What is a unique job that you do that you love?

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Crazy that I can't call myself a new graduate anymore; however, I am certainly not the most experienced. I've been a bedside RN for about 2 years now. I've been primarily working on a busy neuro/stroke telemetry floor, that used to be step-down (3-1) but is 4-1 now. I love acute care, but I'm ready for a change, and would love to get out of bedside as there are so many options in nursing. It has been relatively hard to figure out what I want to do. I've thought about informatics, research/clinical trials, case management, sales, inventions too! However it's hard to find out what these jobs are actually like aside from their job description. I've heard to flight nursing, entertainment nursing (sounds interesting as I live in the entertainment capital), and boat nursing and would love to hear people's experiences.

I'd honestly prefer a non-salary, 3 day/12 hour a week, non bedside job, with the same pay or better than bedside! Don't know if that's possible though LOL. I have my bachelor's degree and I'm more than willing to to obtain my masters IF need be. Would love to hear from those who LOVE their job or those who feel like they have a unique, one-of a kind job. How did you get to where you are? What do you love about your job? What's you pay/hours? Also interested in hearing about those who essentially "created" a job for themselves, perhaps in the organization that they work.

Thanks for your stories!

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I loved working in infusion therapy and vascular access.

When I worked infusion therapy I worked in an infusion center in a hospital just inserting IVs and giving IV meds all day with a fair amount of chemo. Since the patients were outpatient we did not have to do any of the normal bedside stuff. Same basic schedule with much less on the weekends although 1 or 2 of us did have to rotate through on occasion if we has a qDay patient.

Vascular access was super fun, like REALLY fun. Run around the hospital all day inserting IVs, midlines, and PICCs. I loved it because the physicians treated me like an expert consultant, often deferring to my recommendations. I would do my assessments, perform my procedure, and then move on. Best of all worlds since I had the patient interaction without being stuck with them all day. Once you develop those skills as an vascular access specialist it can be very lucrative.

I would run out to all of the nursing homes and billed $100 for every basic intervention. Need a PIV? $100. Need that port accessed or deaccessed? $100. Blood draw? $100. I could make more money down a single nursing home hall within 1 hour than I did at the hospital all day and even sometimes all week...

Of course if they needed a PICC inserted urgently the price went up dramatically into the several hundreds of dollars....and there was always a need.

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Flatline, that's absolutely amazing and I appreciate your insight! I've heard of PICC line nurses before but never knew about the world of infusion therapy. That sounds really interesting. I also love the part where you were able to bill your own rates and travel to different facilities to use your skills. How lucrative! About a year ago, I became really interested in home health nurses who worked independently and billed medicare/medical directly for their services. I've stopped my research on that, but I feel that being able to use your skills independently is amazing.

How did you get your vascular access/PICC line insertion skills? Did you go back to school? Or did you learn the skills through your job? Were you originally a bedside RN, or did you already have those skills from perhaps ICU? Thanks so much

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Flatline, that's absolutely amazing and I appreciate your insight! I've heard of PICC line nurses before but never knew about the world of infusion therapy. That sounds really interesting. I also love the part where you were able to bill your own rates and travel to different facilities to use your skills. How lucrative! About a year ago, I became really interested in home health nurses who worked independently and billed medicare/medical directly for their services. I've stopped my research on that, but I feel that being able to use your skills independently is amazing.

How did you get your vascular access/PICC line insertion skills? Did you go back to school? Or did you learn the skills through your job? Were you originally a bedside RN, or did you already have those skills from perhaps ICU? Thanks so much

I started in LTC.

In LTC I would have to manage everyone's IVs since I was usually the only RN on duty. I focused on it and became good at it. Moved to from one facility to another until I finally landed a full-time infusion position.

I took that experience and then landed a job at a hospital as an infusion nurse.

Then jumped on the opportunity to take a position as a part-time infusion nurse part-time vascular access nurse. The hospital and catheter manufacturer trained me how insert PICCs. Developed those skills and then did it full-time.

Then moved on to vascular access in and out of the hospital.

Then moved on from there.

My story is all about identifying opportunities, tailoring my resume and cover letter for those opportunities, and then taking the chance on something new.

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Crazy that I can't call myself a new graduate anymore; however, I am certainly not the most experienced. I've been a bedside RN for about 2 years now. I've been primarily working on a busy neuro/stroke telemetry floor, that used to be step-down (3-1) but is 4-1 now. I love acute care, but I'm ready for a change, and would love to get out of bedside as there are so many options in nursing. It has been relatively hard to figure out what I want to do. I've thought about informatics, research/clinical trials, case management, sales, inventions too! However it's hard to find out what these jobs are actually like aside from their job description. I've heard to flight nursing, entertainment nursing (sounds interesting as I live in the entertainment capital), and boat nursing and would love to hear people's experiences.

I'd honestly prefer a non-salary, 3 day/12 hour a week, non bedside job, with the same pay or better than bedside! Don't know if that's possible though LOL. I have my bachelor's degree and I'm more than willing to to obtain my masters IF need be. Would love to hear from those who LOVE their job or those who feel like they have a unique, one-of a kind job. How did you get to where you are? What do you love about your job? What's you pay/hours? Also interested in hearing about those who essentially "created" a job for themselves, perhaps in the organization that they work.

Thanks for your stories!

A non-bedside position is available to you. You just need to market yourself. I work from home, Making a 100 K per year, Check out insurance industry jobs.

Best wishes, it can be done. :)

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I have a little bit of experience in LTC. Didn't realize that there was much room for upward motility. I think that's absolutely amazing that you were able move around, move up, and essentially create your own opportunities. I hope I can do the same! Your job sounds very interesting, I would have to develop my IV skills of course. I'd definitely consider this.

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I've heard about nurses working for insurance companies! I just don't know exactly what they do and how much experience that they need. Do you look over charts to evaluate medical need, or pay?? If that makes sense. Would you mind elaborating on what you do and how you like working from home? I'm sure there are pros and cons to working from home. 100k is amazing! That's what I make bedside so being able to work from home and make that salary almost sounds too good to be true! Do you find the job stressful? And how many hours per week would you say that you work?

Just trying to gain as much information as possible! Thanks for your insight!

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