Though most nurses feel a calling and dedication to their careers, many look for avenues to explore their skills and passions beyond their primary role while also improving nurses' financial wellness.
We’re here to help you navigate the world of side hustles for nurses. Discover opportunities to channel your medical expertise into ventures that supplement your income and offer personal growth and fulfillment.
From telehealth consulting to medical writing, we'll present a range of side hustles that align with various nursing skills. Get ready to unlock new doors and embark on a journey of professional diversification. It's time to extend your passion for patient care to other exciting endeavors.
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Skip the Side Hustle With Sorbet
Nursing is a critical job field in our society. Yet, nearly two-thirds of nurses in the healthcare field experience burnout. With working long hours, dealing with staffing shortages, and an overwhelming sense of feeling overworked, the last thing you want to do is have to pick up a side hustle for extra cash.
Sorbet is the solution.
With Sorbet, you can advance the cash value of your unused Paid Time Off (PTO) to unlock extra cash without needing to put in the extra work a side hustle demands.
Sorbet gives you the freedom to utilize your PTO for much needed time off and advance the cash value for the PTO you don’t have time to take.
Need some extra cash for that long-awaited Caribbean cruise coming up? Don’t stretch yourself thin working side hustles. Advance the PTO days you don’t need to help finance your dream vacation.
Calculate the estimated cash value of your unused PTO today.
Can Nurses Have Multiple Jobs?
Unless expressly prohibited by an employer policy that doesn’t allow concurrent employment (for reasons like conflict of interest), nurses can hold more than one job. One of the benefits of a nursing career is the variety of schedule options available — which creates opportunities for bringing in extra income.
Having a side hustle as a nurse typically depends on the demands of your primary job and whether or not you have a flexible schedule.
How Many Hours Should Nurses Put Into a Side Hustle?
Nursing can be highly demanding and taxing — both emotionally and physically. Burnout is a common reason nurses give when choosing to leave the profession. These factors should not be overlooked when considering a side hustle.
Only you know what you are capable of, so there is no universal recommendation for the number of hours a nurse should commit to a second job. Just be sure not to overwork yourself and make a plan for coordinating your schedule and managing stress and fatigue if they become an issue.
Choosing a Side Hustle: For Nurses, These 17 Jobs Can Boost Financial Wellness
Improving financial wellness is a goal for many professionals, and nurses are uniquely positioned to use their skills and certifications in many roles. Below are several good side hustles for nurses to consider on their path to maximizing income.
Teaching Side Hustles for Nurses
#1: Teaching or Tutoring Nursing Students
Working with students allows nurses to contribute knowledge and real-world experience to future nursing professionals.
Tutoring is an ideal option if you’re interested in keeping a flexible schedule. Nursing students often look for assistance with everything from fundamentals to NCLEX prep. You can tutor in-person or online and work as much or as little as you like.
You may look into working as an adjunct faculty member at a local college or nursing school for a more steady position. These positions are typically part-time but require lesson planning and grading, which may be challenging to manage on top of a full-time primary nursing job.
#2: CPR or First Aid Instruction
CPR and first aid instruction are offered to the public in most communities, and many companies and organizations require employees to receive these types of training (childcare workers and lifeguards, for example).
Many programs that offer CPR classes require their instructors to be certified through an organization like the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross.
Once certified as an instructor, you’ll be able to teach CPR classes as a part-time gig, and because CPR classes are often only a few hours long, you don’t have to commit large amounts of your free time to this type of side hustle.
#3: Prenatal Class Instruction
Expectant parents are often encouraged to participate in educational courses to prepare for what to anticipate during labor and delivery.
You may enjoy teaching prenatal classes if you have experience in, or a passion for, perinatal or labor and delivery nursing.
You’ll be asked to educate patients about their birth options, labor and delivery techniques, comfort measures, and more.
Childbirth education certifications are available through organizations like the Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association, but certification is not always required.
Virtual Side Hustles for Nurses
#4: Telehealth Nursing
Although telehealth nursing can be a full-time job, it is still a side hustle option for full-time staff nurses with a few years of clinical experience. If you can find a position with a company that allows you to work from home, you can usually work evenings, weekends, or on your days off.
As a telehealth nurse, you’ll communicate with patients over the phone or via webcam.
You may be asked to offer medical advice, evaluate patients, provide and explain options for treatment, and more.
#5: Health Writing or Blogging
Informative, valuable, and accurate information creates the most reliable content, so most online platforms — websites, blogs, newspapers, social media, etc. — love to have expert opinions or input from writers with real-life experience in the industry.
While it can take time to build a writing portfolio, once you are established as an “expert contributor,” health writing can be a reasonably lucrative side hustle for nurses.
#6: Medical Transcription
With a background in nursing, you are uniquely qualified to be a medical transcriptionist — someone who listens to audio files from health professionals and converts them into written documents.
Some training is involved to become a transcriber, and being a fast typist is extremely helpful. The work can be done from the comfort of your home and on your own time.
#7: Medical Billing and Coding
If you don’t mind spending time behind your computer screen, billing and coding is another side hustle option for nurses.
