Popular Nonbedside Nursing Jobs (LPN)

00:01 Let's talk non-hospital positions.

00:04 As a nursing student, let's be honest, most students don't see these positions as desirable.

00:10 But in all my years, I will tell you the hospital really isn't a great fit for everyone.

00:15 Honestly, the flexibility is less than the hospital or the inpatient setting, the hours are longer, the stress sometimes is higher, and nursing is evolving a lot.

00:27 Luckily, there are options for you out there.

00:29 And the outpatient world has so many perks and potential opportunities that most of the time these are overlooked, especially when you're a nursing student and sometimes even a nurse.

00:40 Here's a few outpatient jobs to consider a nursing.

00:44 If you aren't thinking the hospital life is for you, there are a ton of outpatient nursing jobs but I've picked some common ones to discuss.

00:53 Probably the most common is working as a clinic or outpatient office nurse.

00:58 Clinic nurses work in offices and perform a ton of education and different types of assessment.

01:05 And they may triage patients as well.

01:08 Here, you'll be doing a lot of chatting with patients over the phone, seeing if maybe they need to come in to be seen in the office, answering lots of questions and educating them on different aspects of their care.

01:21 You may even take care of some in office injections, procedures like wound care, and you may be helping to interpret labs or other results depending on the state you live in and your scope of practice.

01:33 Now this is a great option.

01:35 If you're looking for something maybe a little lower stress than the hospital.

01:39 You like routine, and you don't want that night shift or the holiday life or maybe even weekends.

01:45 The other advantage here is you can work in family medicine, OB clinic, psychiatric clinics, cardiac clinics.

01:53 And if you like a specialty area without the acute care setting of this type of nursing, this can be a great fit.

02:01 Now similar to a clinic nurse, you can also work at any outpatient procedure or residential centers.

02:08 This will include things like outpatient surgery centers, psychiatric centers, outpatient rehab programs, and long term care facilities.

02:16 Now the job responsibilities in these settings will vary widely as well the schedules.

02:23 Now let's take a moment to discuss long term care facilities.

02:28 I feel like this term or this setting has a really bad stigma, like it's less important or less cool as a nurse.

02:35 But I'll tell you, I completely disagree with this statement.

02:39 This level of care is often really rewarding, and also needs nursing to use really sharp observation and assessment skills.

02:48 Because many times they need to see if that resident needs a higher level of care, or to be admitted to the hospital.

02:55 The nurses are the ones that usually catch this.

02:58 Now, maintaining health and wellness for any patient is really a big job.

03:03 Not to mention, you're going to really get to know your clients.

03:08 And a lot of the times in the inpatient setting, your job never really allows you to get the same report.

03:14 So you are the caregiver and can tell the providers the most important and minute details about your patient that can really make all the difference.

03:23 Let's talk about LTACs, otherwise known as long term acute care facilities.

03:29 In my state, LPNs can work these types of areas.

03:33 Now this is kind of a special level of care, because the patient usually has acute care needs such as like IV therapy, nutrition support through a feeding tube, and sometimes even breathing support.

03:46 Now these patients are too safe to go home, but they need that continued advanced treatment that's got to be monitored by a nurse.

03:55 Now the hospital can usually only keep patients for so long until they no longer meet what we say is in medical necessity for inpatient treatment.

04:06 But again, they need that higher level of care and higher level than home or long term care by itself.

04:14 So the thing to consider here is these patients are sick, usually still dealing with that acute problem that laying the room in the hospital, but they need additional care thereafter.

04:26 Now this is a high level of care of LPNs to consider if the hospital's really not their thing, but still like to use our technical skills and training to take care of those acute conditions.

04:38 Now let's talk about school nursing.

04:40 This is another great option to consider.

04:43 Now you are working under the supervision of an RN.

04:46 And one of my dearest friends is a school nurse and she is one of the brightest and most creative people I know.

04:53 Many nurses underestimate the acuity of patients and problems you deal with as a school nurse.

05:00 Yeah, I know, sometimes you're gonna give ice packs, you're gonna call parents because their kid fell on the playground.

05:07 But they also deal with children with really serious health conditions, such as diabetes, seizure disorders, and working with things such as feeding tubes.

05:19 Oh, and dealing with a pandemic by themselves for a whole entire school district.

05:25 Many times, it's just a few nurses, maybe even one for the whole entire school.

05:31 And that's a lot of kids.

05:33 Nurses also do a really important thing in the schools of education in regards to sexual safety, nutrition, suicide prevention, and really just so much more.

05:44 Now, here you have a good amount of autonomy with this role.

05:48 Now, this can be kind of intimidating to a new nurse.

05:51 So this is something you may be want to be aware of.

05:54 Many times this is a great option.

05:56 If you also have children, they go to school where you work.

05:59 Home health, this one is huge.

06:02 Many LPNs work in this type of care.

06:05 I would dare to say when talking about level of pay.

06:08 I know experienced LPN who work in home health, who make way more than their RN friends in the hospital.

06:16 This is when you are traveling to people's homes and providing them with in home services.

06:22 Now, this can range from people having a nurse visit to ensure the patient's safe and optimize their environment to maybe reduce falls, or just make sure they're overall doing okay.

06:34 Maybe doing dressing changes, administering medications, and coordinating for additional resources if the patient needs it.

06:42 Now, my personal experience.

06:44 I've had an LPN coming to my home to help our family and their knowledge of wound care and overall knowledge base.

06:51 Many time supersedes those who work in an inpatient environment.

06:56 Although it's not the same as home health, hospice and palliative care are two other outpatient jobs where you are visiting patients in their home and providing measures to improve quality of life.

07:09 Now, this schedule, if you're thinking about that is really awesome for people who need a bit of flexibility in their day.

07:17 You really get to choose their schedule and work with your patient on this.

07:21 So the other part of this level of care, you really know your clients.

07:25 Sometimes this is over several weeks, you're updating and even educating family members on treatments being given to the patients and working with the RN to take care of these folks.

07:38 So we've talked about several options in regards to LPNs.

07:42 But one more important thing to know is that LPNs with experience, they can even take administrative positions at long term facilities in my state, for example.

07:52 Each facility has certain requirements for this of course, but this may be an option as well.

07:58 So remember, as an LPN, you can become a valuable asset in any one of the settings you choose.