8 Jobs You Can Do with a Nursing Degree

Any nursing qualification is going to open up a wealth of career and learning opportunities for you. Even if you don’t yet know what you’d like your long-term nursing role to be, there are many great starting positions or fields to explore with a nursing qualification. Not only that, but there is also the potential to study further and broaden your understanding by exploring online nursing programs too.

To be fully informed regarding all the rewarding career options out there, here are discussed eight job roles you can fulfill with a nursing degree.

 

1. Nurse Midwife

This is a vital and rewarding role for those who want to use their nursing qualification or online nursing programs to good use with a focus on pregnancy and baby care. Nurse-midwives will be caring and compassionate people who are able to strongly communicate to parents relevant information during the course of their pregnancy and beyond.

Your role will be to provide the relevant medical and healthcare advice for expectant parents during pregnancy, the labor process itself, and postnatal care.

This role combines medical care with educational instructions to ensure the best life for parent and baby and sees you responsible for both the parent and the baby’s health.

It’s important to note that this role also requires a strong individual who will be able to deal with any complications relating to birth or pregnancy and an individual who will be able to remain strong for the parent and baby as required.

Expected working environment: Hospitals and clinics, or assisting in home environments for home births or guidance

In summary: a nurse-midwife is responsible for the care of expectant parents and babies from the pregnancy stage to the labor stage and postnatal stage.

 

2. Health Play Specialist

This role involves working with children who require specialist attention when undergoing medical treatment. After all, undergoing medical treatment can be a scary time for young children who may not fully understand what is going on. As a health play specialist, you will therefore specialize in therapeutic play techniques to assist children in understanding their medical situation. This role mainly sees you looking for techniques that can ease the worries of young patients.

These play techniques will be coordinated in an academic fashion, whereby you will apply theoretical knowledge and evidence to make the most out of your patient plans for each individual. These programs are designed to support children in their development and emotional understanding.

Furthermore, this role will also see you supporting parents and other loved ones during the course of their child’s treatment.

Seeking further study with online nursing programs can also help you to develop your understanding and communication skillsfor a role such as this.

Expected working environment: Hospitals, clinics, or hospices.

In summary: health play specialists support children through treatment worries in a dedicated way within a medical environment. Help children to understand what’s happening in regard to their medical treatment using play.

 

3. General Nurse

You may want to work as a general nurse after gaining your nursing degree. This means working with general patients in a capacity to assist with medical treatment, patient care plans, compassionate support, and more. Or, you may wish to specialize in a particular nursing field, work only with specific patient criteria (such as adults only), or even further your learning with online nursing programs.

Nurses are fundamental to the medical field, no matter the patient or setting, and the role of a nurse can be very rewarding for those with a passion for general nursing roles.

Expected working environment: Hospitals, clinics, or other healthcare settings.

In summary: nurses assist with healthcare and treatment practices with the support of patients and work within a dedicated healthcare team to delivery exceptional patient care.

 

4. High-Intensity Therapist

Suppose you’d like a role that sees you working with mentally vulnerable people and those suffering through issues such as depression and anxiety. In that case, this is a key role for providing that sort of healthcare assistance. High-intensity therapists will work with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treatments and other areas of therapy to help patients overcome their mental obstacles.

Your working routine will mainly see you working with clients on a session basis. You may also work with patients who have been referred to you for your professional services. Your focus in this role will be on psychological recovery and the therapies relating to that.

Higher education, such as online nursing programs, will always be a boon for an exemplary understanding of patient recovery in any capacity.

Expected working environment: Within a clinic, visiting patients, or working within your own private office.

In summary: you will work with vulnerable patients who require mental health therapy treatment and support.

 

5. Health Visitor

Those already qualified as a nurse, or even though who have sought further qualification with online nursing programs, may be interested in the role of a health visitor. This allows you to work in the community amongst parents and children specifically, in order to provide a healthcare presence for their development and understanding.

As your focus here will be on the developing of children and assessing the parenting of various families, you may be required to visit homes and assess home living situations. Your job will be to guide parents in the necessary care at home for the best development potential of young children.

You can pursue this role if you are an existing nurse, qualified through online nursing programs, or already qualified as a midwife.

It’s also important to note that this role may see you working with vulnerable people in the community, such as the homeless or those suffering from addiction or substance issues.

Expected working environment: Home visits, working within the community, working within a healthcare setting.

In summary: You will make visits to relevant people, families, and home living situations to assess the situation and provide the best healthcare support and guidance.

