13 Least Stressful Nursing Jobs
Nursing is one of the best occupations available for helping others and improving their quality of life when they aren’t feeling well. Nursing can be one of the most stressful occupations due to its hectic and fast-paced environments. Which begs the question, what are some of the least stressful nursing jobs available? We have compiled a helpful guide of some of the least stressful nursing jobs for you to consider in your nursing career search.
According to the BLS, Registered Nurses have a job outlook of 15% increase over the next decade, which is much faster than the average job growth in the same period of time. With the recent nursing shortage, and increasing age of the employed workforce, nurses will be in high demand for the foreseeable future with no sign of slowing down anytime soon.
As a result of the positive job growth, plenty of job seekers are considering a career as a Registered Nurse. One of the considerations of any occupation is whether or not the position is going to be stressful, as stress leads to burnout over time. There are plenty of nursing positions available that are less stressful than others, and the following guide will help narrow down which nursing positions you should consider for a low stress position.
What Contributes To A Stressful Nursing Environment?
Stress is an occupational concern with any position, and nursing is considered a high-stress occupation. There are plenty of different sources for stress that a nurse might encounter: long working hours, staffing issues, physical labor, and patient care stress.
Becoming a nurse means being able to deal with the high-stress occupation, in addition to developing a thick skin. Nurses need to have a thick skin to deal with supporting patients when they need it most through their difficult times, and being expected to maintain that positive attitude throughout each day.
While becoming a nurse means stepping into a high-stress occupation, it is also one of the most rewarding positions available, as fewer occupations have such a positive impact on others as nurses do.
Least Stressful Nursing Jobs
While every nursing specialty comes with its own set of stressors throughout the day, there are several nursing specialties that are low stress RN jobs. These low stress RN jobs will ensure that you still have a way to impact patients in a positive manner, and reduce the amount of burnout that many nurses face from the high stress environment of other nursing specialties.
1. Nurse Educator
Nurse Educators are one of the least stressful nursing jobs available. One of the core responsibilities of becoming a nurse educator is to educate nurses that will lead the next wave of patient care. This least stressful nursing job means that you will have an opportunity to impact nurses of the next generation.
Becoming a Nurse Educator is a great way for those nurses who have clinical experience to transition into a lower stress registered nursing position. Nurse educators help provide critical education to future nurses and help teach them advanced training techniques that are based on clinical experience.
One of the problems with the current nursing shortage is that there is high demand for nursing professionals to educate the next wave of nurses, and becoming a nurse educator is a great way to ease the nursing shortage moving forward.
2. Nurse Blogger
Similar to a nurse educator, becoming a nurse blogger is a great way to transition into a low stress RN environment. One of the great things about becoming a nurse blogger is that you can help educate and provide insight to nursing professionals nationwide.
Nurse bloggers help write informative articles, provide key insight to different on-the-job techniques that improve patient care, provide insight into various registered nurse positions, and provide assistance and guidance to future nursing professionals.
One great thing about becoming a nurse blogger that is unlike any other nursing specialty is that becoming a nurse blogger means that you can work from the comfort of your own home and on your own schedule.
3. Clinic Nurse
While many people think that nurses typically work in hospitals, they can also work in a variety of healthcare clinics. These healthcare clinics allow nursing professionals to still impact patients in a positive way, as they allow registered nurses to interact with patients in a variety of ways.
Clinic nurses core responsibilities include assessing patients, educating patients on a variety of health topics to lead them to a healthier lifestyle. In addition, some clinic nurses might be requested to talk to potential patients over the phone to determine whether or not they should take their ailments to the healthcare clinic, or go to a hospital to receive further care.
One of the benefits of working as a clinic nurse is that there are more traditional working hours, holidays off, and a lower stress work environment.
4. Travel Nurse
If you have ever wanted to travel the world, then you should consider becoming a travel nurse. Travel nurses rank on our list as one of the least stressful nursing jobs due to the fact that you get to go on vacations as your profession.
Various vacation companies like resorts, airlines, and cruise ships all need nurses on their staff to care for the clientele. In addition, you get to travel the world and visit vacation destination spots.
As a travel nurse, your core responsibilities will revolve around treating various minor injuries related to those who are traveling. In addition, you will help treat minor illnesses, administer vaccinations if necessary, and refer patients to seek further care if necessary.
5. School Nurse
One of the least stressful nursing jobs available is a school nurse. Becoming a school nurse is a great profession for those individuals who enjoy working with children. One other great benefit of becoming a school nurse is that you enjoy all the benefits of working in an educational facility.
Some of these benefits include lengthy vacation time off, and summers off. School nurses play a critical role in making sure that children are safe and healthy while in school, which is something that every parent or guardian wants to ensure.
Similar to travel nurses, school nurses will typically only provide basic care. Some of the basic care provided is first aid care for minor injuries, and the administering of daily medication. While becoming a nurse means possessing one of the least stressful nursing jobs available, it doesn’t mean that the position is unimportant.
6. Summer Camp Nurse
Similar to a school nurse, becoming a summer camp nurse is great for those nursing professionals who are looking to work with children. Plenty of camp opportunities are available for parents to enroll their children in for some activities over the course of a summer.
With these camps, nurses are needed to ensure that any minor illnesses or injuries are taken care of. Becoming a summer camp nurse is one of the least stressful nursing jobs for those nursing professionals who are recently retired and would still like to impact patients in a positive way.
Summer camp nurses typically only work during the summer, so it is a great way for those retired nursing professionals to have something to do during their summer.
7. Nurse Administrator
One of the low stress RN jobs available for those nursing professionals with experience that you should consider is becoming a nurse administrator. Nurse Administrators take on several of the administration and organizational tasks in hospitals and healthcare facilities.
