Today I want to address the Elephant in the Nursing School room. I want to talk about this myth that’s out there that says you’re not a “real” nurse unless you work as a bedside nurse in a hospital. And that’s just not the case, and in a bit, I’m gonna give you 10 alternative jobs that you can do as a new grade nurse. 

Nursing is a big, huge field. There are over 100 specialties in nursing! How many other fields can claim that? That’s one of the great things about nursing. But nursing school only lasts anywhere from 16 months to 4 years, depending on what type of degree you’re getting. So, that’s obviously not enough time for them to train us in all the types of nursing. But since 55% of nurses work in general medical surgical hospitals, the nursing schools train us to basically be med/surg nurses. 

Most, if not all of your clinical rotations will be on med/surg units in a hospital. But what if when you do those clinicals, you feel so much anxiety and stress that it’s just overwhelming. What if you’ve never had a job this physically demanding and you thought you could do it, but you leave each clinical day feeling exhausted and wondering how in the world you’ll be able to do it for 12 straight hours? These feelings are real, and yes, any new job comes with a fair amount of stress as you’re learning all the new things, right? But if you know yourself well enough to know that you really don’t think you’ll be happy working as a bedside nurse, and you’re starting to think maybe you shouldn’t have gone into nursing, then this episode is for you. You need to hear this. 

Not all nurses are bedside nurses. Not all nurses work in a busy hospital. Not all nurses work 12 hour shifts. 

So, I’m gonna go over the top 10 non-bedside nursing jobs that you could get as a new grad nurse. And these are not just some things I found from a list online. Every one of these jobs, I have researched and I found actual job listings that a new grad could get without any experience.

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