Surprising Things You Can Do With a Nursing Degree

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When thinking of becoming a nurse or simply thinking of what a nurse does, you will probably think about hospitals. This is, after all, where most nurses will work for at least a portion of their careers and where any member of the public who comes into contact with a nurse will do so more often than not.

Nursing Degree

Hospitals always need nurses, but due to budgets and restrictions, they might not hire them in the numbers they want to. This means you will need to look outside the hospital environment to advance your nursing career – or even start it if the hospitals in your area aren’t recruiting and don’t want to move for your work.

Equally, nursing isn’t necessarily something that suits everyone, but it is only discovered in some cases when the nurse in question finally starts working after obtaining their degree. They might look elsewhere for work, but they will want to use their degree if possible; they worked hard for it and will have learned a lot.

Is this possible? Is it possible for a nurse to work somewhere other than a hospital? The answer to both questions is yes; read on to learn more.

Nurses Can Work in Any Industry

Whether you have a first degree in nursing and are an RN, or you’ve gone further and studied for accelerated BSN nursing programs after gaining your initial degree in a different field, the knowledge and information you have gathered, along with a vast range of other skills, is going to be put to use in a wide range of industries. Almost anything you choose to try if you want to do something other than nursing will mean you can use the degree you already have – although sometimes additional training will be required, depending on the sector or job you are going into.

If you have studied for a nursing degree but don’t want to be a nurse in a hospital, you can choose exactly what you want to do with your degree. You could remain practicing as a nurse but in a different environment, such as with a sports team, in prison, in a school, in a specialist clinic, or perhaps in a private hospital or on an offshore oil rig, if that interests you more. Alternatively, you can leave nursing altogether and become a business manager, work in HR, or start your own business. Rest assured, your nursing degree and the knowledge you gained from it will not go to waste. Nurses are fortunate to make these big decisions for their own lives and do what is best for them.

Nurses Make Great Leaders

Nurses make great leaders because of the work they have to do, the way they need to communicate so well with others, and the amount of knowledge they must have. They can rise through the ranks in nursing and become highly respected in that field, or they can use their leadership skills in other areas. It means that all nurses will have a great deal of choice about the direction they can take in their lives.

Although nurses do, for the most part, tend to stay in the nursing profession for their whole careers – it’s something they can see a great deal of value in, something they enjoy, and something they want to do because they know it makes a difference – if any did want to do something else, they would certainly be well placed to do just that.

So what else could a nurse do when they have their degree (or second degree, or third – there is plenty of education you can be a part of when it comes to nursing)? Here are some examples:

  • An educator – nurses are highly skilled in imparting important information in a way that those listening can understand. They could, therefore, become a teacher or lecturer. They might even teach a nursing degree.
  • Nurse researcher – a nurse researcher essentially creates the future of nursing education by discovering what would be most important and relevant to include within any syllabus and ensuring that the nursing community is aware of it.
  • Policy advisors advise the government and other groups on key elements of the nursing workforce, education, practice, and service delivery.
  • Executive Director of Nursing – as we’ve said, the scope for building on your nursing degree is immense. Ultimately, you could become an Executive or Director of Nursing, allowing you to lead all other nurses and provide direction within hospitals’ clinical settings.

The Charitable Sector

Nurses enjoy the idea of giving back, which is one of the reasons many have gone into this profession in the first place. However, although they might love helping people, they might not enjoy the hands-on nature of nursing, finding that it isn’t what they hoped for or want in life.

By moving into the charitable sector and working at a high level within it, you can have the best of both worlds; you will help people on a grand scale (depending on the kind of charity you are working in and how it achieves its goals). You won’t have to do any of the parts of nursing that didn’t appeal to you in the first place. Plus, your nursing degree with all the soft skills you will have learned (including communication, organization, time-keeping, and even management skills) will certainly come in useful. You can use your knowledge and education to improve many people’s lives, so your ultimate goal doesn’t have to change how you achieve it.