Positions in billing and coding involve invoicing, accepting payments, and communicating with insurance companies. You’ll spend much of your time translating information into codes that medical professionals and insurance companies use.
Some positions require medical billing and coding certification.
#8: Medical Surveys
Research firms in the healthcare industry rely on panels and surveys completed by medical professionals to provide clients with valuable information to guide decision-making for medical products and services.
Nurses who choose this side hustle can participate in online surveys or in-person focus groups to offer opinions and provide feedback.
While surveys are likely one of the most flexible sources of additional income, their availability may be unpredictable — making payouts inconsistent.
#9: Health Coaching
An increasing number of people are looking to health coaches to help them improve their overall health and nutrition and drop bad habits that impede their health.
As a health coach, you can set your hours, working as much or as little as you want. You can choose an area of interest, such as nutrition or weight loss, and set appointments online or in person.
Though not required, there is board certification available for health coaching.
Short-Term Side Hustles for Nurses
#10: Immunization Nursing
Immunization nurses may work in hospitals, pharmacies, or clinics, or they may work for an organization that provides on-site immunization clinics for large businesses, schools, or other organizations.
Immunization nurses are typically in higher demand when flu vaccines begin in the fall. Nurses can often work in this role on their days off and travel to provide immunizations to needy communities.
#11: Clinical Trial Nurse
If you live or work near large universities and medical centers, you may have the opportunity to work as a clinical trial nurse.
Clinical trials can range anywhere from a month to a year, and clinical trial nurses are often only needed for a few hours per week to act as a liaison between patients and researchers.
Pre- and Post-Natal Side Hustles for Nurses
#12: Birth Doula
Doulas help expectant parents prepare for and have babies, often supporting mothers through a natural birth experience.
Being a birth doula is likely one of the most challenging side hustles for nurses. Babies are unpredictable, and you’d be on call 24/7 around the expectant mother’s due date.
If you have a flexible nursing position — perhaps a work-from-home telehealth job — providing doula services can be a lucrative gig to have on the side.
#13: Lactation Consultant
Although it seems like breastfeeding should be natural for both mother and baby, it’s often one of the biggest challenges new mothers face, making lactation consultants invaluable.
As a part-time lactation consultant, you can work in hospitals providing services to breastfeeding mothers who have just given birth, or you can work for yourself offering home visits once mom and baby have been discharged.
Lactation consulting is another side gig that has available certification.
#14: Maternal Care Provider
Some new mothers need help providing care to their newborns after leaving the hospital and choose to hire a maternal care provider.
As a registered nurse, you can provide the security and comfort these women seek as they heal and transition into motherhood.
In this role, you get to set your hours and choose your services, such as breastfeeding assistance.
Additional Side Hustles for Nurses
#15: In-Home or Mobile Care Provider
Also called a door-to-door nurse, mobile care providers can have a variety of in-home duties, from helping elderly or disabled individuals with hygiene tasks or basic medical needs such as medication administration and blood tests.
Door-to-door nurses can also provide mobile nursing services for sporting events or at venues that host large groups of people and must have medical staff present.
#16: Per Diem Nursing
Nurses can opt to fill their days or evenings off with per diem shifts, which often arise when staff nurses call out sick or use their PTO days. You can take per diem shifts with your primary employer or work with a staffing agency to fill positions in other facilities.
You are never obligated to fill a per diem shift, so you can work as many or as few as you’d like.
Per diem nursing allows you to work in areas outside of your specialty, which helps you diversify your nursing experience and build your resume.
#17: Phlebotomist
Phlebotomists draw blood and are often in high demand at hospitals, blood banks, and nursing homes. They’re also needed at blood drives.
Many facilities have phlebotomists working at all hours, so it’s easy for nurses to find positions that work around their primary job.
How Can Nurses Maximize Their Income With Sorbet?
You don’t have to rely only on side hustles to improve your financial well-being. You may have an untapped source of income with your primary job.
As a nurse, you likely face several challenges in utilizing 100% of your Paid Time Off (PTO) — which means you’ve accrued more PTO than you can spend.
Sorbet allows nurses to access their unused PTO as a cash advance. You can maximize your income and use the cash influx to pay for everything from basic needs and emergencies to travel and investments.
Discover your estimated PTO payout with Sorbet today.
We are thrilled that our product is helping nurses take hard-earned time off. Here is a testimony from a nurse that utilizes Sorbet’s PTO cash advance to take a memorable and well-deserved vacation.
“With staffing shortages still high, it is almost impossible for nurses to use all of their PTO during the year. When the chance to take some time off does come up, we need to jump at that opportunity and get the most we can out of it. Thanks to Sorbet, I was able to use some of my PTO to plan a vacation and cash out some of it so that I could cram as much fun into that time as possible. This money was used to build memories with my family which is invaluable because kids grow up quick. You don’t want to miss that time working doubles trying to save for a great vacation when there are tools available to help you live that dream now.'
-Naomi Riley-Walker, Registered Nurse
