Nurse Entrepreneur
The nurse entrepreneur is not a new career but it has gained attention as more nurses begin their own businesses and change the face of healthcare. The nurse entrepreneur is a trained nurse who takes those healthcare skills and turns their knowledge into a business. Nurses might be inventors of healthcare products, they might start home care services, serve as independent consultants and trainers and every one of them could be called a nurse entrepreneur.
Nurse Entrepreneur Job Description & Scope of Practice
The nurse entrepreneur is often the nurse who feels they need more than the hospital floor or administrative job. These individuals begin their own businesses using their nursing knowledge and their own inventiveness to deliver healthcare services, medical devices, or they are independent consultants.
What that means is that there is no single job description for a nurse entrepreneur. These people have decided to strike out on their own and take their training and the vocation they love and turn it into a business. The nurse who starts a travelling nurse service or home health care attendant service is an entrepreneur. The nurse who becomes a nurse legal consultant is another entrepreneur. The holistic nurse who offers her services under her own business is yet another nurse entrepreneur.
These healthcare professionals may have vastly different duties on the days they work and yet each is an independent businessperson. Nurse entrepreneurs who have become very successful may not be responsible for the day-to-day operation of their business; they may have others to do that for them. The one-person holistic nurse office or legal consultant may instead to all their books, take care of all their appointments, do their own billing and even file their own taxes.
How to Become a Nurse Entrepreneur
Most nurse entrepreneurs have the education and usually experience to help guide them in a choice of businesses. A nurse who has an interest in legal matters may choose to become a part-time nurse legal consultant, and if the business is successful may become a full time legal consultant. Alternatively, some may choose to become independent nurse advocates or case managers.
A nurse who has provided home care for many years may choose to start a home health care business or to begin a travel nurse registry.
Some nurses may choose to enter the field of medical supplies and begin a medical supply delivery service.
Nurse Entrepreneur Education Requirements, Certification, and Schooling Programs
There are no requirements for education for the nurse entrepreneur since they are by definition self employed, however, most nurse entrepreneurs have practiced nursing for at least a few years before going into business.
● The nurse entrepreneur will normally have completed an accredited nursing school resulting in either a degree or a diploma in nursing.
● Many nursing entrepreneurs have had several years experience in clinical nursing.
● There are advanced degree programs available for entrepreneurial nurses resulting in a Master Degree. Advanced programs usually focus upon leadership, business, as well as new approaches to nursing issues.
● Currently, nurse entrepreneurs cannot get certified with an entrepreneur/business designation. However, the National Nurses in Business Association (NNBA) provides resources and connections for self-employed nurses who contract with various hospitals and agencies. Entrepreneur nurses can become certified in other areas as well such as medical-surgical, hospice, infection control and neonatal care. Certifications help business nurses compete for contracts as certifications are held in high regard by hospitals and others in need of their services.
Nurse Entrepreneur Salary and Career Outlook
The nurse entrepreneur’s salary depends entirely upon which type of business the nurse decides to begin and how much the entrepreneur decides to work. Many entrepreneurs are parents with small children at home. More small businesses are being started in the United States than ever before in history. The nurse entrepreneur in a consulting business may make the average national RN salary of $59,000 per year or more.
