Nursing is a well-paid profession. However, it isn’t the monolithic profession that many people think it is. It has grown far beyond the traditional role of taking care of the sick in the hospital or the doctor’s office. It is a rapidly expanding profession that now encompasses a number of fascinating, often challenging roles. Here are the seven of the most exciting nursing careers.
Holistic Nursing
Holistic nursing is an evolution of the traditional nursing role. It seeks to improve the health of the whole patient. You don’t just treat the injury or illness that they are suffering from at the time; you assess their entire mind, body and environment.
You may prescribe changes in their diet, their lifestyle, and their relationships. Holistic practitioners will aid patients in preventing illnesses and lifestyle diseases as well. They tend to focus more on Eastern medicine than Western medicine. A related role is parish nursing, supporting the whole health of members in a religious community.
Nursing Informatics
Nursing informatics is a new area that combines information technology, nursing, and data analysis. This nursing career can include electronic medical records management, data analysis to find potential treatments for troubling cases, or teaching other nurses how to use new technology. A related role for those not interested in going high tech is outcomes management. It involves measuring the quality of healthcare by studying metrics like length of state and resource utilization. In this role, you could work for either health insurers or hospital systems.
Forensics Nursing
Forensics nursing makes many people think of crime shows. This is for good reason, since forensics nurses do play a role in the criminal justice system. They don’t just treat injuries but look for signs that crimes have been committed. They can collect evidence used to find the perpetrator. They may aid in the body identification. Or they may be called to be a key witness in a court case. If you have a natural sense of duty and the temperament for it, this could be a great and very rewarding career path.
Cruise Ship Nurse
Would you like to travel through the Caribbean? You could not only travel for free, but be paid to go if you’re a cruise ship nurse.
Cruise ship nurses provide medical care for travelers and employees on the cruise ship. They will handle everything from minor scrapes to life-threatening health conditions. They typically stabilize the severely ill patients until they can be moved to a medical facility on land. That makes the job more challenging than working in a conventional doctor’s office, but you’re rewarded by the ability to spend your days off in a variety of ports and enjoy the recreational amenities on the ship after your shift.
Nurse Educator
If you have a natural love for teaching, and are currently working as a nurse but would like a change of pace, then you could consider becoming a nurse educator.
Nurse educators will be responsible for teaching the next generation of nurses and enjoy great salaries as well. As a matter of fact, nurse educators with an MSN/Ed degree could earn as much as $94,820 a year depending on their qualifications. What’s better is that working nurses can follow online nursing programs and get their MSN/Ed degree online nowadays, which can facilitate their transition and allow them to keep their position while pursuing their education.
Insurance Nursing
Insurance nursing may not seem necessarily exciting at first glance, but it is a significant break from routine. Insurance nurses often work with insurers, performing assessments of those seeking life insurance or another type of insurance policy. In some cases, they teach classes to their clients. Teaching someone how to better manage conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes will reduce the odds they will end up hospitalized, disabled or worse, because of the condition. That reduces the amount of money paid out in claims in health, disability and life insurance claims.
Oil Rig Nursing
Those who work on oil rigs are at high risk of injuries, and they are far from help when they are ill or hurt. This is why nurses can be found working on oil rigs as well. Oil rigs may be offshore or in remote locations, so the job can be stressful, but it pays incredibly well. It can also be a way to visit distant corners of the world like the Canadian oil sands, West Texas, or various parts of the Middle East. More job opportunities are available to you if you are bilingual or have emergency medicine training.
Nurses enjoy a broadening array of career opportunities. The only questions nurses need to ask themselves are where they’d like to be working and which new fields they’d like to be part of. Whether you’re naturally adventurous, prefer routine or lab work, or would like to see the world, there is a career in nursing for you.