While these nurses typically do not directly work with patients, they do take on an operational role that will impact patients moving forward.
Some of the core responsibilities of a nurse administrator is to organize patient and employee records, direct nursing staff on policies, help educate staff members on healthcare regulations, and coordinate medical services.
If you have a bit of nursing experience, and would like to help dictate nursing policy and procedures moving forward, then you can use that experience in a nursing administrator role. Thee is high demand for nurses to assume a leadership role to help guide the next wave of care, and nurse administrators provide that guidance.
8. Public Health Nurse
Public Health Nurses are responsible for helping improve the overall health and wellbeing of both communities and populations. A Public Health Nurse’s typical day usually involves dealing directly with various communities and populations to educate them on preventing diseases and dealing with various medical issues.
In addition, public health nurses also provide care and health services who have difficulty accessing them.
This is one of the least stressful nursing specialties available, as one of the core responsibilities of Public Health Nurses is to stay up to date on new health programs, procedures, and then educate the public on those procedures.
9. Nurse Researcher
For those who are interested in gathering research, and analyzing data to develop trends and analytics across the board, then one of the least stressful nursing jobs you should consider is becoming a Nurse Researcher.
Nurse researchers are nursing scientists who dedicate their time and energy into studying different aspects of patient care and improving healthcare in general.
After gathering useful data, a Nurse Researcher’s role is to find ways to implement that knowledge into improving patient care outcomes.
In addition to finding ways to improve patient care outcomes, a nurse researcher’s core responsibilities include studying diseases, healthy lifestyles, and various outcomes of medical treatments to find ways to improve each.
Nurse researchers make our list of least stressful nursing jobs due to the fact that there is limited patient interaction. Nurse researchers have little interaction with patients, but their work is important because the research they provide directly impacts the future of the healthcare industry.
One of the common settings that nurse researchers frequently work in are universities or colleges. These facilities provide some of the best tools and equipment to foster additional research methods that might not be available in a traditional hospital or healthcare facility setting.
10. Nurse Informaticist
Similar to a Nurse Researcher, Nurse Informaticists is another great nursing specialty that is a low stress RN job that provides an opportunity for nursing professionals to incorporate analytics into impacting patients over the long term.
Nurse Informaticist joins our list of least stressful nursing jobs due to its unique occupational ability to impact patients, without actually having to interact with patients.
Nurse Informaticists are similar to Nurse Researchers in that they work with data and analyze trends. The difference, is that they focus around the management of information and communication technologies.
They then use this information to find ways to improve the speed of care, and the care that is provided is of the highest quality.
11. Case Management Nurse
For those nurses who want to work with patients for a longer period of time instead of having a new set of patients every shift, becoming a Case Management Nurse is one of the least stressful nursing jobs available.
Some of the core responsibilities of Case Management Nurses is to oversee and be responsible for the long term care of their patients. In doing so, Case Management Nurses have the ability to develop long term relationships with their patients.
Becoming a Case Management Nurse is a great occupation for those nurses who would like to develop an extended relationship with their nurses, instead of the fast-paced patient turnover that traditional nursing specialties have.
Case Management Nurses will work with a variety of patients who can suffer from a variety of illnesses ranging from heart disease to cancer.
Case Management Nurses will work closely with each patient and their respective insurance companies to ensure that their prospective treatment plan is compatible with their insurance policies. In addition, Case Management Nurses are responsible for coordinating a schedule that works with the patient’s daily routine to attend doctor’s visits as well.
12. Home Health Nurse
Home health nurses are one of the great non stressful nursing jobs available for those nurses who do not want to work in a hospital. Home Health Nurses typically work with patients, and their family members to coordinate care outside of the hospital or healthcare facility in the patient’s home.
In a Home Health Nurse role, registered nurses get to provide the best quality of care to a single patient. As a typical registered nurse, one of the concerns is that nurses are stretched thin with the amount of patients they have to tend to. That problem doesn’t exist with home health nurses.
Home Health Nurses are able to give their full attention to a single patient, and in some cases a family member of that patient.
Home Health Nurses are one of the least stressful nursing jobs due to the fact that the registered nurses can focus solely on providing the best care to a singular patient, instead of an entire set of patients.
One of the other responsibilities of a home health nurse is to oversee home care aides or personal care aides that might be treating the patient as well.
In the event that a home health nurse has to monitor a home care aide or personal care aide, home health nurses are responsible for reviewing important patient metrics and reports that will impact the future care of the patient.
13. Occupational Health Nurse
With rising insurance premiums for employers, many companies are electing to hire on Occupational Health Nurses to educate employees on living a healthier lifestyle and reducing the risk for injuries while on the job.
Occupational Health Nurses fall under one of the least stressful nursing jobs due to the fact that these registered nurses work in professional settings and deal with minor injuries and health recommendations.
These licensed registered nurses work closely with both employers and employees to ensure there are no health or safety risks that might be exposed to an employee while going about their daily occupational routine.
As an Occupational Health Nurse, the typical set of responsibilities include setting cost effective methods to educate the workforce on proper safety procedures, employee disease management, emergency preparedness courses, disaster planning courses, and emergency care for various injuries or illnesses that occur while at work.
In addition to creating an educational pathway for employees to have a safe working environment and lead to more productive lifestyle, Occupational Health Nurses will also conduct their own research and find ways to implement it to reduce operating costs for the respective company.
Summary
As one can see, there are plenty of low stress RN nursing jobs available to those that still want to impact patients in a positive way. Being a registered nurse doesn’t just mean that you have to work in the fast-paced high stress environment of a hospital, there are plenty of other opportunities to work in less stressful environments.
Even though being a nurse is one of the high-stress opportunities available in a healthcare setting, there are plenty of less stressful RN jobs available.
