With the rising costs of living, many registered nurses find that their regular nursing salaries do not fully cover their expenses. Fortunately, there are many ways for RNs to earn extra income through online work. The internet provides flexible opportunities to supplement a nursing income without taking time away from family or interfering with a busy work schedule. This article will explore some of the top ways an RN can make extra money online.
What are the requirements to make money online as an RN?
The main requirements for an RN to earn additional income online are:
- Active RN license – You must have a valid, current RN license in your state.
- Nursing expertise – Most well-paying nursing side gigs require specialized knowledge and nursing experience.
- Basic technology skills – You’ll need to understand platforms like email, video chat, and document sharing.
- Quiet, professional workspace – For virtual nursing jobs like telehealth, you’ll need a quiet, distraction-free area at home.
- Time and discipline – Consistent extra income requires dedicating 5-15 hours a week to your side gig.
As long as you meet these basic requirements, there are many online nursing jobs to choose from. The income potential, time commitment, and duties can vary significantly across the different opportunities.
Online Tutoring
One of the most flexible and lucrative options for RNs is to tutor nursing students online. There is continuous demand for nursing tutors who can help students understand complex topics, prepare for exams, and hone their clinical skills. Online tutoring allows you to set your own schedule and hourly rate. Most platforms connect students and tutors for one-on-one virtual sessions via video chat.
Pay Potential
Tutoring income depends on your expertise, experience level, and rates. On average, nursing tutors charge $20 – $50 per hour. Highly specialized nurses in areas like ICU or pediatrics may earn up to $75 per hour. With just 5-10 hours a week, you can easily make an extra $500 – $2,000 per month.
Requirements
– Active RN license
– At least 2-3 years nursing experience
– Teaching skills and patience working with students
– Reliable video chat platform and internet connection
Tutoring Platforms
Top websites to find online nursing tutoring jobs include:
- Wyzant – Connects students and tutors directly for online or in-person sessions
- NurseHub – Specializes in matching nurses as tutors for nursing students
- Chegg – Popular tutoring site with demand for nursing tutors
- Varsity Tutors – Large tutoring marketplace covering many academic subjects
Telehealth Nursing
Telehealth platforms allow registered nurses to provide virtual nursing care, education, and case management services to patients. This is an amazing way to utilize nursing expertise with the flexibility to work from home. Telehealth nursing typically pays $25 – $50 per hour depending on the role. Most positions are part-time, allowing you to supplement a regular nursing job.
Types of Telehealth Nursing Jobs
- Triage nursing – Assess symptoms, provide treatment recommendations, and direct patients to appropriate care based on virtual consultations.
- Health coaching – Educate patients on health conditions, treatment plans, medications, and self-care through video chat sessions.
- Case management – Coordinate care plans and connect patients to health services and resources virtually.
- Patient advocacy – Help patients navigate healthcare questions, billing issues, appointments, and more remotely.
Top Telehealth Companies Hiring RNs
- Teladoc
- Amwell
- Doctor on Demand
- American Well
- HealthTap
- MDLive
Nursing Call Center Jobs
Call center nursing provides an opportunity to use your clinical knowledge and phone communication skills from home. These RN roles involve answering health-related calls, providing triage services, and giving care advice to callers.
Types of Nursing Call Center Jobs
- Advice line nursing – Answer calls to a consumer advice line, assess symptoms, provide self-care instructions, and recommend when to seek in-person care.
- Triage call center RN – Staff incoming calls to a hospital or clinic’s triage line, gather information on symptoms, and direct patients to appropriate providers or self-care.
- Healthcare concierge RN – Assist callers with questions about health services, insurance coverage, and providers. Help connect patients to appropriate care and community health resources.
Major Nursing Call Center Employers
- Optum Health
- Concentra
- AmeriDoc
- Carenet Healthcare Services
- Grand Rounds
Medical Coding
Leveraging nursing expertise with administrative medical coding skills is a smart way to create a work-from-home opportunity. Medical coding involves assigning diagnostic and procedural codes to medical charts and documents. The codes are used for insurance billing and data analysis. Having a clinical background provides a key advantage for accurately coding complex cases.
Medical Coding Pay Rates
Entry-level medical coders can expect $14 – $17 per hour, while experienced coders may earn $18 – $25 per hour. Certified Procedural Coders (CPCs) can make upward of $30 per hour. Medical coding is often part-time contract work that can conveniently supplement a nursing income.
Getting Started with Medical Coding
– Complete a medical coding certification like CPC, COC, or CPB through AAPC, AHIMA, or another accredited program.
– Enroll in an online medical coding training program through sites like Career Step, Penn Foster, or Ashworth College.
– Search for remote medical coding jobs on sites like FlexJobs, Remote.co, SolidGigs, or VirtualVocations.
– Consider joining a remote coding company like Outsource Strategies International, Aviacode, or Code Admirers.
Online Nursing Instructor
RNs can teach online nursing classes and training programs remotely. This allows you to share your specialized expertise through virtual lectures, discussions, simulations, and assignments. Online instructors may teach courses or modules within RN-to-BSN programs, nursing CEUs, exam prep classes, or skills refreshers.
Pay Rate Info
Nursing instructors can make $30 – $60 per teaching hour depending on experience level and the school or platform. Most online teaching opportunities allow you to set your own schedule.
