Congrats on your nursing degree. I bet you are excited to start working, and there’s lots you can do because you have a nursing degree, lots of jobs. But may all those choice make it hard to lock down the right position.
This article highlights various jobs for nurses and the variety of practices where nurses can work.Don’t just think you only have one option when it comes to nurses: if you love kids, or enjoy working with older adults, or even prefer to work more behind the scenes as a researcher, there’s a list here for you. It just might give you a better idea of just what you can do with a nursing degree.
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What Can You Do With a Nursing Degree?
So if there are hundreds of things you can do and be with a BSN, it is obvious that, depending on the type of nursing degree you have, you can do even more jobs. While most nurses are registered nurses (RNs) who hold a BSN and are educated in generalist nursing, there are more than 100 things you can do depending on the level of nursing degree you have.
You can opt for the quick career path with a two-year associate degree in nursing (ADN), the traditional route going through a BSN degree, or earn your master of science in nursing (MSN) degree or a doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree and become a nurse practitioner and a host of other advanced practice registered nurses. To see the huge array of nursing specialties for which you can prepare with these degrees, check out the list below and identify the one that best matches your career goals.
Delivering individualised care to critically ill patients, acute care nurses perform many advanced nursing tasks, from collaborating with the medical team to provide care to medical patients with life-threatening medical conditions to developing a plan of care for postoperative patients to draw blood and tissue samples.
They work as part of the healthcare team to secure the airway of a ventilated burn victim, prevent organ failure and infection, and achieve healing. Those nurses perform a variety of treatments that can include preventing and treating pain, performing wound care, replacing fluids, inserting nasogastric tubes to feed patients, assisting in procedures, and keeping the patient’s airway secure and lungs free of fluid, illness or infection.
These nurses offer medical care at summer camps and similar event sites to campers, as well as to campground staff members and administrators; camp nurses must also make sure camp participants are fit to attend camp, facilitate and administer daily medications, and take care of any illnesses and injuries that arise.
A CNA observes and monitors patients for bodily functions and vital signs. They are supervised by a licensed nurse, and assist in direct patient care.
As a community nurse, their task is to educate communities about threats to health and means to minimise those threats. They are expected to teach patients about disease and their families about their care. In fulfilling their educational roles, community nurses engage in the disciplining and surveillance of others, and also in the prevention of illness. They are also involved in advocacy and policy development, especially at the community level, in areas of social justice.
These practitioner nurses work with critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Providing patient and family-centred care in critical care involves having critically honed clinical judgment, compassionate decision making and critical thinking skills, and rapid prioritisation and advocacy skills in regards to patients in emergency situations. As well as working at the bedside delivering interventions, critical care practitioners also use advanced medical technology and equipment to ensure the optimal care of patients.
Reporting to the ship’s chief doctor, physician and head nurse, shipboard RNs care for patients aboard a vessel Nurses may also be the first responders to an onboard emergency aboard a cruise ship.
Working with dermatological injuries or illnesses, these nurses treat and care for people with wounds, diseases and trauma. They also help patients prevent skin problems.
These nurses are responsible for the daily care of patients as well as promoting self-care management. An individuals diagnostic regime falls under their duty of care. With a focus on chronic illness care and often having acute care experience, these nurses monitor patients and educate on the needs to self-manage. Those who want to work in this field would ideally have a master’s degree in nursing and APRN status.
Emergency room nurses tend to many different traumas and illnesses that suddenly need emergency attention. These nurses attend to patients, stabilise them, and provide treatment until they meet hospital admission criteria (meaning readmission) or are ready for discharge.
Average Annual Salary: $81,500
Average Annual Salary: $96,790
Nurses in federal healthcare provide care for patients in occupational health units, hospitals or clinics, generally in veteransâ units. To promote healthy practices and educate patients and their families on health matters, federal government nurses. Moreover, nurses in the federal health service do not have to work in a particular type of medical workplace.
Health administration nurses perform these leadership functions: leads a team of nurses and, in some cases, other healthcare professionals; evaluates nursing policies and implements them; monitors compliance with the policy; demonstrates continuous quality improvement and optimal patient care by implementing up-to-date evidence-based nursing practice; evaluates issues of difficult ethical decisions or unusual patient care situations.
Working primarily in home-based or assisted living settings, they co-ordinate patient care activities with home health agencies, pharmacies and physicians, and also co-ordinate and supervise home healthcare staff.
Hospice nurses typically meet and talk with patients and families, and come up with care plans to keep patients as comfortable as possible if they have terminal illnesses.
