Working from home brings up the image of a calmer workday, more time spent with family, and increased freedom in how you work. As a nurse, this scenario may seem like a fantasy. After all, nurses are involved in taking patients’ vitals, administering patient care, and responding to medical emergencies—functions that are hard to complete via Zoom and Google Docs.
Even if some nursing roles can’t be performed remotely, there are plenty of companies hiring nurses for remote or hybrid positions. These remote nursing jobs often look a little different than in-person ones but can be a great step for your nursing career. To clear up any confusion, here are 8 common tasks completed by remote nurses.
1. Remote nurses provide care in telehealth appointments
Let’s say you still want to be involved in patient care but from the comfort of your own home. Working for a telemedicine company or a healthcare system with telehealth appointments might be the answer. In these roles, nurses perform similar work to their in-person counterparts, such as recording vitals and discussing symptoms with patients. The difference is all this is completed online, meaning these jobs can be fully remote.
Nurses ranging from LPNs to DNPs could be qualified for this type of remote work. The difference would be the amount of oversight. An LPN will have the most oversight from doctors, while NPs could provide medical advice in a telephone triage capacity.
2. Remote nurses perform case management
Being an RN case manager is one of the most common remote roles. In this role, qualified nurses plan, evaluate, and manage patient files. Often, these nurses work with patients in need of intensive, long-term care. They determine what services are needed and help coordinate the different medical treatments.
To be eligible for this role, nurses should have their RN license and some understanding of healthcare administration. Attention to detail, the ability to follow up and communicate well, and project management skills also help.
3. Remote nurses follow up with patients
Roles focused on patient follow-up are similar to case management roles, though they focus more on ensuring specific actions are taken after a medical appointment, not coordinating all needed medical treatment.
Remote roles with this responsibility are available to nurses at all education levels. Like case management, attention to detail and good communication skills are assets in this role.
4. Remote nurses improve health informatics systems
Health informatics is a fast-growing sector with many opportunities for nurses. Nurses in this field manage technologies and administrative work to improve the practice workflow and patient care.
Since health informatics doesn’t involve much in-person interaction with patients, many nurses can perform these roles remotely. To be eligible, applicants should be RNs. Extra training in health informatics, such as a certificate in the field, can make you a more competitive candidate.
5. Remote nurses can investigate insurance claims
Health insurance is a complicated field that can benefit from the insider knowledge nurses possess. Many nurses are switching to insurance claims, utilizing their expertise to follow up and research whether services are covered by health insurance or not.
Roles with this responsibility are a bit more removed from nursing, so it’s important to consider if you want to take on a more administrative role before switching to insurance claims.
6. Remotes nurses perform nurse education and training
To provide the best care, many practices invest in training and education for nurses, whether this looks like partnering with another company or hiring an in-house nurse educator. Since much of this training can be done over video conferencing and the education preparation can be done remotely, being a nurse educator is a perfect position for someone looking for a remote or hybrid nursing position.
7. Remote nurses conduct clinical research
Universities, teaching hospitals, and other healthcare facilities have research programs where nurses work alongside other healthcare professionals to conduct clinical research on emerging medical trends, treatments, and technologies. Remote tasks for nurses involved in clinical research can include:
Writing grant applications
Recruiting participants for the study
Administering questionnaires
Creating onboarding materials to study participants
Recording the findings from the study
Co-authoring research reports
8. Remote nurses can be recruiters
It’s no secret the nation is facing a nursing shortage. For a competitive edge in recruiting, many companies are hiring nurses to recruit other nurses. Your insider expertise can help you find and sign the most qualified candidates for nursing roles.
Like working on insurance claims, this role is further removed from patient and clinical work. Consider if you like recruitment before taking on a position with this responsibility.
Remote nursing jobs offer a big change from the norm
As you can see from the 8 roles above, being a remote nurse is possible–it might just require a new image of what your day-to-day looks like. For a better idea of companies currently hiring for remote nursing roles, download the free HireMe Healthcare app. After you enter your education and work experience, you can scroll through remote positions tailored to your background.
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