The 10 Least Stressful Nursing Jobs

Nursing is a notoriously popular profession for a variety of reasons. Nursing is incredibly rewarding, well-respected, and has a high earning potential for many.

Compared to other medical careers, becoming a nurse takes less time, making it a desirable choice for many individuals looking to enter the working world. However, it’s no secret that nursing can be an incredibly stressful career.

Here are the least stressful nursing jobs:

10 Least Stressful Nursing Jobs

As previously mentioned, there is no such thing as a stress-free or easy nursing job. However, there are plenty of options that may involve fewer high-risk situations and have better and more defined schedules. Below are the top ten least stressful nursing jobs we have identified.

Nurse educator

Average Yearly Salary: $62,000

A nurse educator is a medical professional who trains nurses and individuals training to become nurses. While the responsibility of educating the world’s future nurses might feel stressful, the environment for this career is much less stressful and offers more reasonable hours.

You’ll find this type of career in a university, college, or hospital. Nurse educators must provide training to aspiring nurses who may seem different from nursing. However, the salary of a nurse educator is comparable to an RN.

If you love to teach and want to stay in nursing, consider getting your MSN degree, which is a prerequisite for nurse educators.

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Telehealth nurse

Average Yearly Salary: N/A

Telehealth appointments have risen in popularity following the COVID-19 pandemic. Telehealth nurses provide high-quality health care to patients over the phone, email, or video conference. Being a telehealth nurse means you will answer questions from patients about routine health or long-term issues.

Although telehealth nurses may have a large variety of nurses, they aren’t dealing with critical emergencies at a hospital, which causes this role to be much less stressful than traditional nursing. Additionally, telehealth nurses have the ability to work from home and work flexible hours.
School nurse

Average Yearly Salary: $50,000

If you enjoy working with school-aged children, consider a career as a school nurse. All schools must have a medically trained professional on their staff. Typically, they hire RNs for these types of positions.

Being a school nurse requires individuals to provide basic care such as first aid or administering medication. Because this job is affiliated with a school, you are entitled to the same perks as teachers, including vacation time and stable working hours that don’t require weekend shifts.

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Nurse administrator

Average Yearly Salary: $68,000

Nurse administrators typically work in hospital settings. However, they aren’t inundated with the daily stress of caring for patients. Nurse administrators are focused on administrative duties such as planning, directing, and coordinating medical and health services.

Nurse administrators are needed in any setting that has a significant number of nursing employees. They are responsible for developing training procedures, creating schedules, conducting performance reviews, keeping financial records, and having meetings with other healthcare administrators.

If you’re looking to stay in the nursing field but want a change of pace from direct patient care, this might be the role for you.

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Nurse researcher

Average Yearly Salary: $62,000

If you’re interested in academics and research, becoming a nurse researcher might be the right calling for you. Nurse researchers typically work in colleges, universities, or research facilities, meaning you’re removed from direct patient care.

Nurse researchers work to improve the state of healthcare by studying diseases, health lifestyles, and outcomes from different medical treatments. Research can be difficult and monotonous at times, but it is less stressful than the traditional RN working in a hospital setting.

Additionally, nurse research can be incredibly rewarding, as you’re working to improve healthcare overall.

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Clinic nurse

Average Yearly Salary: $65,000

Working as a nurse in a generalist physician’s office can be a great choice for many nurses who aren’t interested in the high-demand environment of a hospital. Working in a pediatrician’s office or with a family medicine practice can be a much more pleasant speed while still seeing a steady stream of patients each day.

Clinics keep strict schedules, so you will always know what’s coming down the pike. Clinic nurses are responsible for assessing patients, administering light medical procedures, including drawing blood, as well as educating patients on their health.

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Nurse informaticist

Average Yearly Salary: $64,000

Nurses who are looking for a change of pace away from patient-facing roles might be interested in nurse informatics. Nurse informaticists work to improve patient outcomes by maintaining and developing medical data and systems.

This highly-specialized role straddles between IT to develop a health records system and nurses who use the system. If you’re a technical person and enjoy educating others, this may be an appealing role.

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Home health nurse

Average Yearly Salary: $64,000

Post-acute care in the home is becoming increasingly popular, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you’re interested in getting out of the hospital environment but still remaining patient-facing, a job as a home health nurse might be right for you.

Typically, home health nurses provide care to patients in their homes. The level of care may vary from simple things like administering medications to assisting with daily activities or even hospice care.

The good news is that home health nurses usually have a smaller patient list so that you can focus your time and energy on your patients so that they receive a high level of care.

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Lactation consultant nurse

Average Yearly Salary: $60,000

If you’re interested in working with new mothers and their infants, a niche role in exploring could be lactation consulting. These health professionals can assist new mothers with breastfeeding concerns such as latching, pain, or infant weight gain.

Lactation consultants also have their share of documentation, keeping track of patient concerns, progress, and any educational topics that may have been discussed. For those that enjoy educating and encouraging patients, this could be an ideal job.

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Occupational health nurse

Average Yearly Salary: $75,000

If you’re looking to get away from a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office and have flexible work hours, an occupational health nurse career might be right for you. These individuals work in business settings where they focus on developing business health and safety programs.

This means you would educate employees on how to live healthier and avoid job-related injuries. They are responsible for working with employees who have been injured on the job, assisting with rehabilitation, and providing emergency care that may be necessary. Since this is a business job, your hours will also be more consistent and predictable.

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What Makes Nursing So Stressful?

Choosing nursing for your career is not for everyone. The nursing field is high-stress and comes with a wide variety of challenges. This can be apparent during nursing education courses, but in practice, the stress of nursing can catch many by surprise. So, what makes nursing so stressful?

Long shifts. Nursing careers are notorious for requiring long shifts at the hospital. Twelve-hour shifts are more common in the nursing field. These extended shifts with minimal breaks can take their toll on even the most experienced RN.
Fast-paced environment. Nurses are required to work in a high-stress, fast-paced environment. Keeping on your toes and keeping up with the fast-paced environment is critical because it can mean life or death for patients.
Strict schedules. On top of long shifts, nurses are required to keep their schedules incredibly flexible to keep up with demand. This means you may be required to work days, nights, weekends, Christmas, New Year, and more.
Work-related dangers. Hospitals are for the sick, which means nurses have high exposure to diseases and viruses from their patients. Additionally, if they are assisting in surgery, they must handle sharp equipment, chemical substances, and potentially dangerous medications.
High-pressure care decisions. Being a nurse doesn’t exempt you from the difficult decisions you may have to make for your patients. When a patient is suffering or dying, nurses must oftentimes make difficult decisions. This can not only be physically exhausting but take a toll on emotional and mental health.

These are only a few of the reasons why nursing can be incredibly stressful to the average worker. It’s important to understand the different nuances of this career before you begin your schooling and decide on a nursing specialty.

Low-Stress Nursing Jobs

Is there really such a thing as a low-stress nursing job? The short answer is no. Nursing is a demanding field and no job, especially in nursing, carries zero stress. Nursing roles involve you working directly with patients whose wellbeing is partially in your hands. This alone makes nursing a higher stress job than many other ones out there.
However, stress is subjective. For some, stress comes in different shapes and forms and will depend on your own preferences and expectations.

For example, nurses who work with babies could be incredibly stressful for someone who is uncomfortable around children. However, nursing in this field would be ideal for an individual who enjoys spending time with and caring for children.

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Caitlin Mazur

Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research. Caitlin holds a degree in English from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.

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