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9 Bad Career Shift Choices for Nurses

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By Kristen Smith, R.N.

Nurses are good at a lot of things. I’m not bragging. I speak the truth, and we all know it. Don’t be modest. We wear a lot of hats in our profession. You name a job, we can do it! But, there are some jobs that we wouldn’t excel at doing! (Surprisingly! *wink wink*) Here’s a list of some careers that nurses CAN’T do!

1. Hand Modeling

Nurses have healing hands, it’s true. But, they’re ugly. Clean, yes. But ugly. All that CHG hand soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizer take its toll after a while. Not to mention we’re not allowed to have nail polish, fake nails or glue on decorations.

2. Foot Modeling

Just like I mentioned above, nurses don’t have pretty feet. They sweat in tennis shoes or nursing shoes for 12+ hours a day. We don’t have the time or energy to invest in pedicures. And plantar fasciitis is real.

3. Fashion Designing

We can advise you on the best brands of scrubs. Other than that, most of us probably don’t keep up with the latest fashion trends. Our closets are mostly filled with scrub wear. Outside of work, we struggle with what to wear to dinner dates, parties, etc.

4. Lawyer

We have the smarts for this career path, don’t get me wrong. But first, it would be unbelievably boring compared to nursing. And secondly, we’re bad liars. Nurses are bluntly honest. We would fail miserably in court.

5. Comedian

Nurses are hilarious–to other nurses. But something tells me that we would be bombarded with tomatoes by a “normal” audience who don’t find our nursey jokes very funny. “KNOCK, KNOCK!” “Who’s there?” “HIPAA!” “HIPAA who?” “I can’t tell you that.”

6. Car Salesman

See number 4. Nurses aren’t good liars. Our job is to help you, to heal you. Our job IS NOT to make money. We’re not trying to sell you medications, we give them to you to help you. So, I, personally, wouldn’t sell you a crap car. I would tell you it was a crap car. Therefore, I would make no money.

7. Drug Dealer

The problem is we have too much knowledge. I would tell the client all the possible side effects. And then they may not buy the drug. Again, see #4. Nurses are bad liars.

8. Pest Control

Have you ever seen a nurse enter a room of a patient who has bed bugs or scabies? Better yet, have you ever had a patient who has had those? Point made. No infectious disease in the world can freak a nurse out like a bed bug can. We go in there with full body armor and head gear like the SWAT team. I can’t handle it. We’ll leave that job for someone else, thanks.

9. Poker Player/Gambler

Nurses don’t have good poker faces. We try to. But we would lose all our money in a hurry as a professional gambler.

So, there are nine bad career shift choices for nurses. Though we’re good at many things, some careers just aren’t for us, so I’m thankful there are people out there to do them! What bad career choices for nurses can you think of?

I am a full-time registered nurse, wife and new mom. I've recently started writing part-time and I love it! My family is my life. I enjoy spending time with them in my free time.

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