Highest Paying Clinical Specialties for Agency Nurses?

The agency nurses are a vital resource for healthcare sectors affected by the unfilled nursing posts across the country. You can also make your career as an agency nurse for the benefits like higher pay grades, more work opportunities, more flexibility to choose the work hours, and career advancement. However, you need to identify the right field that can make your job easy and enjoyable. Choosing the right specialty can increase your earning potential and offer personal satisfaction that you seek in your life.

Here are the clinical specialties that you choose when working with the highest paying nursing agency in the UK.

Highest Paying Clinical Specialties for Agency Nurses?

1.  A&E Nurses:

As an A&E or Accident & Emergency nurse, you are required to work as the first point of contact for patients coming to the hospital. It is a high-pressure role that demands more skills and experience from the nurses. Often, you have to work with patients suffering from a variety of critical conditions. It can be highly stressful if you lack the required professional skills and personal capabilities. 

The job of A&E nurse is to check the patient’s vital stats, including blood pressure and temperature. Based on their observation, the patient is taken to the right place for complete care. The emergency departments have a fast paced environment where you may be treating anything from minor illnesses to major problems.

Educational requirements: To become an A&E nurse, you need a nursing degree along with NMC registration, experience in similar departments, and ability to understand triage. 

Once you become a band 5 A&E nurse, you may earn anywhere between £21,909 and £28,462.

2.  Cardiac Nurses:

Heart failure is a major cause of hospital admission. As a progressive illness, it can be life-threatening and disabling. If you choose to work as a cardiac nurse through the highest paying nursing agency, you should know the challenges that this specialty entails. 

Despite being a highly rewarding field, cardiac nurses have to acquire a variety of skills to assist with surgical treatments. Apart from necessary degrees, you should have excellent communication skills, record keeping abilities, and time management skills. 

Educational Qualifications: An in-depth knowledge of cardiac anatomy helps to advance your career as a cardiac nurse. You may also have a degree in cardiovascular rehabilitation to work in this field. NMC registration and practical hospital experience in the same specialty are also required from agency cardiac nurses. 

The average salary for cardiac nurses is approximately £33,965 per year in the UK. 

3.  Pediatric Nurses:

Also known as children’s nursing, this field is both rewarding and demanding. As a children’s nurse, you have to work with children suffering from different health conditions irrespective of their age. 

You have to access their nursing needs while taking into account the family, social, cultural, and medical background of the patients. Also, you need to communicate with children and their carers to ensure proper care at every level. 

Educational Qualifications: To become a pediatric nurse, you should study a nursing degree. Also, you need a registered nursing license from the NHS.

The salary structure for band 6 or 7 pediatric nurses may range from £26,041 to £40,964 depending on your experience and skills.

4.  ICU Nurses:

Patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) need specialized nurses. In this department, you are needed to deal with complex conditions and life-threatening diseases that require constant care. You will perform a variety of tasks including patient monitoring, diagnostic check-ups, follow-up visits, and collaborating with specialists on the critical care team. 

You must respond immediately to life-saving situations using nursing protocols and standards. This requires ample experience and ability to work in a stressful emotional environment. 

Educational Requirements: You need a bachelor’s degree in nursing along with a minimum experience of one year as an ICU nurse. Also, it requires a good understanding of healthcare technology and information structures to work in flexible shifts.

The average pay scale of an ICU nurse may vary from £23,196 to £36,248 per year as per your abilities and experience. 

5.  General Medicine Nurses:

The specialty of general medicine covers the patients who are managed medically. The typical responsibilities of a general medicine nurse include providing post- and pre-operative care, writing records, organizing workloads, taking patient samples, checking vital signs, administering medications, and dressing the wounds.

Ability to work as per flexible schedules makes this clinical specialty perfect for agency nurses. It is also an exciting career choice if you have skills like resilience, communication abilities, good observation, and ability to deal with emotional situations. 

Educational Requirements: You can become a general medicine nurse if you possess a nursing degree and one-year experience of working in the same specialty.

The average salary may go £22,304 to £28,235 as per your experience in the field. 

These are the top paying nursing specialties that can offer you a bright career as an agency nurse.