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50 Best High Paying Career Change ideas for Nurses

Are you tired of your nursing job and you want a fresh challenge with good pay? If YES, here are 50 best high paying career change ideas for Nurses. Nurses go through a lot in the line of duty- they have to deal with night shifts, long working hours and a lot of other emotional roller-coasters. Some nurses sometimes need to take a break from nursing to pursue other less-challenging careers.

If you are looking for career alternatives to explore as a Nurse, we’ve come up with 50 different ideas for you to explore:

50 Best High Paying Career Change ideas for Nurses

1. Corporate Health Consultant

Corporate Health Consultants work with corporate outfits to develop stress reduction programs and welfare management programs for their employees.

2. Research Analyst

You can work as a clinical analyst who gathers useful information and data for the medical field. You can offer your services to product developers or people looking to start businesses in the medical industry.

3. Nursing IT

You can start a career in the Information technology industry and work with other IT professionals to help them understand the medical industry’s needs and demands for informational technology.

4. Medical Sales Representatives

Another career idea you can switch to is becoming a medical sales representative to sell medical products and devices to hospitals and individuals.

5. Nursing Educator

As a retired Nurse or an elderly Nurse, you can take up a career as a lecturer or Nursing educator to teach young people how to become Nurses.

6. Travel Nurse

You can become a travel Nurse and work on Cruise ships, commercial flights or private jets.

7. Forensic Nurses

Forensic Nurses are often needed at crime scenes. If you don’t want to work in a hospital but still want to earn good income practicing Nursing, you can consider becoming a Forensic Nurse.

8. School Nurse

A lot of schools employ Nurses to work in their sick bays. You can work as a school nurse in elementary schools, high schools, colleges or even in universities.

9. Legal Consultancy Nurse

As a Nurse, you can work as a legal consultant who helps to handle medical malpractice cases although you may have to go back to school to obtain a legal degree otherwise you can just settle for working as a paralegal.

10. Ecommerce

You can work from home selling products on E-commerce sites such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, and so on. You can sell medical-related products or non-medical products if that’s what you prefer.

11. Herbal Farming

Herbal farming is gaining increasing popularity in the world today due to people’s desires to live healthy and avoid different diseases that are common nowadays. You can set up your own herbal farm, grow herbs and sell them at farmers markets or supply them to companies that manufacture herbal products.

12. Herbal Products Developer

Another business idea to pursue is developing of herbal products. You can come up with product ideas that can solve various health challenges and develop products from them or sell the idea to companies who have enough money to produce and distribute the products.

13. Massage Therapist

Another career alternative for Nurses is becoming massage therapists. You can earn good per hour income from offering massage services to people around you.

14. Summer Camp Nurse

This is a seasonal job that can earn you some part-time income. You can work in summer camps to provide medical care to the children in the camps.

15. Insurance Salesmen

Since you understand healthcare so well, it wouldn’t be so difficult for you to sell insurance products especially health insurance and life insurance products.

16. Prison Nurse

This one requires some degree of boldness but if you love helping the downtrodden and underprivileged in the society, you can use those skills to work as a prison nurse.

17. Teaching

Nurses and teachers almost have the same skillsets- Nurses are patient, good listeners, problem solvers, and love helping people out. As a Nurse, you can do well if you switch to a career in teaching.

18. Military Nurse

Another career change idea for Nurses is becoming a Military Nurse. You can help soldiers treat wounds sustained on the battlefield, or work in Military hospitals.

19. Dermatologist

You can undertake some courses that will allow you to practice as a dermatologist. You’ll be able to help people recover from skin problems and damages.

20. Beauty Products Developer

You can formulate your own recipes and ideas for developing beauty products such as creams, beauty vitamins, make up products, and so on.

21. Motivational Speaker

Another idea is to become a motivational speaker. Nurses are generally selfless, dedicated and care deeply about others- all of these are skills that you can hone in order to become a successful motivational speaker.

22. Nanny

You’ll be highly sought after if you decide to make a career change to become a nanny. Many parents would be comfortable leaving their kids in the care of a professional Nurse and you can also command a higher price than the average nanny.

23. Children’s Daycare Center

If you don’t want to work as a Nanny, you can consider setting up your own children’s daycare center where busy parents can leave their children while they go to work.

24. Health Coach

You can also sell your services as a health coach to help people learn how to take care of their bodies and live healthier and happier lives.

