If you’re exploring options in your nursing career, you may be wanting to learn about job possibilities that don’t involve direct patient care. Although most RNs become nurses because they are interested in directly caring for patients, there may be seasons in your career in which you are looking for work that is less hands-on. Those kinds of opportunities are available, though it’s good to bear in mind that having some experience in direct care may be a requirement or at least a big help in other kinds of less direct care nursing work.
Reasons You Might Want a Job With Less Direct Care
There can be all kinds of reasons that nurses might want to consider jobs that involve less direct care of patients. If you have been involved in patient care a long time, you may feel the need for a change of pace. If your family life is busy, you might want to find a position that gives you the opportunity to work a more flexible schedule, fewer hours, or the chance to work from home. You might be needing to move from full-time to part-time nursing or even just need less time on your feet as you get older. Patient care can be a demanding job as well as a rewarding one, and you don’t need to feel badly if you decide you’d like to use your nursing skills in another way. It may be especially good to know that your nursing skills and experience can still be valuable in other types of work.
Some Possible Work Opportunities That Involve Less Direct Care
So what types of work can nurses do that don’t involve direct patient care? Writing and teaching are some of the first kinds of work that may come to mind, and these can be a very good fit for some nurses. Putting your skills to work by sharing them with the next generation in a classroom environment or by writing textbook chapters or nursing articles, can be a good thing to pursue if you have an academic bent. To follow this path, it is likely you’d need a graduate degree as well as good communication skills. Other possibilities for nurses with an academic inclination are research and consultant jobs. You might be able to work for insurance companies (please see: What Jobs Are Available For Nurses At an Insurance Company?), companies that create medical devices, or pharmacies. You might even be interested in looking into consulting work in forensics.
If you have good computer skills, you might also consider case management work. Some of this can be done on the phone on behalf of various insurance companies. Being a good typist would also be an asset if you decided to work as a medical transcriptionist. Many of these positions are possible to do from your own home, and your knowledge of medical terminology would be a big help in transcribing physician notes.
Whether you decide to work from home or to travel, there are plenty of job opportunities available for someone with nursing skills and experience. Jobs that don’t involve direct patient care might provide more flexibility in your schedule and still offer ways to serve others using your nursing skills.