Find the perfect non-bedside nursing jobs for YOU! Nurses, are you looking for a change of scenery? Wondering if switching to another department is the key to job satisfaction or reigniting your passion for nursing? Are you frustrated and ready to leave bedside nursing altogether? Then today’s post is for you!
Check out this list of the top 20 non-bedside nursing jobs. I created this list based on info and interviews from other nurses just like you! They’ve spilled the beans on why their area is the best.
Alright, without further ado, here are the 20 best non-bedside nursing jobs! For each position, I’ve included a few brief pro’s and con’s as well as a relevant or funny quote from nurses currently working in that area.
*As with anything, each job and facility is a little different, so do your homework and ask to shadow before you make the leap. Hopefully this post gives you some solid ideas, and a place to start. And encourages you to try something new in your search for a non-bedside nursing job.
Top Non-Bedside Nursing Jobs: Options inside the hospital
Pre Op/PACU
- Pros: Limited call, small patient ratios, fast-paced, and you see a variety of patients
- Cons: Can be repetitive, may need ACLS, time is often limited with patients
- Quote: “You’re the last one to see the patient before you send them home or to the floor…so being detail oriented is a plus.”
Cath Lab/Interventional Radiology
- Pros: Usually, they block off time for the entire room for lunch, fast paced, not overly stressful
- Cons: Teams are small, call hours can be very late and busy, wearing lead gets heavy especially in long procedures.
- Quote: “Make sure you’re covered (with lead)! And don’t fold it (the lead apron).”
Endoscopy
- Pros: Ability to assist MD with procedures, medicate and sedation certain patients, you have one patient at a time
- Cons: Fast turn around, little down time, frequent call requirements, balancing priorities is key
- Quote: “Try not to giggle with all the Farting.”
Operating Room
- Pros: One patient/surgery at a time, surgical side can be fascinating, especially if you love anatomy, there’s the opportunity to learn to scrub-in and assist depending on your facility, you get to wear fun scrub hats
- Cons: Not hands-on patient care in the traditional sense, you’re not connected to watching the monitors or the meds, so this can be a change for some, call requirements
- Quote “No sponge left behind.”
Labor & Delivery
- Pros: No two deliveries are the same, it’s super rewarding to help bring a life into this world
- Cons: Sometimes crazy birth plans and birth ‘rules’, both mom and baby are ‘patients’
- Quote: “Be on your toes: you can go from 0 to 150 mph in seconds.”
Top Non-Bedside Nursing Jobs: Options outside the hospital
Urgent Care
- Pros: mostly minor things, cuts/scrapes/colds, usually no on-call requirement and a more flexible schedule
- Cons: can get repetitive, fast paced, always more to chart
- Quote: ‘The days you think you’ve seen it all…something else comes through the door”
Drug Rehab Facility/Residential Treatment Facility
- Pros: you help with treatment of both the body and the mind with regard to addiction, it’s rewarding to see people progress and recover, often more ‘regular’ hours
- Cons: you see people at their worst (about to withdraw or detox), everyone’s first few days of detox are different, people can be mean and nasty when they are withdrawing from drugs, alchohol, etc
- Quote: “We look past the surface and the detox reactions, and acknowledge the human being inside. We cheer them on to a better tomorrow.”
Dialysis Clinic
- Pros: consistency of seeing the same patients frequently, easy to find a routine and ‘flow’
- Cons: can be early hours or long shifts, pay can be highly variable
- Quote: “You’re definitely off every Sunday!”
Dr’s Office
- Pros: usually routine things: ear infections, colds, smaller issues, nothing too crazy, usually no call requirement
- Cons: fast paced, over-worried parents, loads of paperwork and charting
- Quote: “It sometimes feels like a ‘desk job’ but with a really good work-life balance.”
Corrections Nursing
- Pros: you learned a lot about mental health, inmates are generally respectful and appreciative, you feel like you are actually making an impact
- Cons: heavy need for collaboration and negotiation to advance patient therapy and care (in prisons, often the top concern is safety not health), you can see some unusual conditions since a lot of prisoners haven’t always had much medical care prior to being in prison
- Quote: “The inmates are always so grateful for any medical education and I enjoy seeing the difference from when they came in to when they leave.”