Requirements
– Master’s degree in nursing preferred
– 3+ years bedside experience
– Strong command of online learning platforms
– Curriculum development skills
Where to Find Online Teaching Opportunities
– Universities and colleges with online RN-to-BSN programs
– Continuing education providers like Nurse.com and NurseCe4Less
– Exam prep companies such as ATI and Kaplan Nursing
– Clinical skills training platforms like NurseCoach
– Healthcare associations offering certification courses
Freelance Writing for Nursing Websites and Journals
Turn your clinical insights and writing talent into income through freelance writing gigs focused on nursing and healthcare topics. There is high demand for contributors able to write quality articles and blog posts for nursing education sites, association journals, and industry publications.
Payment for Freelance Nursing Writers
Freelance pay rates range widely based on the publication and writing complexity:
– Blog posts – $25 – $150 per post
– Articles – $150 – $300 each
– Ebooks/guides – $500 – $1,500+ each
– Newsletters – $150 – $300 per issue
At 5-15 hours per week, you can earn $1,000 – $3,000+ per month through freelance writing.
Getting Started as a Freelance Nursing Writer
– Build writing samples on a personal blog or LinkedIn
– Create a profile on freelancing sites like Mediabistro, Contently, and ClearVoice
– Reach out to nursing sites and publications directly to pitch article ideas
– Enroll in a science or medical writing training program
– Consider completing a certification like American Medical Writers Association
Nursing Chatbot Development
Combining your nursing knowledge with artificial intelligence skills is an innovative, high-earning opportunity. Nurses can help develop and optimize AI-powered chatbots designed to provide interactive healthcare education, triage advice, and symptom assessment to patients.
Nursing Chatbot Roles
– Provide clinical oversight and input as a subject matter expert during chatbot creation
– Ensure accuracy of chatbot information, decision trees, and protocols
– Continuously train and improve the chatbot’s knowledge using real patient interactions and cases
– Stay updated on latest evidence-based protocols to integrate into the chatbot
– Test chatbot user experience and interface
Pay for Chatbot Developers
As an emerging, high-skill field, chatbot nursing earns $75 – $150 per hour. You may also find salaried chatbot nursing roles paying $80,000 – $120,000 annually.
Chatbot Companies Hiring Nurses
– Sensely – Pioneer in healthcare chatbots for patient engagement and symptom checking
– Babylon Health – Develops AI-powered chatbots like Babylon Assistant
– Infermedica – Creates medical chatbots and triage algorithms
Virtual Nursing Education Companies
Virtual nursing skills training startups offer awesome opportunities to educate nursing students and orient new nurses remotely. As an experienced RN, you can join these innovative companies as a full-time or contract virtual clinical instructor. Using interactive platforms, you’ll teach nursing skills, guide simulations, assess competencies, and help build clinical judgement.
Major Virtual Nursing Training Startups
– Shadow Health – Leading virtual clinical experience platform using AI patients
– CAE Healthcare – Develops advanced simulation mannequins and training tools
– Abridge AI – Virtual reality simulations powered by artificial intelligence
– Rhoda – Connects nursing schools with virtual instructors and standardized patients
– Sira Medical – VR training for clinical skills and empathy
Pay for Virtual Nursing Educators
Salaries at these startups range from $70,000 – $100,000 for full-time roles. Contract virtual teaching gigs pay $40 – $60 per hour.
Medical Transcription
If you’re a fast, accurate typist, medical transcription provides a flexible remote opportunity. Medical transcriptionists listen to audio recordings from providers and transcribe patient notes, orders, and documentation into electronic health records. Attention to detail is crucial for this role.
Payment for Medical Transcription
– Entry-level: $14 – $17 per hour
– Experienced: $18 – $25 per hour
– Editing/quality control: $25 – $35 per hour
Part-time schedules allow you to supplement nursing income. Transcriptionists are often paid per audio minute or word count.
Getting Started as a Medical Transcriptionist
– Complete certificate training program like Career Step
– Obtain registered transcriptionist credentials through AHDI
– Look for remote openings on freelance sites like FlexJobs and Upwork
– Apply to major medical transcription companies hiring home-based roles
Online Nursing Continuing Education Instructor
Educate other nurses virtually by teaching accredited continuing education (CE) courses in your specialty. There is growing demand for qualified CE instructors as nursing education shifts online. Experts estimate the US nursing CE market will reach $8 billion by 2025.
Typical Pay Rates
– $100 – $250 per teaching hour
– $1,000 – $3,000+ per full-day virtual CE course
You set your own rates based on expertise. CE instructors earn around $2,000 – $5,000 per month for part-time work.
How to Become a CE Instructor
– Maintain ANCC or state board certification in your specialty
– Develop curriculum and lectures on cutting-edge topics
– Apply to teach through CE platforms like Nurse.com, Medcom, and NurseCe4Less
– Consider CE instructor certification through ANCC
Legal Nurse Consulting
Blend your clinical knowledge and legal acumen as a legal nurse consultant or expert witness. Consultants assist law firms and insurance companies with medically-related legal cases by providing research, records review, medical summaries, and litigation support.
Pay Potential as a Legal Nurse
Consultants typically earn $50 – $150 per hour, with rates exceeding $200 per hour for top expert witnesses. Even working 10 hours per week, you can make $2,500 – $7,500 monthly.
Getting Started in Legal Nursing
– Gain 2+ years recent clinical experience
– Complete legal nurse consulting training program
– Obtain LNC certification through AALNC
– List your services on legal nurse consultant databases
– Reach out to local law firms to offer services
Conclusion
The nursing skills and clinical judgement you’ve spent years developing are highly valued in the online freelance and gig economy. From writing to consulting, tutoring to chatbot design, technology is enabling nurses to educate, heal and earn outside the bedside. By choosing opportunities aligned with your interests and schedule, it’s entirely possible to earn an extra $2,000 – $5,000+ each month and make the most of your downtime. With unlimited possibilities, what new nursing side hustle will you start today?