Career Resources / Top Nursing Employers in St. Louis
While nursing has its exhausting moments, at the end of the day, the rewards of the career far outweigh any frustrations or stress. Nursing is a profession that lets you experience the bond that comes from working as a member of a team. You’ll learn something new every day, have the opportunity for personal and professional growth, and have the comfort of knowing you will always have job security and strong compensation. However, beyond all these benefits, the best thing about being a nurse is knowing that you make a real difference in others’ lives. For patients and their family members, it is the care provided by their nurses that is remembered long after an illness or operation is past — in fact, it’s often that memory of compassion that drives people to become nurses themselves.
If you’re a registered nurse looking for the best place to put your skills and knowledge to good use, you can’t go wrong by choosing St. Louis, Missouri. Consistently listed among the best places to live in the United States, the city is also home to some of the nation’s top healthcare employers.
St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri is a big city with the heart of a small town. Noted for its excellent neighborhoods and friendly attitude, this city built on the banks of the Mississippi River offers the perfect combination of outdoor activities and indoor arts and culture, world-class attractions and big-time sports teams.
Life in St. Louis has a true Midwestern flavor. Residents love their home so much that St. Louis is noted for its generational loyalty, with most adult children who’ve moved away eventually moving back. But St. Louis’s population isn’t limited to those who’ve grown up there. According to UHaul’s annual growth report, St. Louis was among the top 25 cities in the country to see its population grow in 2022, and the city’s STL 2030 Jobs Plan is fueling that expansion. St. Louis is working hard to continue creating opportunities and strengthen its global position, and the strength of its healthcare offerings helps support that plan.
Types of Healthcare Jobs in St. Louis
Nurses looking for a community that values healthcare cannot do much better than St. Louis, which boasts highly respected medical schools, global corporations, healthcare organizations, and research centers. St. Louis is home to the headquarters of four major healthcare systems, as well as medical device companies, life science research companies, and biopharmaceutical companies. Add to that the more traditional employment opportunities offered at nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice care, private practices, clinics, and public health organizations, and nursing professionals have a wide range of options from which to choose.
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BJC Healthcare
Among the top employers in the region, BJC Healthcare encompasses multiple hospitals and healthcare facilities across Missouri and Illinois, including Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. These two nationally recognized academic hospitals are affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine and have received national accolades for the high standard of care they provide. They have also been noted as excellent employers both by current and former employees. In St. Louis, BJC Healthcare also includes a popular home care service that offers hospice, home infusion and medical equipment services, an occupational health organization, behavioral health services, and a rehabilitation hospital as well as clinics, private practices, and specialty practices.
BJC Healthcare not only recognizes the essential role that nurses play in the delivery of healthcare, but it has dedicated itself to offering its nursing staff the continued opportunities for growth and advancement. Nurses are offered unparalleled opportunities for education, ongoing professional development, including support in obtaining certification or advanced degrees. The environment at BJC’s facilities has earned Barnes-Jewish Hospital the distinction of having been the first adult hospital in Missouri to be awarded Magnet Recognition. It is one of the few hospitals in the country to have maintained this status for 20 years.
Nurses coming to work at BJC are offered extraordinary benefits, including sign-on bonuses for all full-time and part-time RN positions; a nursing student loan repayment program; a nurse residency program for new nurses; and BSN differentials, as well as medical, dental and vision plans, pharmacy benefits, 401(k) and pension plans, tuition assistance and continuing education support, and career advancement opportunities.
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis is one of the world’s leading teaching, research, patient care, and service organizations. Founded in St. Louis in the middle of the 19th century, it includes a School of Medicine that is one of the largest recipients of NIH funding in the country and has been a driving force in many medical breakthroughs – the school itself offers a Ph.D. in Nursing Science in collaboration with the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College.
As an employer, Washington University in St. Louis offers nurses the opportunity to combine medical research with patient care. Most positions involve working regular clinic hours, with no nights or weekend shifts required. Potential positions include staff nurses, Clinical Nurse Coordinators, Infusion Nurses, Dialysis Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Research Nurse Coordinators, and the facility has a well-earned reputation for offering outstanding benefits.
SSM Health
SSM Health has eight hospitals in the St. Louis area including the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, the SSM Rehabilitation Hospital, and Saint Louis University Hospital. It also has physician offices and other outpatient and virtual care services, post-acute facilities, comprehensive home care, and hospice. The Catholic, not-for-profit health system has locations throughout the Midwest and employs a total of 40,000 team members. It also includes a pharmacy benefit company, a health insurance company, and an accountable care organization.
SSM Health was named one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity and for Women by Newsweek magazine. Nurses working at SSM can enjoy flexible payment options as well as flexible work options, including a unique health ministry float that allows nurses to experience as many units as they wish. The health system also offers residencies and fellowships in nursing, health and wellness programs, retirement planning, paid time off, tuition reimbursement and continued education, and other attractive benefits.
St. Louis offers registered nurses endless opportunities to work in direct care, research, and more. For information on some of the many positions available in St. Louis, visit Incredible Health’s nursing job search page.
