How to Work From Home as a Registered Nurse
Did you know that as a registered nurse you can work from home? Now more than ever, people are discovering the freedom and joy of working from home. As a nurse, this opportunity extends to you as well.
Honestly, we’ve always thought of nursing as an in-house clinical occupation. However, since Covid 19 more and more employers are taking the opportunity to let their staff work from home. For non-clinical work, it makes sense to allow nurses to work from home.
We’ve had on-call advice nurses for a long time now. Yet there are many other jobs an RN can do from home. Today at the desired desk, we will explore all things related to nursing. In the paragraphs below, we will outline some of the hottest trends and new opportunities occurring in the nursing field.
Degrees in Nursing
When most people think of a nurse, they often think of a person in scrubs. They likely picture someone that is tending to patients. As we know, nurses are so much more than this. In today’s market, nurses are everywhere. They are in high demand across many industries. This is because nurses possess highly adaptable skills.
Furthermore, as a nurse you have chosen a career that provides excellent job flexibility. Specifically, nurses don’t have to limit themselves strictly to a hospital setting, work in a medical group, or a patient care scenario. There are a variety non-medical companies looking to employ registered nurses. With each passing year, the demand for nurses will only continue to rise.
The Different Tiers of Nursing
- LVNs (Licensed Vocational Nurse) – Another name for LPN
- LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurse) – Certificate with no formal degree
- RNs (Registered Nurse) – Associate or Bachelor Degree
- APRNs (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse) – Master’s Degree
- NPs (Nurse Practitioners) – Doctorate in Nursing
Increasingly, being a registered nurse provides one with multifaceted career opportunities. More importantly, holding a bachelor of science degree will open even more doors. In short, the nursing field is becoming more competitive. The higher your education, the better positioned you will be to acquire the job you want.
It’s now easier than ever to reach your educational goals. There are a plethora of online nursing programs that will enable you to continue your education and advance up your career ladder. Also, note that most work-from-home positions require one of the higher degrees.
Nurses with a BSN degree have significantly more career options than their lesser-educated peers and qualify for better benefits. If you are a registered nurse, you may want to consider continuing your education. This will enable you to gain increased pay and the coveted option to work from home.
Work from Home Jobs Involving Patient Care
Take Calls as an On-Call Triage Nurse. When a patient has a concern or question, they often want to talk with an informed and knowledgeable medical professional. As an on-call nurse, you will provide expert advice and guidance for the patients that call in. Often in this job, you will be the first point of contact for the patient. You will be responsible for assessing symptoms and guiding the patient toward an appropriate course of action for their situation. Fortunately, all you will need is a telephone and computer.
Work from Home as a Registered Nurse Case Manager. Collaborate with doctors to provide quality treatment for patients. As an advocate and liaison, you would be tasked with overseeing patient care. Similarly, you would act as a go-between for providers and patients. You’ll make sure that patients are receiving the best possible treatment. Medical case managers can also process worker’s compensation and insurance claims. By examining each case, they coordinate treatment options and available funding. This position can easily be performed at home. All this job will require is phone, email, and medical systems access.
Work from Home Jobs Within the Medical Industry
Easily Transition into Medical Coding and Billing. With a hop, skip, and a jump you can land a job as a medical coder. This career harmonizes with your nursing skills yet enables you to wear an entirely different hat. Equally important, with medical coding and billing, you can work from anywhere. Essentially, you review a patient’s medical records following a doctor visit. You then assign procedural ICD-9 codes. From there, you submit appropriate forms for insurance processing and reimbursement. All you need is a phone, computer, an up to date coding manual, and medical systems access.
Use Your Nursing Degree to Land a Job in Human Resources. If you become a virtual nurse recruiter, you will be responsible for finding and acquiring medical staff. As an RN, you are uniquely qualified to determine the needs of a department. Similarly, you know what each job title entails and the qualifications needed for each role. Your responsibilities would include regular searches and posts on job boards. You’d screen and interview candidates. Lastly, you would interview prospective employees for available positions within the company.
Other Work from Home Jobs as a Registered Nurse
Use your nursing experience and education to venture into other related careers. Other industries are looking to hire RNs.
Get into Clinical Research. Use your specialized knowledge as an RN to work on clinical trials. Because you are a nurse, you have an intimate knowledge of medical documents and patient care processes. As a result, this puts you in a unique position to QC documents, manage clinical data, audit studies, collaborate with pharmaceutical representatives, and interact with site clinicians. As an RN you would be an outstanding asset to any clinical research organization.
With each passing year, the demand for nurses will only continue to rise.
Become a Clinical Sales Representative. In clinical sales, you can use your RN degree to inform doctors about new and emerging products, medications, therapies, and programs. Accordingly, you would do this on behalf of pharmaceutical companies and medical suppliers. Additionally, you’d provide product samples, deliver educational material, answer questions, and negotiate sales. Many of these tasks can be performed at home with a telephone and computer. However, this position would require regular travel as well.
Move Over into Insurance. The health insurance industry needs RNs. As an insurance claims nurse, you would be responsible for investigating medical claims, approving qualifying procedures, and determining insurance payments. Moreover, your medical knowledge will come in handy and enable you to do all of this from home.
Become a Medical Writer, Journalist, or Author. If you love to write, why not combine that skill with your nursing degree. For instance, you can provide promotional material for hospitals, medical groups, and clinics. Use your first-hand experience and expertise to write for clinical journals and publishers. Blog about your profession. Publish your own books. The possibilities are endless and all you need is a computer. You can write from anywhere.
Related: What Expenses Should My Employer Pay if I Work From Home
Going Out On Your Own
Empower Others as a Life Coach. As a nurse, you have a unique perspective which benefits you as a life coach. As a result, you can combine your nursing skills with other disciplines like health, wellness, yoga, meditation, preventative health, and holistic therapies. Use your creativity to custom tailor your business practice to your specific gifts and talents.
Be a Legal Nurse Consultant. This job would enable you to use your medical knowledge to advise, inform, and assist lawyers in their medical-related cases. Thus, you would advise them on worker’s comp, medical fraud, and a myriad of other medical court filings. Much of this can be done from home via video chat or telephone. In fact, you can provide a medical perspectives and advice for multiple law firms. This would be a great way to scale your business.
Work from Home as a Certified Nurse Midwife. In this role, you can care for pregnant mothers and deliver newborns out of your own home. In most cases, your patients will come to you and you can provide care from inside your home. You may also be required to travel to a patient’s home to provide care and oversee delivery. For this profession, you will need substantial equipment and designated care spaces, complete with examination rooms. Additionally, you will want to have a birthing suite ready to go for mothers to be.
Choosing Your Path Forward
As a registered nurse, you have a lot of work from home options. Furthermore, ever-evolving technologies are creating new opportunities in the medical industry. As a result, new remote positions are emerging every day. For registered nurses, working from home is now easier than ever.
With such versatility, it’s no wonder that nurses are in high demand. However, the hard part may be choosing which specialty you want to go into. As we have seen, you can provide virtual patient care while working from home. You can even specialize. Thus, you can work for other professionals or companies. Lastly, you can be your own boss, run your own business, and make your home the base of operations.
Best of all, you can do these jobs from the convenience of your own home.
If you’re a nurse, let us know your work-from-home experience. How did you choose your particular specialty?
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