Options to leave bedside nursing and take it easy, physically

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2015

There are options other than case management that will take you away from the bedside.

1. Advice nurse for insurance companies

2. Telephone triage nurse

3. Hospital unit nurse educator

4. Wound care nurse (hospital or LTC)

5. Infection control nurse

6. Informatics nurse / super-user

7. Research intake nurse

8. Blood bank intake nurse

9. Psychiatric hospital intake nurse

10. Infusion nurse

11. Instructor for CNA & MA classes

mudd68 · Feb 19, 2015

If you have bed side experience, telephone triage is an option. Many insurance compaines and even hospitals are utilizing us in order to cut down on inappropriate office visits. You know the pt who needs to be in the ED but comes to the clinic just to be 911 out. OR that pt who can care for their stubbed toe at home but thinks they need to call 911. A little reassurance and advice over the phone can go a long way in avoiding an unnecessary office visit. And for every inapproprate visit/slot being scheduled there is a pt being displaced from an appointment that would have been appropriate. I've been doing telephone triage for a little over 3 years now. I love it! Good luck!

Humaneclowninscrubs · Feb 19, 2015

I think all of these will require years of experience, correct?

mudd68 · Feb 19, 2015

My current position preferred 3 years of hospital experience when I was hired in 2011. At the time of my hiring I had 2 years RN,BSN experience but had been a hospice LPN for 5 years prior to that and the hiring team took that into consideration. See LPN experience can and does count! So as far as telephone triage, hands on experience is preferred...the amount of experience will probably vary from place to place.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2015

I think all of these will require years of experience, correct?

Not all of those options require many years of experience. An applicant who has good soft skills and can sell the miniscule experience they have can be hired or promoted into one of these positions.

The hospital nurse educator and wound care nurse at my workplace both have approximately three years of experience and associate degrees in nursing. But because my former CNO liked these nurses, they were promoted from floor nurses to their current positions.

My close friend landed a cool position as a nursing staff development coordinator with only an associates degree and a little more than four years of experience.

I once attended a trade school that hired instructors. The minimum qualification was an associate degree and three years of bedside experience.

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2015

I think all of these will require years of experience, correct?

Yes. I think you can probably see that anyone hiring an RN for such a position would expect a certain level of expertise.

Consider going to the top of this page and clicking on "specialties." You will find a lot of ideas and, what's more, information on how to start in those fields, if you look around and use the "search" feature.

RNforLongTime · Feb 20, 2015

I just left bedside nursing about 6 months ago (after 17 years there with 12 in ICU) to become an RN in a male prison. It's much less physically demanding than having to wipe pooh every hour and manually lift 300+ pound patients that are vent dependent. Manual lifting is bad for one's back. Pretty much what I do is pass pills and do paperwork. In the DOC, there's LOTS of paperwork.

Plus the benefits are excellent! Medical on day 1. Full pension to which I contribute 9.25% of my paycheck bi-weekly. After 10 years I could technically retire. I plan to stick it out for 20 and retire at 62. I get paid time and a half for 10 holidays per year if I worked those days (including MLK day and President's day). The prisoners have been pretty respectful....as they told us at our Basic Training, you won't have problems with the prisoners...it'll be your coworkers who give you the most grief....so far, I've found that to be exactly the case!

Honestly, it's a fairly easy job....like today, I was assigned as the triage/sick line RN....so I do the AM insulin administrations at 0630 & 1100..then handle any other 'emergencies' as they arise with the prisoners....Like I see guys who complain of chest pain..or have a cold..and they have to pay a minimal co-pay just like we would if we went to the Dr. I also do treatments--like give Lovenox, Copaxone, Enbrel, etc. We have quite a few prisoners with major psychiatric illnesses so some have to come up weekly for Haloperidol or Prolixin injections...the triage RN does that. :)

Humaneclowninscrubs · Feb 20, 2015

Where are these position located? I mean is it for example at a state prison? How do I look up these jobs? Any tips?

NOADLS · Feb 20, 2015

Depending on your experience, you could get in as a charge nurse in a LTC/SNF right at hire. As I always have to point out, we all have different tolerances for what we can carry out physically. For some people, it doesn't sit well that they are sitting while everyone else is sweating. Case management is definitely the way to go. If I could hit the rest button on my career, I would have darted in that direction.

allnurses Guide · Apr 13, 2015

There are options other than case management that will take you away from the bedside.
1. Advice nurse for insurance companies
2. Telephone triage nurse
3. Hospital unit nurse educator
4. Wound care nurse (hospital or LTC)
5. Infection control nurse
6. Informatics nurse / super-user
7. Research intake nurse
8. Blood bank intake nurse
9. Psychiatric hospital intake nurse
10. Infusion nurse
11. Instructor for CNA & MA classes

Strike out wound care as wounds on the butt are often contaminated with feces and the OP doesn't like dealing with poop. Psych probably not the best either since they sometime throw poop at you!