Check it Out: 6 of the best side jobs for nurses

Are you one of the many nurses looking for side jobs during your off-hours?

Maybe you’re just looking for a side job to expand on your skills and make money.  Don’t worry, we understand, and we have you covered. 

Here are six of the best side jobs for nurses :

Medical Transcription

Are you looking to hone in on your interpretation or writing skills? Why not try Medical Transcription? 

Medical Transcriptionists listen to audio recordings that physicians and other healthcare workers make and convert them to written reports, transcripts, include medical notes and other audio files. Transcriptionist jobs focus on dictation and transcribe the correspondence into the patient’s record.

Additional Information

• Pay is about 34,000 per year or $16 an hour
• Can be done remotely
• It takes six to nine months to train or be certified  to be a transcriptionist
  • An associate degree or certificate in anatomy and medical terminology
  • Certification and training courses 

Health Blogging and Freelancing

Do you have a passion for writing and want to share your knowledge of health care?

Freelance writing as a nurse and healthcare specialist is a one-way to make some money on the side. Whether you’re writing for a healthcare platform like WebMD, medical writer at Upwork,  Fiverr, or create a blog.  For example, academic writers write relevant nursing-related content for websites, help develop training manuals, curriculums, textbooks, and other health science focus guidelines. You can also write for a specific area, from general to pediatrics.  There are many Health-focused companies, centers, nonprofits looking for paid health writers to write public health or patient-focused content.

Transferable Nursing Skills

• Communication Skills, i.e., interviewing, delivering information, gathering data
•  Research
• Time management 
• Attention to detail goes hand in hand with grammar and punctuation.

Additional Information: Average salary for a medical writer is $72,000 and typically requires BSN and a strong background in written communication, research, and health. Plus, writers can work from anywhere.

Health Instructor

A health instructor with a nursing background can work in various positions, from tutor to CPR instructor and even as a health coach. As a tutor or instructor, you can help new nursing students or health-focused students with their assignments, answer questions, and develop a curriculum. Being an instructor or tutor leaves room for flexibility, working remotely online or in school. As an independent tutor or instructor, you can make your schedule. 

Online Instructor or Tutoring positions

• Brainfuse
• Pearson
• Skillshare Educator

Are you interested in being a health instructor but not into curriculum building or tutoring? Why not try being a First Aid or CPR instructor?  First Aid or CPR instructors work to teach others how to apply for medical first aid assistance. As a nurse, you’re knowledgeable in medical care; the only thing left is a teaching certificate. The American Red Cross offers a Licensed Training Provider (LTP) Certificate that takes two days to complete and costs about $200.  As an instructor, you can teach company employees, students, volunteers, and other healthcare personnel CPR.  

Alternative: Health Coach

Health Coaches help clients achieve health-focused goals and maintain healthy lifestyles by developing health exercise or food-focused routines. Certified health coaches work in health facilities, insurance companies, and social service agencies and earn an average of $50,000 -$75,000; based on experience, location, and company.

Phlebotomist

Are you looking for a side job that allows you to connect with patients, other medical staff, and work in a lab? Why not become a Phlebotomist? 

As a phlebotomist, you work in a clinic or lab, and draw blood, verify patient data, prepare blood specimens for testing and perform screening procedures. As a nurse, you’ve worked with patients, helped with drips, drawn blood, and more. The next step is to get trained, shadowing a phlebotomist for a day depending on your experience or training in a program for four to eight months, or 20 hours from the Red Cross vocational training program.

Additional Information: Many phlebotomist positions are part-time and high in demand. Check out places like Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp for jobs.

Caregiver or Aide

One of the best side jobs for nurses is being a caregiver especially if you’re looking for a way to help patients outside the confines of a medical facility. As a caregiver, you can give medical assistance to patients from their homes. Providing care for individuals in need of medical attention helps with mobility, housekeeping, administrating medication, or task difficult for clients.  Most aides and caregivers earn about $10 an hour, but that depends on the location, client needs, or company. If you work with an agency, your role might be to visit patients on their list and provide nursing care as required. 

Open an online store and sell your scrubs

Well, maybe not sell the scrubs you use but you could sew, fancify some scrubs, or other nurse apparels and sell them online.  You can open up a store online on Shopify or Etsy, and sell nursing t-shirts, pins for nurses, meme styled stickers or cards, badges for nurses, and more. 

Whether you’re looking for part-time side jobs or hoping to transition to another career, there are many ways to make extra money. Remember, when choosing a side job, apply for the one that works best for you, your skills, and your schedule. It’s best to research the position, company, and area you’re planning to enter and talk to other side job hustlers who’ve worked in those positions. We hope you enjoyed the list of six of the best side jobs for nurses. 

Please let us know in the comments below if there are any jobs you’d add or if you have one of these side jobs.

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