Career Resources / Top Nursing Opportunities in Kansas City
No matter how much people think they understand what nurses do, the profession can be very different for everybody. So much depends on the individual nurse, the patients they care for, the environment in which they work, and their role within that environment. Every nursing job is unique, and every nurse has the opportunity to choose their own future.
When you combine the diversity of nurses’ professional choices with the reality of the national nursing shortage, you end up with the ability to essentially write your own career ticket and live and work wherever you want: based on your own interests, priorities, and values. If you’re looking for a place that checks all the boxes, you can’t do much better than Kansas City. Known as “the Paris of the Midwest”, Kansas City has something to offer everybody, and registered nurses will find major health systems, intimate hospice services, and countless facilities in between all eager to work with you. They’re looking for top-quality nurses and offering remarkable salaries and benefits to encourage your consideration.
Kansas City
Fountains and festivals. Jazz and some of the most jaw-dropping barbeque on the planet. Kansas City is known for all of these things and more. Its metropolitan area is home to more than 2.4 million people, is bisected by both the Missouri and Kansas rivers, and is shared by two different states. The popular Downtown area sits right where the two rivers converge, and the city’s highlights include a robust shopping district, jazz bars, theaters and concert halls, museums, restaurants, and national sports franchises that have given locals plenty to cheer for.
As the population of Kansas City continues to grow, so do the career opportunities for registered nurses, who will find themselves surrounded by hospitals, clinics, private practices, and other healthcare facilities and businesses where they can work and make a real difference in people’s lives.
Types of Nursing Jobs in Kansas City
Like other locations around the country, Kansas City has been feeling the impact of the nursing shortage for a while, and the COVID-19 pandemic only made things more difficult. Though hospital workers were praised as heroes at the beginning of the pandemic, by its end nurses were exhausted and stressed. In response, Kansas City healthcare administrators have chosen to address the shortage and other challenges through a variety of measures, ranging from pledging not to lay off any clinical staff to implementing “serenity rooms” to which staff can escape for much-needed breathing space. Workloads are being reduced through the use of technology and hospitals are offering staff benefits including debt-free education and flexible schedules that allow for healthier work/life balances.
If you are a registered nurse looking for new opportunities, Kansas City’s hospitals, urgent care centers, surgery and specialty centers and many other facilities offer a wide array of roles that provide generous compensation and which benefit from their proximity to the best the city has to offer. Below you’ll find a list of the Kansas City healthcare employers we believe offer some of the best options for nurses.
University of Kansas Health System
Nationally ranked in 8 adult specialties and named a top hospital in Kansas City by U.S. News & World Report, the University of Kansas Health System is a world-class academic medical center destination for complex care and diagnosis management. The organization prides itself on offering the most current and effective treatments in a welcoming environment, which includes branch hospitals and education centers throughout the state of Kansas. Affiliated with the University of Kansas’s schools of medicine, nursing, and allied health, the hospital is the region’s only nationally certified Level I Trauma Center and hosts nearly 300,000 outpatient and 30,000 inpatient admissions per year.
The University of Kansas Health System values its nurses as leaders and decision-makers. Nurses are empowered to work closely with physicians in providing care to patients diagnosed with complex conditions. They are respected as professionals and supported in their careers. Generous compensation and benefits include a robust medical, dental, and vision package, life, disability, and accident insurance, a comprehensive wellness program, and a retirement savings plan with an employer contribution. Nurses are also offered unique onsite opportunities for continuing education and development and have the opportunity to take advantage of professional certifications with monetary awards, tuition reimbursement, performance development, and ongoing learning and education opportunities.
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Research Medical Center
Today part of the HCA Midwest Division, Research Medical Center got its start in 1886, when it was first established as German Hospital in a brick farmhouse. Over the decades it grew and relocated to its present-day location, and is now a 590-bed hospital providing quality healthcare services, including emergency care via a Level I Trauma Center, a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, and specialized programs for traumatic brain injury, TIAs, burn, gastrointestinal conditions, oncology care, obstetrics, transplants, and orthopedics and sports medicine.
In addition to the hospital itself, Research Medical Center also has an affiliated medical specialty campus and is home to a well-respected nursing school which has recently announced plans to build a $34.5 million expansion meant to increase the school’s enrollment capacity.
Registered nurses considering a career at Research Medical Center will find that nurse professionals are collaborative and respected team members. New and upcoming nurse graduates are welcomed to a 13-week StaRN residency program that provides classroom learning, simulation learning, and hands-on experience and training with clinical experts, while all nurses are invited to take advantage of tools and resources including education assistance, the StaRN Plus Program which provides a pathway into specialty areas, and the HCA Nurse Care Program, which provides caregivers with support as they deal with life’s challenges. Compensation benefits include fertility and family building benefits, adoption assistance, child and elder care resources, and an employee stock purchase plan, as well as a 401(k) plan with a 100% match on 3% to 9% of pay based on years of service, a retirement readiness program, and a generous time away from work program.
KC CARE Health Center
Established in 1971 in the lobby of the Alcazar Hotel, Kansas City’s CARE Clinic is one of the largest free and charitable health clinics in the country. The KC CARE Health Center has built a legacy of providing trusted, innovative care funded entirely by donations. Years later the city donated a house where primary care and reproductive health services were dispensed, as well as oral health services.
Since that time, the center has seen many expansions and has been the recipient of numerous grants for providing much-needed health services including HIV care, behavioral health services, and substance abuse counseling. In 2015, the clinic was awarded designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center and recognized as a Patient-Centered Medical Home. Both of these indicate the high quality of care provided. Today, KC Care Health has multiple locations, including a pediatric-centered location that provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services to infants, children, teens, and young adults.
Registered nurses interested in providing compassionate care to community members in need will find the environment at KC Care inclusive and supportive and the work tremendously rewarding.
Beyond these facilities, Kansas City is home to health care facilities including private physician’s offices, specialty practices, urgent care centers, same-day surgery centers, and medical spas.
For information on some of the many positions available in Kansas City, visit Incredible Health’s nursing job search page.
