Summary: From schools to hospitals, nurses perform essential care tasks and have an opportunity to advance in their careers.
If you’re on a nursing education path and nearing the completion of your education (or planning for the future), it’s time to start thinking about where you’d like to continue your career so you can grow professionally and have an immediate impact. The nursing field is full of opportunities and a demand for skilled talent. With many options available, you’ll want to compare influencing factors, such as your certification or licensing processes, health and insurance benefits, workplace location, and more. Your passions, interests, and strengths can also help narrow down the best workplaces for you.
To help you explore your options, we’ve rounded up the top five nursing jobs with steady to rapid employment growth, above-average salary projections, and diverse working conditions to meet different lifestyles.
1. Hospitals
The majority of employed nurses work in hospitals. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 58% of nurses in 2023 were employed by state, private, and local hospitals. Hospitals offer advantages like working as part of a medical team and using a range of nursing skills and knowledge since every day brings different challenges and unique problems to solve.
Hospitals allow nurses to concentrate their skills in one department or specialty. Nurses might be assigned or choose to work in units such as:
- Neonatal
- Cardiac
- Pediatric
- Maternity
- Surgery
- Oncology
- Emergency room
Teaching hospitals—often on the cutting edge of research and medical technology—can provide nurses with additional learning opportunities.
2. Telehealth
The need for telehealth nursing is on the rise as the need for access grows, especially across rural areas. Telehealth nurses usually work in an outreach capacity through a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. Nurses may consult remotely with patients, coordinate with doctors about patient care, and prepare medical records.
Skills telehealth nurses should have:
- Good time management
- Proficient technology skills
- Adept at active listening and asking probing questions to properly diagnose and advise patients in health matters
For nurses who prefer to work independently or may need to work from home, a telehealth job offers a compelling hybrid approach.
3. Home and Outpatient Healthcare
As the U.S. population ages, the need for home health care and outpatient care is expected to grow by 21% in the next decade, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Home healthcare nurses provide care to patients in the patient’s home; they monitor vital signs, listen to and diagnose patient symptoms, provide wound care, assist with in-home medical equipment, administer injections or medications, and execute patient treatment plans in conjunction with a doctor.
In-home working conditions differ from a hospital or clinical setting; benefits with home healthcare nursing may include:
- A regular workweek schedule with routine
- Smaller patient caseload than a hospital setting
- Private companies often employ healthcare nurses, so salaries may be more competitive
4. Physician’s Office
A physician’s nurse has the opportunity to work closely with doctors and medical staff. Nurses may review and update the patient’s health information, take the patient’s vital signs, schedule future visits, administer injections, and assist the doctor with routine medical procedures in the office. Physician office nurses have a more structured workday and help with routine office visits and medical care for non-life-threatening ailments and injuries.
5. Schools and Academia
School nursing is ideal for nurses who prefer to work with children and young people. Since the pandemic, public schools have employed more on-site nurses. Nurses treat students and teachers with routine health issues, offer wellness and prevention advice, and schedule vaccination events for families. They are essential care workers who can have an immediate impact, from providing bandages for scraped knees to helping stem the spread of illness around the school.
For nurses with master’s degrees and nursing experience, opportunities exist for teaching in nursing programs in hospitals and colleges. With the demand for more trained nurses, nursing programs need competent nurse educators. Nurse educators teach classes, plan curriculum, evaluate student progress, and may supervise nursing students in clinical settings. Nurse educators have a regular school schedule, although they may spend extra hours grading and preparing curriculum.
Evaluating Your Nursing Career Move
Whatever your next career step, thoroughly examine your needs and preferences before accepting a job offer. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) also suggests that the quality of the work environment is more important than the setting itself—seek out an environment where communication, collaboration, effective decision-making, and a healthy staff-to-patient ratio exist.
If you’re curious about if a job offer will be a good fit, ask the hiring team if you can observe a day-in-the-life work environment or talk with current employees about their experiences on the job. While a nurse has many choices, the right choice will be the one that can deliver you the most job satisfaction. You can find more about this and other nursing topics in the Tallo Community.
