People are drawn to study nursing by the rewarding nature of the work and the opportunity to help others on a daily basis. What many nursing students and experienced nurses don’t realize is the variety of incredible career opportunities that lie on their doorstep. Whether you are fresh out of college or veteran of the field, this article outlines four excellent, highly rewarding nursing jobs for you to consider when taking the next step in your career.
1. Travel Nurse
Do you like the sound of competitive pay and free housing while getting to explore the United States on your terms? Travel nursing might be perfect for you. Travel nurses have the opportunity to work all over the United States, often with paid accommodation. This is because nurses are in high demand across the country. There are plenty of travel nursing agencies who match nurses with short staffed hospitals (usually on three-month contracts). Travel nurses also get paid more than full-time nurses. When nurses are in short supply, hospitals are willing to hire travel nurses and pay them more than their full-time staff to meet market demand. The higher pay is the perfect incentive for nurses who are flexible and want to explore new places while they work.
2. Nurse Anesthetist
A rewarding path for those with nursing degrees to pursue is a career as a Nurse Anesthetist. Nurse anesthetists work on medical surgery floors and assist anesthesiologists with pre-op and post-op sedation procedures. They are responsible for ensuring that patients are unconscious for the entirety of their operation and wake up safely and ready to begin the recovery process. The job has its risks and therefore requires a masters degree and at least three years of prior nursing experience. However, the compensation for this risk and additional education is high. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Nurse Anesthetists are the highest paid of all nurses with a median salary of $160,000. This career is perfect for nurses who want to progress to a higher income bracket while still working on hospital floors.
3. Yacht Nurse
If you liked the sound of travel nursing but want to work in some of the World’s more exotic locations while making great money, yacht nursing might be for you. There are thousands of multimillion dollar vessels cruising our oceans, and many of them need nurses to keep their passengers feeling healthy and safe at sea. Yacht nurse roles tend to require a few years of experience, and you need to be comfortable spending long periods at sea where you are on call 24/7. However, if you’ve got sea legs, you will be rewarded with great pay free accommodation and plenty of time to relax. You will also learn valuable nautical skills from your fellow crew members who you will work alongside while out sailing the high seas. Perhaps the best perk of this job is the free accommodation. Yacht nurses get to work in beautiful places like the Caribbean and the Mediterranean while living free of charge on a multimillion dollar vessel! You can read more about the life of a yacht nurse here.
4. Health Policy Nurse
Now, perhaps more than ever, our healthcare system is in need of reform. Too many Americans still lack access to adequate healthcare. Nurses learn this first hand while working on the front lines in our nation’s clinics and hospitals. If you are passionate about equality of healthcare provision and want to create policies that ensure patients receive the best care possible, then health policy nursing might be your calling. Health policy nurses work for a variety of organizations. They work for hospitals, healthcare provider associations, pharmaceutical firms, and also for state and federal governments, where they work to improve legislation. Higher level roles require a masters degree and the benefits and compensation are much higher as a result. Luckily an undergraduate nursing degree is a perfect primer for a health policy masters and the key to breaking into this exciting and dynamic field. If you want to blaze a trail helping to change health care policy for the greater good while earning a handsome wage, this is an excellent career path.