 

6. Mental Health Nurse

The role of a mental health nurse focuses on the recovery and good health of patients undergoing treatment or suffering from conditions that may affect both their physical and mental health. This role will enable you to help patients come to terms with life-changing illnesses or any stressful times or treatments. You will therefore play a vital role in patient support and recovery.

A mental health nurse may work with a variety of people within a variety of situations. This could be adult or young patients undergoing medical treatment, or it could be working in the community with people struggling with drugs and alcohol. Additionally, you may find yourself assisting patients with eating disorders, depression, or anxiety.

Your focus will be on the overall quality of life and helping patients to understand this. You may also be required to administer medication in line with any mental health treatment.

Expected working environment: Hospitals, clinics, dedicated wards, patient homes, out in the community.

In summary: a mental health nurse supports a wide variety of patients who may need mental health support, treatment, medication, or a greater understanding of a healthy way of life. Seeking online nursing programs may also help within any competitive job market in relation to mental health roles.

 

7. First Responder/Paramedic

If you would prefer a medical role that sees you out in the community and working on the frontlines with the ability to travel rather than be held to one specific healthcare location, then becoming a first responder allows you to do that. As a first responder or paramedic, you will attend to emergency calls from those in need. This could vary from treatable medical emergencies to more severe life-threatening situations.

In this role, you will usually be the first medical professional on the scene, which is why nursing and medical skills are needed to assess the situation and the patient’s needs. Your assessment could include a full health analysis, attending immediately to life-threatening wounds, and implementing a plan for the required medical attention (such as transferring the patient immediately to a medical facility).

You may also be working with a variety of emergency equipment and would usually be working with a partner or as part of an emergency team, traveling to community locations or within people’s homes.

There is also plenty of growth potential for this role, such as specializing in air ambulance instead of road ambulance.

Seeking a base nursing degree to become a first responder is beneficial, but you may need to undergo further training in line with the role of a paramedic. It may also be helpful to improve your qualifications with further study, such as online nursing programs, to expand your valuable skillset in this medical field.

Expected working environment: On the road, in patient’s homes, community locations, working within hospital or clinic emergency rooms.

In summary: emergency responders work on the frontlines to respond to emergency situations and calls to assess patient injuries and needs. They may be required to attend to life-threatening situations.

 

8. Physician Associate

The role of a nurse is imperative in supporting a physician with their duties. The role of a physician associate sees you working alongside a physician (or physicians) to provide important support for the work which they do. This means working with both doctors and their patients to provide exemplary medical and healthcare support.

As a physician associate, you will be supervised by a doctor in your duties and will be called upon to assist with specific medical tasks, such as management, patient care, any relevant examinations, diagnosis assistance, or administering medication.

In this role, you will not work independently as a nurse but rather supervised at all times by a relevant physician. This may mean that you’re assigned to one specific doctor during the course of your work, or you may find yourself working with many different doctors in a variety of settings.

You will play a key role in the medical setting as a whole, working as part of a fundamental healthcare team.

If you would like to progress in such a role and further your skillset, you may also consider further study with online nursing programs.

It’s important to note, however, that this role is not akin to becoming a doctor, as this is a separate career path. While nurses in this position will play a vital part in the services of a doctor, becoming a doctor will require a different qualification and relevant training. Therefore if you’re planning on becoming a doctor eventually, this role may not be relevant to your study. However, if you’re looking to perform your duties as a nurse but wish to work directly with doctors, then this role fulfills that in a rewarding way.

Expected working environment: Hospitals, public or private clinics, and the potential for home visits if working alongside a visiting doctor.

In summary: the role of a physician associate will see you fundamentally supporting a doctor in their duties and helping to provide relevant patient care.

 

In Summary: Choosing the Right Career for You

This list only scratches the service in relation to the job potential with a nursing degree and also the potential for what further study can achieve, such as studying online nursing programs. The role of a nurse is vital in many fields and industries, and no matter the direction you choose when you have gained your nursing degree, it will always be a relevant one working for improved patient care.

Choosing the right career for you may feel extremely overwhelming due to the sheer number of options out there. It’s important to remember that career switches are always possible, and looking for various experiences in various settings is a great way to understand your professional self better and how you would prefer to work. Many nurses can choose different specializations throughout their careers or make a complete career switch.

What you choose to do is up to you, and the benefits of studying for a nursing degree include the variety of transferable skills which can be applied to many job roles.