Nurses in this line of work mostly serve insurance companies. Legal consultancy nurses review files, collect and document the history of past losses, prepare graphs and visual aids for reference during trial, and conduct peer reviews for insurance companies subject to lawsuit. They must hold a licence as an RN and have some years of clinical experience to be considered for these positions.
These LPNs are responsible for basic patient care, allowing RNs and physicians to handle more specific patient needs. Temperatures are taken by nursing assistants and vital signs are also recorded by them, along with blood and urine samples and preparing patients for examinations.
They control anaesthesia, and monitor patients during their operations, and also make sure their pulmonary and cardiovascular systems are supported. Nurse anaesthetists also guide patients to a good recovery from anaesthesia before wheeling them to the care unit post-operation.
Average Annual Salary: $73,800
Nurses in informatics, a specialty, work with physicians, other nurses and specialists to manage data, information, and knowledge to improve (nursing) patient care across settings, and develop clinical information systems.
Nurse midwives are nurses who provide healthcare for women; these nurses provide care for pregnant women in obstetrician and gynaecologist offices and at hospitals and deliver babies.
These nurses most often work at spas, health clubs and on sites where patients recover from surgery, in an effort to enhance client or patient health with nutrition, exercise and stress management.
The occupational health nurse works to foster health and prevent illness among employees by promoting a safe and healthy work environment, collaborating on the development and implementation of occupational health programmes, and participating in organisational and regulatory agency audits, as well as health and safety committees.
They keep track of how the patient is doing, administer medication and devise care plans for the patients, and supportive services for patients and their families.
Average Annual Salary: $75,040
These nurses work in outpatient medical facilities taking care of patients who are under medical sanitation. These professionals work to make sure that their patients are physically and mentally comfortable , perform well and remain healthy before, during and after surgery or other medical procedures.
Average Annual Salary: $68,310
Even if a paramedic licence is not exactly the same as a nursing licence, both provide medical care to a patient in need. Paramedics can be the first medical personnel on the scene in a medical emergency and conduct an assessment, diagnosis the patient, and provide emergency treatment. They also continue to monitor the patient and administer medication or pain relief.
Median Annual Salary: $36,650
Adopting a comprehensive approach to health that encompasses the domain of spirituality, these nurses are a bridge between patients, their communities and health professionals. They offer spiritual care to patients whose health needs may range from end-of-life issues to ailments common to all.
Average Annual Salary: $62,080
Registered paediatric nurses care for infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatric nurses work in a number of specialisations such as neonatology, trauma and cardiology.Today’s assignment: Paraphrasesounding text while retaining citations and quotes.
Average Annual Salary: $61,440
Registered nurses in this specialty observe and track trial participants as they react to medicines over the course of multiple hours.
Average Annual Salary: $61,000
They work with physicians that are in the private practice and assist patients under a doctor’s instructions. They do nursing assessments, teach patients and pre and post operative information course.
Average Annual Salary: $57,340
Plastic surgery nurses work with surgeons and surgical teams to assist and perfect a patient’s outcome. They provide care for patients who are having procedures done and immediately following surgery. Nurses help those impacted by plastic surgery understand what to expect from the operation, before, during and after the surgery.
Average Annual Salary: $64,000
In charge of delivering discipline-specific, face-to-face nursing care to patients in each correctional facility, they assess, manage and treat patients on a regular basis, and perform emergency procedures when necessary.
Average Annual Salary: $54,000
Nurses who provide care for patients who are donating an organ for transplant develop expertise in either living or deceased donation. The procurement nurse who cares for patients who are living donors prepares the donors for surgery, oversees their postsurgical recovery, and provides pre- and postoperative teaching. For the deceased donor, the procurement nurse identifies the potential deceased donor – providing grief support to family and managing the critically ill patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) to optimise organ function and finding suitable recipients. The procurement nurse then participates in the organ recovery in the operating room.
Average Annual Salary: $75,430
These nurses care for patients with psychiatric disorders. Many work in mental health facilities or in home care. Qualifying ones have an RN license and, at minimum, an associate degree in nursing.
Average Annual Salary: $66,680
They educate patients, family and community on health, risk factors and assessment They see and visit patients in their homes and backyards like community health nurses, and also refer patients to and link them to support services.
Average Annual Salary: $59,560
Participating in the public health domain, these study nurses concentrate on caring for patients who suffer from different diseases, and also provide assistance while observing clinical trials of brand new medicines or treatment techniques.
