Bedside nursing just might not be for me. I have been having a great deal of anxiety. I am looking to get into something outpatient/remote that still deals with patients- any advice?
Hey! I was in the same situation not to long ago. I was a new grad bedside nurse for 3 months, and hated my life to the point where it took a toll on my mental health. Eventually, I had to resign, but I was able to step into a new world of nursing. There are many places who are hiring outpatient nurses. I was lucky to have first started with COVID-19 testing sites, and then from there I went into researching outpatient surgery clinics, regular clinics, wellness clinics, plastic surgery clinics, home health nursing, dialysis nursing, OR nursing, GI nursing, school nursing, and urgent care. I put myself on every job search website (ie. Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, etc.) and requested outpatient. There was definitely many more avenues, but I currently work with a wellness clinic. And I can say I’m much happier with where I am. I think the hardest part is validating one self that you are still a RN, even if you aren’t in the hospital. I’m sending you so much luck! And I hope you find the right field for you. Never feel like you are trapped anywhere. The good companies will always have room, time, and patience to teach any nurse. I hope this helps gives you faith. 🙏🏼❤️
Try out being a PICC nurse. I’ve been doing that for 8 years and I love it! Depending on where u live, it’s great money! I made 187k last year and it’s the easiest job on the planet!
Dealing with the same thing. It seems that everything remote requires 2-5 years experience. But where do you get experience if you can’t start anywhere?
Look for outpatient clinics. You can still acquire a great deal of knowledge but remote is a whole different ballgame as there is no support at your finger tips. You need to have the experience and knowledge to back that up because you are not seeing the patient in person therefore you can’t assess appropriately. I did bedside for a few yrs and HH together. This allowed me to really dig deep and learn the guidelines and policies to save my license and it gave me confidence to tell others NO. I then went to outpatient clinic and gained more experience. Now as a PCP with my own practice I gained the experience to work remote and know when to say telemedicine is not appropriate get your but into the clinic or no I am not doing that I quit. Find a great position learn soak it up like a sponge you will find something.
You may also want to consider doing private nursing. I have friends who have done that while paying for advanced degrees. Is still very hands on, but isn't as time sensitive as working in a hospital.
Go into wound care. You can travel, work inpatient [to your limit] and still make money. I’ve been seeing traveling wound care contracts popping up here and there. Def worth a look!
Consider a case management position. I left bedside nursing shortly after I received my RN. I took a job as a Health Care Case Manager for children in foster care. The program worked closely with child protective services and used us a lot for medical neglect investigations and providing court testimony. I absolutely loved that job and retired after 25 years. There's several case management jobs in the private sector as well as government.
My advice is if you want nicu go to hospital with a level 3 ! Take any position you can ! Get foot I. Door ! You will love nicu ! Doing it for 35 + years ! Work holidays and weekends but I love what I do !Good Luck !
