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There are plenty of nursing positions where you don’t have to work in a hospital. If you’re a hospital nurse and thinking about a career change, or you’re thinking about becoming a nurse but don’t want to work in a hospital, there are plenty of job options for you.
In this article, we’ll give you a list of 10 of the best non-hospital nursing jobs to help you with your search.
Key Takeaways
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The top three non-hospital nursing jobs are telemedicine registered nurse, nurse educator, and hospice registered nurse.
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Most non-hospital nursing jobs require a registered nurse (RN) license.
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Nurses can work in schools, corporations, nonprofits, and even from home.
The 10 best non-hospital nursing jobs
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Average Yearly Salary: $50,000
School nurses are needed in schools from kindergartens through universities. In a grade school setting, you’re probably dealing with many skinned knees and upset stomachs. And that’s to be expected with that age range, but you may have other duties and even help in health classes at times.
When you are in a university-level facility, you’re often in a clinic setting. Most colleges have some sort of medical facility with staff to deal with students’ routine healthcare needs.
Generally, this is run-of-the-mill care they’d take to their family doctor and nurse if they were at home. There usually isn’t a hospital or emergency room at a university, so more serious injuries and illnesses will be referred to the local hospital.
Requirements to become a school nurse: School nurses typically need to be registered nurses (RNs), which requires a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in nursing. Having experience working in a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office will also help you qualify for more school nurse jobs.
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Average Yearly Salary: $33,000
Working as a home care nurse is the best option if you prefer a more personal connection and one-on-one work. In-home nursing and home health care are wonderful ways to develop those relationships and really make a difference in the lives of their patients.
People who need in-home care often have difficulties moving around and managing their day-to-day needs. They might have physical or mental health issues that make it difficult to keep track of their daily medications, do physical therapy exercises, manage wound care, etc.
A nurse who visits them in their home regularly can help them enjoy their current life without giving up their home.
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Average Yearly Salary: $77,000
Hospice can be a misunderstood nursing situation. Many people think of it as a place to go for the last days of your life. In truth, hospice patients can recover and go home or stay in the facility for months.
In most situations, a patient is referred to hospice if their doctor believes that their situation is terminal and will result in death within six months or less.
If a patient in hospice is facing the end of their days, treatment in a hospice facility aims to improve their quality of life and provide a place where the family can visit comfortably.
A patient’s care centers around their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. In a way, it’s meant to be a gentle transition for patients who will not recover.
Requirements to become a hospice registered nurse: Hospice registered nurses are usually required to be registered nurses, which means having a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in nursing.
Having experience working in hospice and a hospice and palliative nurse certification can also be a huge advantage in getting hospice nursing jobs.
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Average Yearly Salary: $39,000
Nursing health coaches or RN coaching jobs are popular right now, both for nurses and individuals. Self-care is on the uptick, and that requires the education of the population and coaching. These nurses can work in a wide variety of situations, from insurance companies to high-end luxury spas.
The goal of a nurse health coach, no matter where they work, is to educate people on what they need to do to be healthier and maximize their well-being.
As a nursing coach, you may work with individuals or groups, which means your instruction may be customized or more general. You might even find that you work with a particular type of individual like diabetics, obese people, professional athletes, etc.
This can be a very rewarding job for many nurses, especially if they have a specialty. There’s not the high-pressure stress of working in a hospital, and you get to connect with people to help them make better life choices.
Requirements to become a health coach: Health coaches typically only need a health coach certification. A bachelor’s or associate’s degree in nutrition, fitness, counseling, or a related field can be a significant help in starting your health coach career, though.
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Average Yearly Salary: $56,000
Public health nurses are typically not involved in one-on-one care with their patients. They’re dealing with entire populations of individuals. They often work within government groups to educate communities about health issues, improve community health and safety, and increase access to care for that population.
As a public health nurse, your tasks include keeping an eye on the health and health care situation in a community. You may be asked to provide direct healthcare services, like setting up a location for immunization.
It’s not uncommon for public health nurses to also be interviewed by local news agencies or to reach out to them on their own to update the public on a local health-related concern.
You can also be asked to advocate for marginalized or local groups, and you’ll have to speak with state and federal authorities to educate them on what is happening within your community. There’s a lot of responsibility with this position, but it allows you to avoid working in a hospital and connect with and help a large group of people.
Requirements to become a public health nurse: A bachelor’s or associate’s degree in nursing and an RN license are typically required to become a public health nurse. A master’s or doctorate degree will allow you to do research or hold a leadership role in this field.
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Addiction Specialist Nurse
Average Yearly Salary: N/A
An addiction nurse specializes in helping people who have addiction issues. They typically find employment in treatment centers or detox facilities instead of working in a hospital.
Some hospitals do have addiction nurses on staff, but that doesn’t mean that you need to work in a hospital, and even if you do, it will be a different position than that of most registered nurses in the hospital.