Average Annual Salary: $81,500
Quality assurance nurses evaluate nursing practices, ensuring improvement of efficiency and delivery of patient care by developing new and improved policies, suggesting changes and fostering their implementation all over the department, training new nurses and existing nurses on new policies, and providing guidance to people working under their supervision.
Average Annual Salary: $78,120
Nurses of this speciality care for the patient during radiological procedures. A radiology nurse conduct a physical assessment of the preoperative patients, such as the level of consciousness, vital signs and the status of their airway and breathing. While the patients are undergoing procedures, the nurses are responsible for monitoring their vital signs and providing patient sedation. After the procedures, they are also responsible for giving care to the patients.
Average Annual Salary: $66,220
Registered nurses are responsible for coordinating patient care, assessing patient needs, creating and implementing nursing care plans, and directing or delegating patient care to licensed practical or vocational nurses or other personnel. They are employed in hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices and other locations.
Median Annual Salary: $75,330
Rehab nurses care for patients who are recovering from disability, illness or injury and returning to their previous lives, or teaching them to be more independent. Rehab nurses also teach patients and their families how to cope with chronic injuries and diseases.
Average Annual Salary: $86,110
While clinical nurses spend most of their time with patients on a 24/7 basis, research nurses spend their day planning and coordinating the research, including putting together a daily clinical schedule (which vars between what’s needed for the research conducted at the hospital and the clinical needs of the affected subjects). They also take vital signs and blood samples to input into the computer, and rove from clinic to clinic registering all their activities. Research nurses work with patients who take part in clinical trials. These trials are experiments that improve the welfare of patients who test drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.
Average Annual Salary: $72,130
Rural nurses work to provide people access to high-quality health care to meet the needs of rural communities by working in rural labour and delivery, trauma, and critical care settings, caring for babies, children, and adults who become sick or injured throughout all stages of life.
Average Annual Salary: $98,490
A school nurse is a healthcare provider, who manage healthcare needs of students or other problems related to health. They also educate students about health risks.Nurses who are interested in working in school must have a BSN degree and an active, current RN license. In addition to providing nursing care, school nurses are first responders in health emergencies across a school district, including having the skills to perform CPR and other immediate care procedures.
Average Annual Salary: $48,550
A staff nurse is a broad term that refers to many types of frontline nurses. These RNs generally work in long-term care facilities or hospitals. They will evaluate and observe patients, providing care and medications as needed. Staff nurses in hospitals also prepare discharge plans for patients.
Average Annual Salary: $69,360
Caring for patients prior to and after enteral nutrition, peri-operative care laundry, dressing and assisting the surgeon, changing sterile coverings on patients, transferring patients, restrain bedridden patients, scanning blood sugar, blood pressure
, relieving post-operative pains and monitoring post-operative patients, taking vitall signs and pulse rate, performing suturing, patching, stitching wound and tapes, carrying out sterilisation processes, preparing dressing material, intravenous fluid bags and monitoring patientse surgical nurses assist in various fields like post- operative care of patients, helpin patients with medicationdedication towards their profession and keeping the patient and their condition at the centre of their work.
Average Annual Salary: $62,500
Often working in concert with poison control hotlines to appropriately triage and assist in treating toxic exposures, these nurses monitor key symptoms experienced by the patients, provide treatment recommendations and referrals to appropriate healthcare facilities, and continue to evaluate and act as a follow-up to the patients moving forward.
Median Annual Salary: $75,330
Transplant nurses provide care for patients requiring an organ transplant, ensuring that their patients are scheduled for all the tests and appointments needed while waiting for an organ to become available for transplantation, aiding patients and their families in understanding the organ transplant process, and devising a plan for patients in recovery.
Average Annual Salary: $75,430
These nurses work as contract employees, either through an agency or on their own as self-employed nurses, covering staff shortages at clinics, hospitals and private practices across the country, and sometimes overseas. Travel nurses perform the same basic job functions as RNs.
Average Annual Salary: $80,000
These nurse researchers plan, develop, conduct, and evaluate epidemiological and intervention studies related to vaccines. Research nurses at Kaiser don’t actually provide direct care, but have master’s degrees in nursing and receive additional training in research methods and instruments.
Average Annual Salary: $81,500
Nontraditional Nursing Opportunities
Nursing is actually a vast career field, with many opportunities other than bedside care in hospital and private settings. Those who work in nontraditional fields can include toxicology nurses, prison nurse, and nutrition and fitness nurses.
Nurses have the option to travel (as travel nurses) and fill-in for others throughout the country and internationally. Below is a video that will help nurses with nontraditional approaches learn more about the available options.