When you choose a career, you want to know that the role you step into can offer stability, a decent salary to allow you to live comfortably and save for the future, and the opportunity for progression, and that is something that you are passionate about. While many careers can offer this, if you are someone who wants to work in an industry that gives back to the community and provides an essential service, then you might have decided that nursing is the right path for you.
Supporting other healthcare workers, patients, and their loved ones can be a very high-pressure job, and it brings a lot of job satisfaction. As a nurse, you will work directly with patients and other members of the hospital/clinic staff to reassure people and help them get better. However, it’s also worth keeping in mind the other paths you can take within nursing when you are ready to take the next step in your career, and here are a few options you might be interested in.
Nurse Practitioner
If you are ready to move forward in your nursing career, moving into a nurse practitioner role could be the ideal track to follow. In this role, you will have more responsibility and even perform some of the same duties that a physician does. You will be able to diagnose and treat patients in a hospital environment, private practice, healthcare clinics, community healthcare centers, and outpatient clinics. To qualify as a nurse practitioner, you will need to have a minimum of 6 years of experience as a registered nurse and an MSN or DNP degree. Many excellent colleges can offer an online nurse practitioner program if you want to complete your studies this way, which might be easier for those managing a busy work schedule and other commitments. You can earn an average salary of $117,670 a year in this role.
Nursing Administrator
Would you like to transition into a role that is a little bit more behind the scenes? Working as a nurse administrator, you’ll be assisting more with hiring healthcare staff, training new nurses, and other HR tasks within a healthcare establishment. You might also be assisting with other general business management tasks for the clinic, hospital, etc. You will need to have previous experience working as a nurse and a graduate degree in nursing to move into this role.
Nurse Educator
Another role that allows you to step away from frontline nursing work is becoming a nurse educator. Moving into the more academic side of nursing, you will be teaching a new generation of nurses and supporting them through their education and training. You could also be working on developing new teaching programs and would be working within universities, schools, and colleges. You will need to have a master’s degree in nursing before you can move into this type of role.
Nurse Anesthetist
If you’re still interested in working with patients as part of your daily routine, you might find working as a nurse anesthetist a more interesting role. You will be giving patients anesthesia for surgeries and helping to care for them while they are in the operating room. To qualify for this role, you will need to have a minimum of two years of experience in nursing and a BSN before getting a master’s degree in a nurse anesthetist program. You can expect to make an average salary of $161,000 a year in this role.
Critical Care Nurse
If you thrive off of working in a fast-paced environment and enjoy working on the front lines of healthcare, then focusing your career path on critical care might be a good option for you. Nursing, in general, is not a job for the faint-hearted, but working in critical care units will require a lot of resilience and the ability to work under a great deal of pressure. Critical care nurses help doctors and other members of the healthcare team with intensive care and monitoring patients’ progress. You will need to have a BSN degree in nursing, but you’ll also have to be willing to continue to learn so that your knowledge of critical care stays relevant. It will help if you already have a few years of experience working in intensive care wards as well to move into this official role.
Psychiatric Nurse
Mental health is just as essential as physical health, and if you are more interested in psychology and supporting people with mental health struggles, this role might be more your speed. You will be helping patients to understand their mental health better and assisting them in finding the best treatments that work for them. You will need a BSN degree, but if you want to take on more responsibility as a psychiatric nurse, such as being able to give diagnoses or prescribe medications, you will need a master’s degree or perhaps even a doctorate in some circumstances.
Pediatric Nurse
If you love to work with children, then focusing on pediatrics is an obvious choice for you. As a pediatric nurse, you will be working in the children’s wards in hospitals and with children and young adults in other healthcare establishments. You will also be providing support for their families who need some comfort during what is often a very difficult and distressing time, particularly if their children are in intensive care or have ongoing health issues. While you don’t always need to have an MSN to become a pediatric nurse, it will help your employment prospects if you do have this type of qualification.
Oncology Nurse
Oncology nurses work with cancer patients and help them through their chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and other treatments. They might work in a hospital or specialist clinic or even visit patients in their homes. You will need to have several years of experience working as a nurse before you can move on to becoming an oncology nurse, as well as a BSN degree. You will also have to get certifications in oncology nursing.
Nurse Researcher
This is another role that can take you if you are more interested in improving the overall healthcare experience and services provided. You will be analyzing data and creating reports based on your findings, which can then be used to develop new healthcare plans or approaches to treatments. Although you don’t necessarily need an MSN to qualify for nurse researching roles, a lot of individuals in these roles have those qualifications. Therefore, it is worth pursuing an MSN to improve your chances of moving into a nurse researcher position.
Geriatric Nurse
Geriatric nurses work with citizens to help them manage their health issues and be more comfortable. You might find employment in hospitals or at a nursing home, and you’ll be helping with things such as medication management, dementia care, heart problems, or arthritis, to name a few conditions that you are likely to come across in this role. If you enjoy spending time in the company of citizens and would like to make sure that they are cared for properly in their golden years, this could be the ideal role for you.
Public Health Nurse
In this role, you will work with a variety of different patients and help them to understand better how to take care of their health. This will include advice on preventative care, how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, how to carry out health checks at home, and further information on where they can turn to if they have any concerns about their well-being. You will need to be an RN with a BSN, and some public health nurses also have an MSN, although this is not a prerequisite for the role.
Nurse Case Manager
As a nurse case manager, you will be working directly with patients, other members of the healthcare team, and insurance companies to make sure that the best quality care is being provided and that patients can afford it. You will need to have excellent communication and organization skills for this role, just like many other nursing positions, and it can be an interesting and rewarding job helping patients in this way. You will need to be an RN and have a BSN degree in most circumstances to apply to be a nurse case manager.
Nurse Midwife
Supporting parents through pregnancy and giving birth is a very important role, particularly as this can be an anxious as well as an exciting time for them. As a nurse-midwife, you will be there to provide assistance and advice to expectant mothers and monitor their health and the health of their babies during pregnancy, during labor, and after birth. You will need an MSN degree and qualifications in specialty midwife programs.
If you are an RN who is wondering what the next steps should be in your career, luckily, there are plenty of paths to choose from! While this list might cover many of these different roles, there are others to explore if none of the above sounds like the right fit for you. However, all of these roles will be very rewarding for the right nurse and can offer an incredible career that you can be proud of.
