Self Employment Ideas

What types of self employment businesses build on a RNs knowledge and skills?

Businesses that:

• Identify problems, develop workable solutions, and resolve problems for healthcare facilities
• Offer medical and nursing education to patients, families, healthcare professionals, and healthcare facilities
• Design customized care plans and initiate treatment for patients to promote wellness
• Offer temporary healthcare staffing service (nursing agency/registry) to healthcare facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, correctional facilities, etc.)
• Offer temporary companion care staffing services (non-medical, private pay) to patients in their homes
• Provide durable medical equipment, medical supplies, and/or medical clothing (uniforms and scrubs)
• Review the care provided and develop new ways to ensure the patient’s well-being and safety
• Provide an insider’s view on medical issues to legal professionals
• Bring new products related to healthcare to market
• Review medical billing to check if all charges were actually performed (documented) as they were coded – the RN coder reviews prospectively and the medical auditor reviews retrospectively

What are the advantages of RN self-employment?

1. Be your own boss
2. Determine your goals, such as working for money, fulfilling your nursing needs, or a combination of both
3. Choose your customers, patients, and coworkers
4. Do the work you enjoy
5. Design your own flexible schedule
6. Work from the comfort of your home or in an office outside your home
7. Write your own policies and procedures on how you will perform the work
8. Set adequate fees for your services

Why is self-employment the job choice for an RN?

Staff nursing in a hospital often requires long hours (12-hour shifts) of physical labor. Schedules are not flexible and bullying is rampant. A nurse must follow written hospital policies and procedures that leave no room for nursing creativity. Nurses are creative and flexible by nature. Consequently, many nurses are unhappy in hospital jobs. Self-employment is the preferred job choice of many registered nurses. It gives them the satisfaction of nursing while providing the income to maintain their lifestyle or supplement their retirement income. Flexibility and the ability to customize their services are key advantages to self-employment.

Will RN self-employment jobs be available in the future?

Goals set by governments and large organizations, such as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), American Medical Association (AMA), American Nursing Association (ANA), and the American Bar Association (ABA) have a powerful influence on the business world and wield influence over the minds of their many individual members. Business that provide services to meet these goals have a high rate of success just based on the sheer numbers of individuals involved. Because these services may be needed even in a failing economy, they are considered recession proof. New knowledge often brings about industry changes. Regulations are often put in place to regulate the industry changes. Nurse entrepreneurs who are the first to implement businesses that address or provide services to meet these new regulations have a high rate of success. For example, a new regulation was put in place in Pennsylvania requiring long term care facilities collect statistics and report to the state on infection rates in their facilities. No such statistics had ever been collected by these facilities. They had no procedure in place and employed no nurses who knew how to collect and report. A certified infection control nurse started a new business that provided services to collect these statistics and report them to the state for the facilities. Her business was and still is a great success.

Can I offer clinical nursing services?

Clinical nursing services may be offered, but this can be challenging because many services need a physician’s order and obtaining payment is difficult. Patients usually expect insurance (private, Medicare, Medicaid) to pay for nursing care. Insurance companies do not usually pay for care provided by an RN.

How much money do I need for startup?

The startup cost for an RN consulting service is relatively low. You can use a home office and equipment (computer, printer, etc.) that you already have. As an RN, you are licensed to practice as a nurse. Startup costs for nursed owned businesses are the same as for any individual starting a small business in the U.S.  NNBA members have access to a start-up cost calculator in the Nurses Business Planning Toolkit.