15 Non-Clinical Careers for Nurses and Nursing Students

THE VERSATILE CAREER OF NURSING and health care provides several opportunities to save lives and improve the quality of life even outside of the clinical setting. If you’re a nurse burnout from the clinical scene, or a recent nursing graduate looking for work elsewhere than the typical setting, a non-clinical nursing career may be an option for you.

The gratifying benefits of nursing don’t have to involve drawing blood and administering medications in a hospital! Individuals who fear blood, are extremely independent, are looking to advance their career, are shy, or are seeking a flexible work schedule can vastly benefit from a non-clinical setting. Check out some career options below.

12 Non-Clinical Nursing Career Options

1. Nurse/Medical Journalist
If you have a knack for writing, you may consider becoming a nursing writer. Individuals with a nursing degree and experience, who are also skilled writers, often are the writers of nursing and medical textbooks, articles, and books. Nurse journalists are involved with planning, researching, writing, editing, and proofing material used to train, inform, or educate medical professionals and students.

2. Patient/Staff Educator
Many nurses who don’t wish to work in clinical settings work as educators for patients or other health care professionals within a hospital, providing clinical education and evaluation, collaborating with the efforts of medical practitioners. Clinical nurse educators are required to adhere to specific nursing standards, policies, and procedures; and they are trained to deliver information to patients and staff in the most efficient manner possible.

3. Case Manager Nurse
Case management nurses work to provide long-term care for their patients, who often need specific and individualized care plans. Nurses in this field often specialize in the treatment of certain diseases and age groups, such as HIV/AIDS or cancer. They work hard to keep their patients out of the hospital, educated, and up-to-date on the latest and best treatment plans available.

4. Dialysis Nurse
Dialysis nurses work with patients requiring dialysis due to renal failure; and they are experts in kidney disease treatment. Dialysis is a complex treatment and requires careful monitorization. Dialysis nurses often work closely with other medical professionals, including dietitians, social workers, technicians, and other physicians.

5. Medical Equipment Salesperson
A career as a salesperson may not seem related to the nursing profession, but there is certainly room for this type of entrepreneurship in the medical field. Medical device equipment and pharmaceutical salespersons are responsible for selling much of the hospital equipment and pharmaceuticals you see in hospitals. Nurses and other medical professionals who don’t wish to provide clinical care but have advanced knowledge of medicine are the perfect candidates for this position. As long as you know how to “talk the talk,” you could be a medical equipment salesperson!

6. Informatics Nurse Specialist
With the continual integration of technology within the field of medicine, specialists in this science who also have experience in nursing, are an asset. Now that much medical records and data are moving to a computer database, informatics nurse specialists are needed to oversee this integration of data to best improve patient care and make the information accessible to health care providers.

7. Legal Nurse Consultant
Registered nurses with an interest in the judicial system often train to become legal nurse consultants, who are responsible for research, analysis, and interpretation of medical-related issues within a legal case. Their investigations provide educated opinions and facts that are necessary in legal claims.

8. Health Care Career Coach
Health care career coaches help students and adults looking for work in the health care field by evaluating and accessing their clients’ personal career goals through consultation. They plan career moves for individuals looking to be nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals.

9. Nurse Midwife
Nurse midwives are responsible for caring for childbearing women during pregnancy, during birth, and through postpartum via alternative, more natural interventions. They can choose to work outside of the clinical setting, i.e., work from home, at a private practice, or visit the homes of their patients. They provide holistic, continual care and education to women and families planning and expecting a child.

10. Patient Advocate
Patient advocates maintain patient rights by educating patients, their families, and their health care providers by responding to family complaints, resolving issues, and reporting unresolved issues. They support their clients by providing legal information, alerts, documentation, counseling, and knowledge to everyone involved in a patient’s care.

11. Pharmaceutical Researcher
Pharmaceutical researchers and scientists perform the research needed to ensure medications and pharmaceutical tools meet government standards and are produced ethically and efficiently. They are responsible for assuring that the current drugs and medical equipment meet the latest standards of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

12. Forensic Nurse Consultant
Like legal nurse consultants, forensic nurse consultants work in the legal side of nursing. They evaluate and treat patients who are victims of assault, abuse, neglect, and sexual crimes. Forensic nurse consultants collect evidence, following the chain of custody and ensuring that all evidence is properly delivered to authorities.
Take your nursing education and experience to new levels with a non-clinical career! Maintain the core values of providing care, education, and service to those in need in a setting more appealing and applicable to you!

Let’s create community! Comment below a non-clinical nursing career you’d like to take on!