Do you wonder what jobs for retired nurses are available nowadays?
Retirement is quite the transition time when it comes to a person’s life. There are those who are quite content to permanently take time off from any form of salaried work. More often than not, they’ve been waiting for just this time to finally relax, take it easy, and indulge in hobbies.
Some people, on the other hand, prefer to continue pursuing work activities even after retirement. This is good for people in fields where one can continue to contribute to one’s line of work.
Happily, nursing is one of the few jobs where a person can continue to be productive and even earn income after retirement.
Here are a few great jobs for retired nurses:
1. Teach in High School
A very well-known fact about nurses is that they are pretty much the next best thing next to doctors when it comes to knowledge about health and nutrition. As such, a retired nurse can be a very valuable addition to a roster of educators that teach the youth.
Nurses teaching health classes in high schools are not really unheard of and are at times quite common. They know the topic and have first-hand experience with actual cases and are just about the most qualified in teaching subjects like sex education and nutrition.
This can be a very rewarding job for a retired nurse since he or she doesn’t need to take on fully loaded schedules and can also part-time working in the school clinic.
2. Teach basic First Aid Classes
If there is one thing that nurses really do make a point to learn and master, it is in giving basic life-saving first aid. Learning First Aid is a necessity these days as it is a pre-requisite for a lot of occupations. This presents itself as one of the options for great jobs for retired nurses out there.
Holding seminars and special classes is one of the ways to make use of some First Aid classes. A retired nurse can even go further by teaching advanced skills like Basic Life Support skills assuming that he or she is certified.
Also Read: 10 Best Jobs for Older Nurses
3. Sell medical Equipment
One perk that comes with spending a couple of years in the hospital or clinical setting is being exposed to a lot of medical equipment and items. Being a dealer for medical supplies can be a good way to spend retirement days as this can often be very profitable and not too time-consuming.
Doing a little buy and sell on things like scrubs can prove to be very good business for nurses and with their connections and acquaintances within hospitals and clinics, it could even end up being big. There are a lot of jobs for retired nurses, and doing business is one of them.
4. Become a Freelance health writer
For nurses who want a less stressful side job, you can opt to turn to the wonderful world of freelance writing. Not only is there a large market for the health/nursing profession out on the internet, being a nurse writer means your work will be heads and shoulders above others’ that is only based off research.
And while we’re on the topic of writing online, it could also be a very profitable venture to start and run a blog about health and healthcare. You can then earn from affiliate marketing and/or adsense revenues.
Also Read: 10 Little-Known Ways Nurses Can Make Extra Money
5. Write a book
Writing a book can also be one of the best things to do when time is of abundance. You can write your memoirs (all those amazing and interesting nurse experiences!) or you can write about technical topics like health and healthcare books.
This, like freelance writing, can be very rewarding and while financial compensation is not a surety, it would nevertheless be an achievement and something you can cross off your bucket list.
6. Run a Basic Clinic
What many people tend to forget is that nurses are just about the next best thing to doctors when it comes to dealing with patients and their problems. So, one option for retired nurses is to open maternity clinics and other basic care clinics.
7. Be a reviewer for Nursing Licensure Exams
One of the greatest hurdles in a nurse’s life is to pass the Licensure exam to be considered a full-fledged registered nurse. Passing the nursing board exam signals that a nurse is finally ready to be treated as a professional within and without the hospital setting. Being a reviewer is really one of the go-to gigs for a lot of nurses as it comes with flexible hours and good pay. Not only that, one gets to help out a new generation of nurses fulfill their dreams of being professional nurses.
Also Read: All You Need to Know About the NCLEX Test
8. Become a medical company representative
One of the lesser-known fallbacks for nurses is being a medical representative as they have a lot of things going for them if they take on this new role. Nurses know doctors, are familiar with clinicals and how hospitals tick, and know most, if not all, medicines and their properties.
9. Do Nutritional/lifestyle counseling
Retired nurses make for great nutritional or lifestyle counselors. Nurses spend a lot of their work time managing patients. They are often tasked with advising the patient in what to do and what not to do once out of the hospital.
As counselors for lifestyle, retired nurses can help people make positive changes to their lives. This includes programming diet regimens, assisting in rehabilitative exercises and so on. Whether being a nutritional guide or a fitness instructor, a retired nurse can do the job excellently.
10. Do some moonlighting
For nurses who really miss doing hands on work with patients, one recourse is to go back to nursing work by doing some moonlighting. Depending on hospital policy, you can do some moonlighting and cover for colleagues so you can work some shifts. Retired nurses have an even greater chance of doing moonlighting especially for hospitals where they’ve worked with before.
Did you get an idea of the possible jobs for retired nurses? The opportunities for nurses are numerous thanks to the multitude life skills and experiences that the nursing profession provides. So long as you keep your eyes peeled and your spirit positive, the right opportunity will definitely come your way.