PhD_Scientist

Hello, This is my first time posting to this website in many many years (I was a member as an undergraduate student and regularly visited this website). I am looking for some career advice, or for someone who has experienced something similar. I currently work at a major university as an Assistant Professor. I have worked at the same university since 2012 (received my masters degree in 2011) but was recently promoted to Assistant Professor after receiving my PhD in Nursing Science in 2015. I received my PhD degree from an extremely reputable and well known university. Although I thoroughly enjoyed my PhD program, I have not enjoyed my job as an Assistant Professor, which heavily focuses on conducting research (writing grant proposals, conducting research, and writing articles for publication). I love the flexibility and autonomy of working in a university setting, but dearly miss working with patients and people. Most of my job as a researcher is spent sitting behind a computer in my office. I have thought about leaving my university job for many months but am hesitant. I worked extremely hard to get my PhD and feel like I am letting myself down by not doing research. Moreover, my job pays me an extremely healthy salary (over $100K) and am a little wary of taking a big pay cut. I am wondering if there is anyone else on this site who has had a similar experience where they earned their PhD but did not like working in academia and took a job elsewhere. I don't want to work as a floor nurse again, but am wondering if there is another job that would involve more patient interaction and where I could translate the skills and talents acquired during my PhD. Thanks for any insights or suggestions!