Alternative Nursing Careers

If you want to care for patients outside of a hospital setting, you have more options for alternative nursing careers than you might think. Organizations large and small continue to recognize nurses play a clinical role within the health-care sector and the skills nurses offer can be applied in multiple settings.

You can use a BSN degree to become a:

• Clinical research nurse: focus on individuals participating in clinical trials
• Cruise ship nurse: take to the high seas to care for travelers
• Flight nurse: care for individuals before, during, and after air transport
• Hospice nurse: help terminally ill individuals (and their families) as their loved one faces death
• Forensic nurse: assess, screen, treat, and collect forensic evidence from victims of crime
• Informatics nurse: find the best ways to utilize the technology present within a health care facility in order to improve patient care
• Legal nurse consultant: collect, organize, audit, and maintain health records in an effort to apply relevant medical information to legal cases
• Nurse recruiter: help organizations find applicants for job openings in nursing
• Private practice: care for individuals in a private practice setting
• School nurse: promote student and staff health and safety in educational settings ranging K-12, and even into higher education, while meeting the needs of these groups
• Travel nurse: serve populations across the nation and potentially around the world, helping to alleviate temporary nurse shortages