What can you do with a nursing degree? With a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, you could work within the hospital as a medical-surgical nurse, critical care nurse or labor and delivery nurse. Other roles to consider are forensic nursing, nursing informatics and public health nursing.
When you earn your Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), you are paving the way to a career as a nurse in a variety of specializations. What can you do with a nursing degree? There are so many possibilities!
With a BSN, you can give life-changing care to those who need it most while working in hospitals, schools, homes or other settings. You could even work as a travel nurse in a wide variety of places. When you are ready, you can use your BSN as a foundation to pursue advanced nursing education.
Harding University’s accelerated Bachelor of Science in nursing program allows you to earn a BSN in as few as 16 months. Through comprehensive online coursework, in-person nursing labs and clinical rotations, students acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become leaders in their chosen nursing specialty.
A BSN degree opens many doors for nurses. While it is not the only registered nursing degree, it is highly regarded for its quality and depth of education. What do BSN nurses do? Consider the options below that are open to BSN-educated nurses.
Learn more about Harding’s ABSN program in Northwest Arkansas and the requirements you’ll need to be eligible.
What Can You Do With a BSN Degree? Exploring Career Opportunities
What can you do with a nursing degree? There are many clinical specialties to consider. For example, you might choose to work with cancer patients or individuals undergoing dialysis. There are also plenty of administrative roles such as administration and management.
What can you do with a BSN degree in a hospital? With a BSN, you can pursue a number of different roles, such as:
1. Medical-Surgical Nurse
Medical-surgical nurses implement treatment plans, administer medication, keep records and provide quality patient care for sick patients or patients recuperating from surgery. This nursing specialty requires a broad understanding of bodily systems. You also need high-level critical thinking and management abilities to care for patients with a variety of illnesses.
Med-surg nursing, as it’s often abbreviated, can take place in operating rooms, exam rooms and patients’ rooms. The specialty can be challenging because complications can develop quickly, requiring nurses to pay close attention to subtle changes in a patient’s status. However, it can be a highly satisfying line of work, as you will help patients navigate and recover from significant clinical situations.
2. Critical Care/ICU Nurse
Critical care nurses work in intensive care units (ICUs). They work with patients who require high-acuity care. As a critical care nurse, you will frequently perform intubation, ventilation or continuous monitoring.
Critical care nurses must be detail-oriented and organized even in high-pressure situations. If a patient crashes, you must be able to think quickly on your feet and work calmly under pressure. If you enjoy fast-paced and high-intensity environments, ICU nursing may be right for you.
Not every patient survives, and in the ICU, nurses are likely to lose more patients than other types of nurses (such as dermatology nursing, for instance). Comforting grieving family members can be tough, but if you have strong emotional resilience, then this could be a meaningful specialty.
3. Emergency Room Nurse
Emergency rooms are fast paced and constantly changing. These nurses care for patients with a wide range of conditions such as heart attacks, fall injuries and sudden onset conditions. They stabilize and treat patients based on the severity of their conditions and help them transition to higher levels of inpatient care if needed. Organization, grace under pressure and critical thinking will serve you well in this role.
4. Labor and Delivery Nurse
A delivery nurse wears many hats, from coaching mothers during active labor to preparing new parents to take home their babies. Although you will experience many happy times in this career, you must also be able to respond to complications and other challenges. If you’re supportive, nurturing and focused, this could be a great role for you.
Furthermore, there is room for career advancement within this specialty. If you love working in the maternity care department, you might consider becoming a certified nurse midwife (CNM), which is a type of advanced practice registered nurse (APRN).
APRNs need a graduate degree, board certification and licensure. They are also highly compensated. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), CNMs made a median annual salary of $129,650 as of May 2023.
5. Informatics Nurse
If technology in health care interests you, a career as an informatics nurse might be a great fit. In this role, you will create systems to improve patient care using tools like electronic medical records or computer code to monitor the effectiveness of medical equipment. You will also train clinical staff on how to use new devices.
There are several challenges unique to this nursing specialty, such as the threat of cybercrime and the need to scale to accommodate telehealth services. Yet it can be an ideal career path for tech-savvy nurses who are interested in a hospital-based role that takes them away from the bedside. You might also feel the satisfaction that comes from knowing your work is improving patient care delivery.
6. Travel Nurse
If you want to take your nursing talents on the road and explore new places, a good first step is to contact a travel nurse staffing service, which helps you find temporary nursing contracts. Travel nurse assignments last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, but some can be even longer.
Before applying, you first need at least a few years of clinical experience in your specialist field. Health care institutions that recruit travel nurses prefer individuals who can jump right in to fill shortages or offer specialized assistance.
As a travel nurse, you will work within your nursing specialty, such as ER or critical care nursing. It can be a challenge to adapt to new nursing environments while adjusting to a new region; however, if you love meeting people and embrace cultural differences, this may be an ideal role for you.
How does travel nursing work? Learn all about it here!
What Can I Do With a BSN Outside the Hospital?
