I wrote a post on alternative nursing jobs and than a post was submitted from a student nurse, Audrey Z. So when moving the old site to the new site I thought I would combine the two posts because they had some of the same information.
So here is what Andrey wrote – 5 Adventurous Nursing Jobs –
Nurses love helping people, and for those who also love adventure, there are people to help in some exciting places. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, I think these nursing jobs are the most exciting. If you’re looking for an adventure while maintaining your career, these are the tickets for you.
Oil Rig Nurse
Oil rig nurse work long hours in a crazy environment, but the pay is excellent and the job is usually just six months per year. Nurses get the same unusual benefits as rig workers – all your meals are provided and your laundry and cleaning is done for you. Your view is generally miles of open ocean and maybe a distant shoreline. Because you’re isolated, you have a lot of autonomy, must make decisions quickly and accurately, and you may only have radio or phone contact with doctors onshore. It’s a challenging job that combines aspects of many normal nursing jobs – first responder, ER, trauma, diagnostics, medication and treatments. You’re responsible for the crew’s overall health. It’s quite an adventure.
Cruise Ship Nurse
Floating cities – that’s what modern cruise ships are. A cruise ship RN might do anything from administering medication to operating an X-ray machine. Nurses onboard ships are responsible for the general health of thousands of passengers and hundreds of crew members. Nurses are always on call, but the commute from cabin to clinic isn’t bad! Of course, cruise ships tend to travel between the most beautiful locations in the world, and the scenery changes daily. Pay is on the top end of the scale, but time off comes only between cruise periods.
Nursing for Doctors without Borders
Nurses for Doctors without Borders (aka. Medecins Sans Frontieres) might literally travel anywhere in the world. One nurse described her experience working with other medical professionals for Doctors without Borders as, “… there is no hierarchy and everybody is an integral part of the team.” Nurses may be vaccinating hundreds of children one week and working on patients who survived wars the next. Every nursing scenario is covered from OR nursing and clinical work through field and research work. Just don’t expect your living conditions to measure up to your home in the United States – living in a tent and taking a shower from a bucket might be a more common experience. But, you’ll be helping the absolutely neediest people in the world, and that feels better than a hot shower.
Flight Nurse
If Superman were a nurse, he’d probably be a flight nurse. Traveling at hundreds of miles per hour, while stabilizing and administering care to a patient, requires a super hero’s mentality. Flight nurses must coordinate with EMT’s, doctors and hospitals while transporting patients and ensure quality care is delivered throughout the process. But, in addition to good pay, helping people who are clinging to life is a reward unto itself.
Travel Nursing in Alaska
There are thousands of traveling nurse jobs, and they are usually very interesting jobs because you see something different almost every day. Throw that job in amongst the mountains, glaciers, whales, and polar bears of Alaska – well, a travel nurse in Alaska is a hard job to top on the excitement scale. The pay is very high, as well, though it’s partially offset by the high cost of living. RNs can get 3-6 month assignments, save as much of that pay as possible, and head back to the contiguous states well ahead financially. For nurses who love to spend time outdoors hiking, hunting or fishing, this might be the perfect job.
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Here’s where I’ll add 2 more Adventurous Nursing Jobs.
Travel Nursing in the USA and Internationally
Not just in the beautiful state of Alaska, you have the opportunity to work anywhere in the country or aboard depending what agency you work for. Great opportunity to see this great country of ours or go overseas and learn a new language, experience their culture. You’ll come back with stories you’ll be telling for a lifetime. If you love traveling, you should seriously consider travel nursing!
I’m also going to add one more here that might surprise you.
Home Care Nursing
You might not think this is an adventurous nursing job but after being in home care for 15 years now, I would say it belongs in this class because every day is an adventure for me and I bet if you ask any home care nurse they will most likely say the same thing. You never know where you’re travels may lead you that day, maybe to a new part of town or your county or into the next state like I do sometimes. I drive the countryside and experience the beautiful hidden treasures in our area I’ve never knew existed. I take lots of pictures on my day trips along with keeping a journal of where I’ve been and the interesting people I met along the way, I plan to write a book about it someday.
Happy Outdoor Nursing!
Tina 🙂