Outpatient nurse jobs, clinic by clinic

The work

Nursing that keeps clinics moving

Outpatient nursing is broad, fast-moving and central to how a hospital sees its patients.

Outpatient and clinic work spans a huge range of settings — consultant-led clinics, pre-operative assessment, treatment rooms, day-surgery and minor-procedure units, dermatology, ophthalmology, endoscopy and specialist review clinics. Across them the core is the same: assessing patients, managing clinic flow, chaperoning and assisting clinicians, and carrying out the practical work of a clinic, from venepuncture and phlebotomy to dressings, observations and patient education. You keep clinics running to time and make sure every patient is prepared, safe and clear on what happens next.

It suits nurses and healthcare assistants who are organised, personable and confident working across specialties, often meeting a patient briefly and putting them at ease quickly. The pace is different from a ward — steady rather than shift-long acuity — and the hours tend to be sociable, which is why so many experienced nurses move into outpatient work. If you like variety, patient contact and clinics that run well because you make them, this is your kind of nursing.