What Can I Do with a Bachelor’s in Nursing?

I'll be graduating in 1 year and have been looking into what I can do with a Bachelor's in Nursing. This has been a long time in the making -- 4 years so far. I know I could have done an ADN but I wanted the BSN because of different opportunities. (If you are uncertain about the path to nursing school or its length, consider reading How long is nursing school? - Different Medical Careers.)

Now that I'm almost finished, I'm trying to sort my thoughts out on the subject and have written this so others my benefit, too. I came across 6 different ideas.

1. The most obvious job is to work as a nurse. I'll get registered (as an RN) and apply for a license in the state where I to work as a nurse -- (Hello, Cali!)

Apply to traditional nursing jobs. If it is your first time to work, take entry positions in hospitals, medical centers, doctors’ clinics, health care and nursing facilities. Even schools and corporations have openings for school and company nurses. 

2. Apply for RN jobs in the federal executive branch. Nurses employed in government agencies hold various ranks and positions; there are about 69,810 of them here – earning an hourly mean wage of $38.07, and $79,190 annual mean wage. While they constitute a mere 3.48% of the total work force in the federal executive branch, they are vitally responsible in providing healthcare administration, disease control and prevention, rural health assistance, healthcare research, and Medicare and Medicaid services.

I'll admit that the next few ideas I would have never considered if I had not read 10 Non-Clinical Nursing Jobs: Forget the Hospital or Clinic!

3. Search for RN job posts in the aerospace products and parts manufacturing industry. There are 180 registered nurses working in this industry with an annual mean wage of $74,200. One might think it unimaginable but NASA has registered nurses in its payroll, too. Nurses in this aerospace industry usually perform the task of providing health care assistance and emergency services to the workforce in the sites.

4. Apply as RN in other transit and ground passenger transportation industry. According to the latest data furnished by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are only fifty (50) registered nurses employed in this industry, occupying positions like Nurse Practitioners and Nursing Supervisors. The data further show that their annual mean wage of $86,780 or $41.72/hour is a lot higher compared to the annual mean wage of registered nurses employed in medical and surgical hospitals which is pegged at $70,590 or $33.94/hour.

5.  Work as healthcare IT specialist or technician - the responsibilities of this non-clinical nursing job, includes the application of digital technology, at its latest, in the medical and healthcare milieu. Healthcare IT has lured even numerous physicians away from their comfort zones (as in, clinical roles) into the non-clinical IT functions and responsibilities. It embraces the use of digital medical records, electronic coding of medical services and integration with the agency’s billing method, and innumerable digital imaging techniques. These jobs are mostly available in specialized sectors of service line assessment, nursing informatics, and clinical process evaluation and upgrade. This was another one of those jobs I never though about until I started searching for work at home stuff for nurses and came across Nursing Jobs from Home: 9 Alternative Careers for RNs.

6. Find jobs in healthcare administration - this is the perfect choice for executive positions. Healthcare administrators are responsible for undertaking and ensuring that healthcare facilities are functioning efficiently. Registered nurses who hold management degrees are often preferred because they have the medical and healthcare background and are equipped with supervisorial understanding in managing people and facilities. These high-paying jobs, like chief nursing officers, healthcare administrators, and hospital executives or managers, require judicious handling of issues and concerns arising from the public, corporate owners, physicians and nurses, employees and staff, lawmakers and politicians. These executives may have to negotiate and ultimately settle matters about government regulations, labor disputes, costs and expenses, revenues, and benefits.

There are numerous options for a graduate of BSN. RNs working in medical and surgical hospital earn an average of $33.94/hour or $70,590 in a year. Aside from those pursuing careers in the traditional clinical setting, however, a great number of nurses hold high-paying non-clinical jobs or positions in various industries, government and private offices. This, in fact, is backed up by a data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor, which indicated that the highest-paid nurses come from those who work in various non-clinical settings.