanding that I would not be able to work and go to school. I informed them that mommy and daddy did not pay for my first degree and sure as heck would not be paying for this one either. I asked about other medical related programs, and was told nope, nope, nope. But that, "many of our nursing students work and go through the program." Since I was working a minimum wage job at the time, I said, sign me up! But, unlike pnurse, I love nursing in that it is so deversified. I have been a nurse for 14 years and have done a variety of jobs. I have been a travel nurse for four years now. So, if your not crazy about patient care, don't do it. There are still plenty of jobs out there for the non-traditional nurse.

[whoa-now]

Hello all, it has been a while since I've been on allnurses.

I earned my RN May 2006, was on a surgical floor for 6 months, tried psych nursing for a month, left nursing for a clerical job for 8 months, and now I'm working at a nursing home (basically doing LPN med pass-type work). I like the educational, knowledge-obtaining aspect of nursing but I totally despise the actual bedside-nursing aspect of nursing. Once again I'm thinking about getting out of nursing for something more clerical. I basically hate nursing and have ever since I entered my nursing program, but my student federal loans were running out and I was in my mid-20s and needed to start working. I've only been at my current job at the nursing home for 5 months. I hate everything, the patient load (30 patients), being pulled in a million different places, trying to perform miracles for demanding/sue-happy familes, staying late to do incident reports of our constantly falling patients, the disgusting smelling patients.... everything. Bedside nursing is not in my personality.

What type of things could a person with an RN degree (with a psych degree, and experience as a patient registrar) do in the health-care field that has nothing to do with touching/being near/ patients?

So sorry to hear about your experiences, but they sound OH SO familiar! Only I had a simple hysterectomy after graduating 6 years ago turn into necrotizing faciitis which was an 18 month long nightmare!! So for 4 1/2 years now I have been busting my butt mostly at SNF's and also home care. My body can't keep up with the demands of direct patient care. I do actually enjoy taking care of people and interacting with their families. But between the rather large caseload daily plus having to stay late for documetation, falls and other incidents plus call offs and having to double. My body simply can not do what it used to. Since being "let go" from my last job doing home health for "poor work performance" after about 6 months. I had to come to the realizatiion I have to pace myself and take things slower now. (always on the Deans List at school) not used to "failing. But now-a-days emplyers want you to do your job, PLUS. It's about getting the most productivity out of the least amount of emplyees UGH! So now I am on the hunt for something that does not involve patient care and the demands it places on body that doesn't work like it used to. I am kinda lost. In nursing school they don't tell you about all the opportunities out there. It seems they kind of push uou in the direction of signing onto a near by hospital. I know there are other fields to get into as an RN but don't know where to start. LOL. So here I am with my story too. Any advice??