25. Dietitian

Another career you can pursue as a Nurse is becoming a dietitian. You can help people plan their meals and offer them the best nutritional advice for their health.

26. Personal Fitness Training

Another idea you can consider is to become a personal fitness trainer. You can help private clients develop fitness programs, or even work at gyms.

27. Clinical Psychologist

Another lucrative idea is to become a clinical psychologist. You’ll still be able to work in a hospital but not as a nurse; your job would be centered on diagnosing and treating emotional, mental and psychological disorders.

28. Social Worker

You can also switch from Nursing to a career as a social worker.

29. Sell Medical Supplies

You can open a store to sell medical supplies. With the network and experience that you have built from working as a nurse, you wouldn’t find it too challenging to sell medical supplies profitably.

30. Grant Writing

You can use your experience in the medical industry to write grant proposals for businesses targeted at improving healthcare delivery.

31. Politician

There are a lot of nurses who became famous politicians. Donna Howard used to be a Nurse before she became a politician; you can follow in the footsteps of such people.

32. Nurse Lobbyist

If you don’t want to become a politician, you can take up a career as a lobbyist who speaks to Congressmen and senators to encourage them to support bills that would favor the nursing profession and the healthcare sector.

33. Bioterrorism Research Nurse

You can help to make the world a safer place by becoming a bioterrorism nurse. Bioterrorism nurses conduct disease surveillance, recognition and care of patients who have been victims of disasters or bioterrorist attacks.

34. Medical Journalist

You can become a news reporter who specializes in the medical niche; become a column contributor for medical magazines and journals or start printing your own medical magazines and newspapers.

35. Study Program Developer

You can help create educational programs and develop curriculums for nursing schools and programs. This type of career is especially good for retired nurses.

36. Telemedicine Nurse

Telemedicine nurses offer consultancy and treatments to patients over the internet. This field of medicine is known as e-health and you can earn a lot of money from embracing this emerging medical field.

37. Pharmacist

This is a good alternative career for you if you don’t mind going back to school to bag a degree in pharmacy or take an accredited course that would qualify you to practice as a pharmacist.

38. Medical Writer

You can offer freelance or ghost writing services and help people write textbooks, health website contents, advert materials, and other medical write ups.

39. Occupational Health Nurse

Another idea is to work as an occupational health nurse whose job would be to work at corporate clinics, help carry out pre-employment tests, and help to develop or implement corporate wellness programs.

40. Talk Show Host

Another idea is to set up your own talk show. You can host shows that talk about medical topics (The Doctors is a typical example) and get corporate sponsors for it.

41. Medical Transcriptionist

Another good idea is to offer medical transcription services. This is another lucrative idea that will allow you to work from home and do away with the stress of working in a hospital or clinic.

42. Telephone Triage Nurse

You can also consider working as a telephone triage nurse whose job would be to talk to patients over the telephone, assess their symptoms and offer appropriate medical advice.

43. Medical Records Keeper

You can still work as a medical record personnel in a hospital or clinic if you don’t want to work as a Nurse or if you’re retired.

44. Administrative Manager

Another good career option is to work in the administrative department of hospitals or clinics. You can help to manage nurses and other medical staff.

45. Relationship Consultant

A lot of unmarried people who are in romantic relationships need people to advise them and offer them guidance. As a Nurse, you are already great with managing people’s emotions and you can easily put that to good use by becoming a relationship consultant.

46. Amazon/Createspace Publishing

Another good idea that involves working from home is to write your own books and publish them on Amazon or Createspace.

47. Case Manager

Another idea is to work as a case manager. You can work with insurance companies or health service providers to coordinate patient care.

48. Patient Advocacy

Patient advocacy is another lucrative career to explore. Patient advocates work with patients to help them understand health insurance and healthcare so that they can get the best value for their money.

49. Senior Care

You can work with adults who are unable to care for themselves or run their own errands. You can earn money from providing care and assistance to such individuals.

50. App Developer

You can also explore app development opportunities. You can brainstorm app ideas that can help solve some of the problems you may have come across while working in the medical industry.

In conclusion, a nursing career is no doubt an interesting one but it’s also very time consuming and may prevent you from spending quality time with your family; if you are trying to free up some time, you can consider freelancing or work-at-home opportunities for nurses that allow you to work as a nurse but is less time-consuming than hospital or clinical nursing.