Options other than the bedside

The BSN will open you up to more opportunities.

You could do utilization review. You could work for an insurance company. You might be able to teach cnas, techs, lpns.

I am a school nurse. It doesn't pay as much as the bedside but we get lots of perks like good benefits, lots of time off, etc... You could also teach classes at a community college but the pay isn't great there either.

Case manager, outpatient clinic, a procedural area. You could go into education or work for an insurance or medical device company.

You could try public health nursing! State governments are good places to find public health nursing jobs. Usually the benefits are pretty good too.

https://www.apha.org/-/media/files/pdf/membergroups/phn/nursingdefinition.ashx?la=en&hash=331DBEC4B79E0C0B8C644BF2BEA571249F8717A0

2 hours ago, Blue_Moon said:

I am a school nurse. It doesn't pay as much as the bedside but we get lots of perks like good benefits, lots of time off, etc... You could also teach classes at a community college but the pay isn't great there either.

I came here to second school nursing--I've never had better health insurance!

Possible non-clinical nursing jobs:

1) Case management (usually BSN required).

2) Nurse auditing.

3) Legal consultant (usually BSN required).

4) Nursing Management/Administration (usually BSN required).

5) Recruiting.

6) Informatics.

7) Quality control (usually BSN required).

8_) Patient advocacy (usually BSN required).

9) School nursing.

10) Public health.

11) Sales rep for pharm or suppliers.

12) Sim-lab coordinator for a nursing school (usually BSN required).

13) Skills pass off/lab coverage for a nursing school (usually BSN required).

Drug rehab/addiction nursing. You see progress and improvement in the patients which is rewarding. Not very stressful. You are actually helping people. Most of them want to get better and go home.

Do you like being a nurse? If so, then yes there is a job out there for you. If not, then you will not be content. Try to stay where you are right now until you get your BSN. Job hopping to often is not good.

I am a new grad working in Community Health and I love it! Honestly I don’t place my hands on patients very often— only when I give injections and the occasional ear flush. Mostly what I do is education and listening. There’s a fair bit of “investigating”, such as when a diabetic patient says “I haven’t been feeling as good as usual but I’m fine” and I have to find creative ways to uncover what exactly that means. The primary thing you need is absolutely excellent communication skills.

I also spend ages on the phone, because we don’t have a social work department so every “Granny needs a wheelchair and Medicaid denied it” phone call falls to the nurses to solve.

For my particular job, I am getting paid slightly more than some of the hospital new grad programs.

I started in bedside nursing six years ago and got burnt out pretty quickly. three years ago I moved to the OR. More money, less stress. Fewer holidays. No nights or weekends (Baylor in place). Minimal call. I work the evening/trauma shift at a level 1 trauma center so it's rarely boring.

School nursing and public health nursing require a bachelor's. At most (not all) nursing homes in my area, the RN is the nursing supervisor (above the LVN and CNA). So they don't do hands on care. They are also used as desks nurses and admitting nurses. You can even try working as a DSD (staff development).

You have gotten many great options to your initial request. Unfortunately, you didn't say what you are good at, not good at, and why you feel your time in LTC was not successful. With "your fix" being to get more education, makes me wonder why the emphasis is there?

While continuing your education has it's benefits, I often see newer nurses are not able to connect to their patients because they haven't achieved an effective level of personal interactions, empathy, time management or self confidence. Unfortunately, if this applies to you, it is likely more nursing education isn't going to be helpful.

Nursing is the "art" of being able to understand the concerns and emotions of your patient, while being able to effectively function from the perspective of a caregiver, educator, friend, counselor, promoter, realist, guide, investigator, option giver, etc....encouraging the best while standing back and observing our patient's success or failures from their perspective and choices.

Ours is a complicated profession where being uncomfortable should be a somewhat normal occurrence ensuring our progression toward becoming a better nurse.