Addiction continues to grow as a health concern in the United States and other countries as well. This is not good news, but it does mean that there will be job security for these nursing professionals and a great need for them in the future as well.
Requirements to become an addiction specialist nurse: Addiction specialist nurses typically need to be RNs, which requires a bachelor’s or associate’s degree in nursing and a passing NCLEX-RN score.
These nurses also often need to become certified addiction registered nurses (CARNs), which requires at least 2,000 hours of experience and 30 hours of continuing education in addiction and substance abuse nursing.
Nurses can often get this experience by volunteering to work as RNs for organizations that provide substance abuse and addiction treatment.
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Average Yearly Salary: $62,000
Taking your career into the classroom might be the best option if you love learning and education. A nursing educator is someone who trains future nurses on how to do their job. Your insight isn’t just theoretical; you’ve been through the training themselves, so you’re very sought-after instructors.
If this position sounds good, you can expect more schooling in the future. Depending on where they’re working as an instructor, most nursing educators are required to have a master’s degree in nursing or a doctorate in nursing practice. In addition, teaching certificates might also be required.
Requirements to become a nurse educator: A Master’s of Science in Nursing degree is needed to become a nurse educator. To get into this type of master’s program, you’ll typically need to be an RN.
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Corporate Nursing
Average Yearly Salary: N/A
Just as many schools are little communities upon themselves and require nursing staff to run smoothly and protect the “residents,” corporations are growing so large that they have decided to have their own nursing staff.
As a corporate nurse, you may be dealing with people who find that they’re ill or injured on the job, but you can expect less of that than you would in an educational setting.
You might find that your employer prefers you act more as a health coach, educating the staff on making healthy choices, using the corporate fitness center, and updating individuals on current news in the healthcare field.
Another nursing job that falls under the umbrella of corporate nursing is an occupational nurse who works with the executives of a business to ensure that the staff is working in a healthy and safe environment. They might be tasked with identifying workplace hazards and helping companies remediate those issues.
Requirements to become a corporate nurse: Corporate nurses typically need to be RNs, and a bachelor’s degree will provide a significant advantage in getting leadership positions. Experience in workplace safety or a master’s degree will also benefit you in this field.
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Average Yearly Salary: $83,570
Some nurse-midwives work outside of hospitals in private practices or on an individual basis, but they have hospital privileges if and when necessary. The point is that nurse-midwives typically are not in a hospital setting.
Certified nurse-midwives do have a lot of their training within a hospital, so they are ready to work there if that’s where a patient prefers to give birth or if complications arise, but they also can provide care in any setting the patient requests.
Obviously, their primary professional responsibility is caring for women who are pregnant and preparing to give birth. They assist with prenatal instruction and care, birth and delivery, and then help the mother and baby after birth.
But nurse-midwives are well-versed in all-female health care needs and can do much of what an OB/GYN doctor or nurse does, meaning that women who aren’t pregnant and never plan to be pregnant can seek their care for routine health management.
Requirements to become a nurse midwife: A Master’s of Science in Nursing or a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree with a focus in midwifery is necessary for becoming a nurse midwife, as is a certified nurse-midwife (CNM) certification.
To get these, you’ll typically need a bachelor’s degree in nursing, an RN license, and a few years of experience.
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Average Yearly Salary: $92,000
Not only does a telemedicine nurse or a virtual nurse get to avoid the hospital setting, but they can also work from the comfort of their home. Today, the need for nursing advice on a remote or virtual basis is more in demand than ever before and might be more necessary than it has been in the past.
These nurses can triage calls to the clinics, schedule appointments, provide referrals, and consult with patients about their healthcare needs and concerns.
A lot of telemedicine is done through video these days, so it’s not just answering the phone. You need to be just as present and aware as you would be in an office setting, maybe more so.
Telemedicine nurses may work for hospitals and clinics, or they might be employed by insurance companies that want to filter standard health concerns from emergencies and save money by providing simple care over the phone or virtually.
Requirements to become a telemedicine registered nurse: Telemedicine registered nurses typically need to be RNs with an ambulatory care nursing certification (RN-BC). To qualify for this certification, you’ll need to have several years of experience working as a nurse.
Requirements to become a home care nurse: Many companies hire certified nursing assistants (CNAs) or licensed practical nurses (LPNs) to be home care nurses, but some only hire RNs with a few years of nursing experience.
Find Home Care Nurse jobs near me
- By Field
- Fastest Growing Jobs
- Most Dangerous Jobs
- Best Jobs For Moms
- Side Hustles For Women
- Jobs For Lazy People
- Cdl A Jobs No Experience
- Remote Nursing jobs
- Non Bedside Nursing Jobs
- Easiest Nursing Jobs
- Non Hospital Nursing Jobs
- Least Stressful Nursing Jobs
- International Nursing Jobs
- Most Stressful Jobs
- Fastest Growing Industries
Author
Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.
