Alternative Nursing Jobs For Registered Nurses - Becoming A Travel Nurse

To most people outside of the nursing and healthcare field, they will think that all types of nursing jobs are based in hospitals, surgery wards and the ER. However, there are also many nursing roles away from these stereotypical environments that require the knowledge and expertise of registered nurses. If you have been considering taking up a nursing degree or diploma program but is unsure about being able to adapt and work in emergency rooms and hospitals wards, you need to learn about alternative nursing jobs such as nurse educator jobs, travel nurse jobs etc.

Alternative Jobs For Qualified Nurses

Qualified nurses are now involved in more aspects of the healthcare service then before, such as in research and long term care. With increasing popularity of online healthcare providers, the way we access medical services is rapidly changing. Many people prefer to search online to link and identify symptoms we observed on our bodies to potential health conditions, before seeking a physician's opinions. You can also call government funded healthcare help lines to get medical advice and a preliminary diagnosis for minor ailments.

These online and phone in health services are mostly manned by registered nurses who have been trained and qualified to dispense medical advice. If you like to minimize patient contact and consider a change of environment from the traditional hospital ward and face to face caring for patients, you can consider switching to telephone or online health consultancy. This can be useful to develop your medical and diagnosis skills and experience which will help out in your nursing career.

Travel Nurse - Alternative Nursing Jobs For RN

Another popular alternative nursing career path is to become a travel nurse. Unlike conventional nursing appointments where you are attached to a particular hospital or medical provider facility, travel nurses work for healthcare agencies who will dispatch them out to where ever their skills and experience are needed. Travel nurses are also called locum nurses, and is becoming a solution to the severe nurse shortage problems faced in many states and hospitals.

The average pay for travel nurses is around $24-$35 per hour, and you can get an additional housing subsidy when deployed out of state.

Do you know that travel nurses are paid more for doing the same job as compared to non-travel nurses at the same healthcare facilities? The job scope for a travel nurse is actually quite similar to those working in hospital wards. You can be assigned to departments where you have work and gain relevant experience previously. Generally, you will be attending to patients on 12 hour shifts. To join the traveling nurse career, you need the same basic nursing degree or diploma as well as have worked as a non-traveling nurse for at least 6 months. These are quite modest requirements, due to the severe shortage of entry level traveling nurses in United States, which is why the on job nurse working experience requirements have been successively lowered over the past few years.

You can search for travel nurse agencies on the internet if you are interested in new alterative nursing work opportunities. Another good way is to ask other travel nurses you know or those you are currently working with for recommendations on the best travelling nurse agencies. It is better to make contact with the placement staffs at these agencies to find out more about the locations and types of medical facilities they support. Most traveling nurse agencies only provide human resource services to a few hospitals they have contracts with. You can sign up with more nursing placement agencies so as to receive more updates of newly available jobs via email.

Nurse Nutritionist
The field of nutrition is also gaining momentum as more people become aware that a poor diet causes nearly all types of health condition and prevention is better than cure. Nutritionist nurses are in popular demand especially in developed countries and that means a higher paid career path as well. You will be assisting patients with eating disorders such as those who are chronically obese and help them lose weight through a proper diet.

Occupational Nursing Jobs
Another option to consider in the field of alternative nursing jobs is occupational nursing. There are many companies whose working environment entails a higher risk of hazards and employee injuries, where it is necessary to deploy a team o on site medical professionals to immediately attend to any workers injuries. If you choose to advance in such occupational nursing specialization, you can develop highly marketable skills as well as draw a higher pay check due to the working environment such as on offshore oil drilling rigs.

The job outlook for alternative nursing jobs is excellent. Competition among nurse employers have driven up the average salaries and benefits for nursing professionals and even for inexperienced nursing school graduates with only LPN certifications (Licensed Practical Nurse). No matter which type of alternative nursing careers you have interest in, make sure you have the necessary certifications from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).