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I’ve dedicated this blog to showing healthcare professionals the many career options outside of direct patient care. But it would be irresponsible not to talk about some of the downsides of leaving the bedside.

The grass isn’t always greener. Sometimes it’s just different grass. It’s important to know what you might be walking into.

I currently work in the pharmaceutical industry, and honestly? I am exhausted. The travel is far more than I was led to believe when I was hired. I spend 20+ hours a week in the car many weeks, and you don’t realize how draining that is until you do it. It’s a different kind of fatigue than bedside nursing, but it adds up fast.

That’s one of the downsides of pharma- your job can change frequently as business needs evolve. In my last pharma job, my job title, description and management changed 6 months after I was hired due to a reorganization. But in the great news, my bonus structure doubled due to that change.

I don’t regret moving to pharma however. I’d still rather be here than back in patient care.

Here are some of the challenges I’ve found working outside of the hospital or clinic, and how to prepare for them:

1. Travel Can Be a Grind

Endless miles on the road or back-to-back flights sound exciting at first, but the reality is fatigue, missed family events, and too many nights in hotels.

How to prepare: Before accepting a role, ask for honest numbers on average weekly travel. Once in the job, use travel time to your advantage (audiobooks, podcasts) and set personal limits, like no back-to-back overnight trips unless absolutely required.

The benefits: Your flights and hotels for future vacations are taken care of with the miles and points that you earn!

2. Less Job Security

In hospitals, demand is steady. In pharma or corporate healthcare, layoffs and reorganizations can happen with little warning.

How to prepare: Always keep your resume updated, maintain an emergency fund, and build a professional network outside your company so you’re never starting from scratch if things change.

Benefits: Your pay is frequently better than working in the hospital. Save that extra that you are making to pay down any debt you have and build up your savings. That way if you are laid off, that time between jobs can feel like more of an extended vacation, instead of stress around losing income.

3. The Soullessness of Insurance & Corporate Red Tape

Instead of direct patient care, you may feel like you’re stuck fighting bureaucracy, approvals, or corporate metrics that don’t reflect real-world impact.

How to prepare: Anchor yourself by remembering the bigger picture. Every approval you fight for does eventually help a patient. If you thrive on meaning, supplement your work life with volunteering or part-time roles that let you keep that patient connection.

Benefits: The decreased patient interaction will give you time to recover from any burnout or compassion fatigue you may be experiencing.

4. Less Movement, More Weight Gain

At the bedside, you’re constantly on your feet. Now, you might be in the car or at a desk most of the day. I gained 20 pounds in my first industry job because I was eating out 4 days a week.

How to prepare: Schedule movement like you would a meeting. Walking during calls, stretch breaks, and even investing in a standing desk and walking pad can keep you active.  If you are in a hotel, take advantage of its fitness center, or find a local park to walk through.

(Psst- The links above are to the same standing desk in the photo. I don’t think the exact walking pad is still available. The one linked is the one I’d get now if I were buying because it has an incline option, and mine does not.)

Benefits: If you are working from home, you have total control over your environment. You are no longer at the mercy of call lights.

5. Odd Hours & Global Schedules

If your company works across time zones, 6 a.m. calls or late-night emails can become routine.

How to prepare: Ask during the interview process if working outside of business hours is an expectation, how often you may need to work outside of business hours, and if they offer comp time to make up for it. They might not, and if they are paying you salary instead of hourly, you will not get overtime.

Benefits: Some of us in healthcare prefer working nights (not me!), and will be ok with this. Again, you will quite possibly be earning a lot more than if you were in the hospital, and this might be an excellent tradeoff for you.

6. Loss of Clinical Skills

Clinical confidence fades surprisingly fast once you’re away from the bedside.

How to prepare: Keep your license active, take the occasional CEU in clinical topics, or work PRN in a limited patient-facing role (like vaccine clinics) to keep skills fresh.

Benefits: You will still be using the clinical knowledge that you have gained through clinical practice, and there are skill refresher courses available if you would ever like to return to patient care.

7. Performance Metrics Replace Patient Outcomes

Instead of focusing on patient health, you may be judged by KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), sales numbers, or productivity dashboards.

How to prepare: Reframe success for yourself. Set personal goals alongside corporate ones so you can still measure your progress in ways that feel meaningful.

Benefits: You don’t have to suck up to patients and their families for good Press Gainey scores to guarantee a pay raise for everyone on your unit.

8. Less Camaraderie

If you are working from home, you may find yourself working alone most days, without the built-in camaraderie of a unit or shift team.

How to prepare: Be intentional about connection. Schedule virtual coffee chats with colleagues, join professional groups, and lean into social opportunities outside of work.

Benefits: If you are someone who gets worn out by the noise of alarms and people, working from home can be an excellent way to recharge. Also, you will still get connections, you just won’t see them 3-5 times a week in person. Surprisingly, you make a lot of connections through phone calls and Zoom meetings with the people on your team.

9. Constant Change

Restructuring, new leadership, and shifting priorities are the norm in corporate healthcare.

How to prepare: Stay adaptable by continuously learning new skills. The more versatile you are, the less disruptive change feels, and the more marketable you’ll be if you need to pivot.

Benefits: One question I am almost always asked in STAR based interviews, is “tell me about a time something in your life changed and how you handled it”. These changes can sting in the moment, but they often set you up for long-term growth, and great interview stories.

10. Screen Time Overload

Eight hours of charting is replaced by eight hours of Zoom calls, spreadsheets, and emails.

How to prepare: Protect your eyes and energy- use blue-light filters, take regular breaks, and block out “deep work” time so you’re not stuck in meetings all day.

Benefits: You’ll spend less time on your feet and more time in climate-controlled comfort, and once your day ends, you won’t be limping out of work with aching joints.

Final Thoughts

I’m not sharing this to scare you off. Leaving patient care was still one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. But it’s important to go in with your eyes wide open. Every job comes with trade-offs, and knowing the realities of non-clinical work makes it much easier to thrive once you’re there.

If you’re considering leaving patient care:

– Make a list of your non-negotiables.
– Update your resume.
– And pin this post to revisit when you’re deep into the job hunt.