If you’re wondering, “What can I do with a BSN that doesn’t involve working in a hospital?” then you will be happy to know there are plenty of other choices to consider. These include:
7. School Nurse
If you love working with kids and teens, you can use your BSN to become a school nurse. You will treat bumps and bruises, manage illnesses and assess whether students need further care from a doctor. You will also provide education and support to students and their families.
One possible challenge in school nursing is that you might be responsible for caring for kids at multiple schools within a district. You might also need to navigate complex ethical issues and be aware of nursing laws in educational settings. On the plus side, being a school nurse typically offers a better work/life balance with predictable shifts.
While working in a school, nurses need to have excellent organizational skills to maintain student records. They must also possess strong interpersonal and communication skills and be passionate about working with children.
8. Flight Nurse
If you are quick on your feet and adventurous, a career as a flight nurse could be your path. If you use your BSN to become a flight nurse, also known as a transport nurse, you will work to stabilize critically ill or injured patients while onboard a small aircraft en route to a hospital.
Flight nurses must work autonomously and have excellent collaboration and critical thinking skills. Because medical emergencies happen anywhere at any time, you may be expected to work long or erratic shifts and be comfortable working in cramped conditions.
Be aware that, unlike the vast majority of nursing specialties, flight nursing is not an entry-level one. You will need years of experience in a hospital, preferably as a trauma nurse, before pursuing the certifications necessary to be a flight nurse.
9. Forensic Nurse
If you’re looking for a unique career helping people, forensic nursing might be right for you. You will treat patients affected by violent crimes and criminal acts using a trauma-informed approach. Forensic nurses analyze medical evidence, provide their expert opinion and give testimony in ongoing court cases.
While forensic nurses often work in hospitals, many work in other settings, such as community centers, correctional facilities and medical examiners’ offices. An effective forensics nurse is a strong patient advocate with compassion, empathy and excellent active listening skills.
The work can be challenging at times, as you will see patients who have recently been assaulted and are in severe emotional distress. However, the work you do can help hold violent criminals accountable for their actions.
10. Public Health Nurse
Public health nurses act as community health advocates. Instead of caring for sick individuals, you will work with communities to provide aid and education. Public health nurses focus on improving people’s health and preventing sickness through effective preventive care.
It’s not uncommon for public health nurses to give presentations to educate community members. They may also provide screening services, vaccines or prenatal/baby care visits to the community.
A public health nurse may work in a local or state public health agency. Strong communication and research skills are essential. Some of the challenges can include working without significant supervision, although you may enjoy the autonomy, and having to work within the office’s budget constraints. Despite the challenges, public health nursing offers the fulfilling opportunity to serve as an advocate for underserved and low-income communities.
Administrative and Leadership Roles
As you gain experience as an RN, you may look for opportunities to move into new roles and pursue career advancement. Some administrative and leadership options include:
11. Charge Nurse
A charge nurse is the designated shift leader. They are responsible for overseeing their hospital department’s nursing staff for that particular shift. Depending on the hospital’s policies and procedures, charge nurses typically continue to provide direct patient care. They also handle administrative and managerial responsibilities.
An effective charge nurse must be well-organized and have strong leadership and communication skills. Some of the challenges associated with this role include handling paperwork and making difficult decisions when patients experience life-threatening complications. On the other hand, it’s also an opportunity to make a difference and inspire fellow nurses to provide excellent patient care.
12. Nurse Manager
If you eventually decide to stop providing direct patient care, then perhaps you have a future as a nurse manager. Nurse managers are liaisons between the nursing staff and the facility’s administration. They are responsible for supervising the nursing staff, facilitating HR solutions and collaborating with other professionals.
Nurse managers need strong leadership and communication skills and a keen sense of professional ethics. Teamwork, problem solving and business management skills are also important.
Nurse managers face many challenges. For instance, they sometimes encounter problems they lack the authority to solve on their own. In these situations, nurse managers must serve as tireless advocates for their staff. Some of the advantages of being a nurse manager include increased autonomy and a change of pace away from direct patient care.
13. Nurse Director
The nurse director is at the top level of nursing management at a health care facility. They are responsible for making top-level decisions regarding staffing, budgeting and developing policies and procedures.
As with other managerial and administrative positions, the nurse director role demands excellent organizational and communication skills, as well as critical thinking and problem-solving. Some of the challenges of the position include dealing with plenty of paperwork, spending a lot of time in meetings and having to work overtime when problems crop up.
As a nurse director, you can generally expect a higher salary, greater autonomy and the opportunity to significantly impact patient care.
Get Started Today at Harding University
What can you do with a nursing degree? A BSN from Harding University allows you to take your nursing career anywhere you want it to go. Whether you prefer the excitement of flight nursing or the joy of delivering babies, your nursing education at Harding prepares you to tackle modern challenges in nursing.
Additionally, if you have prior non-nursing education, you may be eligible to earn your nursing degree in less time than you’d think. The ABSN program can be completed in as few as 16 months if you have at least 64 college credits from an accredited institution and meet the additional admission requirements.
Our 16-month curriculum uses three components — online courses, skills and simulation labs and clinical rotations — to prepare you with the key nursing skills and knowledge you need to succeed. Contact one of our dedicated admissions counselors today to start your nursing journey.