Private Duty Nurse
- Pros: Only one patient, you get to know family and patient very closely, build long term relationships
- Cons: if things hit the fan, you are the only one there, can be emotionally taxing as you do get very invested in your patients
- Quote: “Being the stable caregiver and provider for one patient is super rewarding. They become family.”
Community Health/Public Health Nurse
- Pros: typically ‘normal’ 9-5 schedule, you provide access to healthcare to many who may not have access to medical services, provide much needed education and teaching, creation and carrying out community programs for vulnerable populations
- Cons: limited resources or budget funds in many communities, lack of space and supplies for treatment and lack of education materials can be frustrating when you are trying to make a difference
- Quote: “It may be a long climb, but it’s possible to create measurable, positive change in a community.”
School Nurse
- Pros: your schedule matches the school schedule (so summers and breaks off). Can be lower stress, great if you have small children
- Cons: low pay, sometimes overbearing parents
- Quote: “The only nursing job that lets me start the day at 8 am and have summers off!”
Hospice
- Pros: Ensure that as end of life nears, the patient will be comfortable and maintain their dignity. Help the patient and family enter this final transition supported. Help ease suffering and undue stress or pain. Provide comfort and assurance. Flexibility is key, as disease path and process of death is unpredictable.
- Cons: Emotionally draining, personal, emotional investment in patients and outcomes leads to heavy compassion toll.
- Quote: “Our patients are not going to get better, but I help them not be afraid, and be comfortable and reassured.”
Pain Clinic
- Pros: So much education. Learn about epidural steroid injections, anatomy, nerves associated with certain symptoms, radio-frequency procedures, sedation, stimulators. You get to know each patient well, as most revisit. Small teams-workers, no call
- Cons: Can be very busy, little to no down time, lots of charting, and patients can be challenging if they’re in pain.
- Quote: “Helping someone manage their pain, and restore quality of life is amazing.”
Red Cross Intervention Team
- Pros: short term care, large amount of role flexibility, exposure to a variety of responsibilities within the organization. For example: blood donations, immunizations, organ donor registration and recruitment, and disaster response.
- Cons: long, irregular hours, and the need to travel on short notice or unexpectedly.
- Quote: “We wear just about every hat there is…and the cape is optional.” (A reference to the capes the Red Cross Nurses used to wear).
Allergy/Immunology Nurse
- Pros: work closely with immunologist and allergist, office setting, learn about immunotherapy, asthma and allergies – both nasal and food. See the same patients often, ability to build rapport, a rapidly evolving field.
- Cons: Can involve a lot of time spent on the phone with insurance, obtaining prior authorizations for procedures/medications
- Quote: “Being the friendly face in the injection room, and seeing my patients progressing with their therapy is amazing.”
Home Care/Home Health Nursing
- Pros: flexible scheduling, one patient at a time, familiarity of the same patients over time
- Cons: lots of driving/time spent in the car, someone’s home is an unpredictable setting, car is mobile ‘supply closet’
- Quote: “I really enjoy time with each patient; ensuring they understand their meds and what to expect in the recovery process,”
Infusion Nurse
- Pros: ability to work in a variety of settings; both inpatient as well as stand alone facility, serve as an education resource, holistic patient view as you work closely with care team to administer various therapies.
- Cons: consistency and standardization of practice varies widely, new devices and standards are changing all the time, can be faster paced,
- Quote: “There are endless options: from administering chemo to a cancer patient to giving extra hydration to someone at a day spa.”
Occupational Health Nurse
- Pros: care for others in their place of work, low production pressure, help employees made decisions about health concerns, decent pay, positive work environment, variety of job roles; urgent care to OSHA compliance, medical surveillance, setting up wellness and safety programs, pre-employment/post-offer assessments and drug screening.
- Cons: less hands-on, few on-site colleagues, often work alone, you’re responsible to ensure organization complies with osha guidelines and safety standards. May need to update wardrobe: i.e. no scrubs.
- Quote: “It’s a professional collaboration in order to keep the worker and their families healthy and safe.”
So there you have it, the top 20 best non-bedside nursing jobs! Did I miss anything? Are you a nurse currently in one of these positions and have advice or suggestions to offer? Comment below! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you’re on the fence and aren’t sure if a different area or specialty is the key to fighting exhaustion or banishing your burnout…and you know something needs to change: talk to someone! Reach out or leave a comment below. You are NOT alone.
And if you’re interested in TESTIMONIALS from other nurses I’ve helped, just like you, click HERE!