RN2writer offers courses, coaching, community and more to nurses and other clinicians who want to become freelance health writers. Whether you’re completely new to the world of freelance health writing or have been a writer for some time, you’re in the right place!

At RN2writer, we prepare nurses to write health articles (health reporting) and content marketing materials. Some examples of these types of writing include:

• Consumer health articles, such as “When to See a Doctor for a Stye”
• Consumer health blog posts, such as “Are Viruses Living Things?”
• Corporate (B2B) blog posts, such as “Why Women May be Better Leaders for Healthcare’s Value-Based Environment”
• Corporate ebooks, such as “5 Ways ShiftWizard Saves You Time as a Nurse Manager”
• White papers, such as “Financing Acquisitions: Top Strategies for Today’s Healthcare Providers”
• Healthcare service line web pages and micro-sites, such as “Breast Health” for University Health system, San Antonio

Health reporting (journalism), such as “How to Use Telehealth Services During the COVID-19 Outbreak and Beyond”

No, it most certainly is not! RN2writer was founded in 2014 by Elizabeth Hanes BSN RN, a well-known and successful nurse writer. RN2writer has helped thousands of nurses launch writing careers. You can explore some of our featured case studies and (real life!) nurse writers in our Success Stories collection linked here.

No, absolutely not! All nurses are welcome, as are all other clinicians and healthcare professionals. If you have a background in healthcare and want to explore freelance writing, you’re welcome here!

Freelance writing is self-employment, which means you can set your own income goals. Individual writing assignments often range in value from $500 to $1,000 each, so it’s entirely possible to bring in $4,000 or more in extra income per month working only part-time. If you’re interested in earning a full-time living from health writing, you certainly can achieve that. You might want to watch our episode of The RN2writer Show in which our founder, Elizabeth Hanes RN, opens her books to illustrate exactly how many projects she completed and how many hours she worked in a typical month to gross $100,000 in a year.

Writing opportunities will always outpace the volume of available writers because the web continues to grow at an exponential pace. Virtually every healthcare company, brand, system, insurer, service provider, and tech company engages in content marketing - and they all have an ongoing need for freelance writers to create their content. Read this blog post with a more detailed answer to this question.

The types of writing we teach at RN2writer have nothing to do with sharing personal stories about nursing or patient care, so the issue of HIPAA is non-existent. As a freelance health writer, you will research and write articles, blog posts, web pages, white papers, case studies, newsletter content, and more as assigned by your client or editor. For example, you might be assigned to write an article titled “Signs and Symptoms of Muscular Dystrophy.” Or you might be assigned to write a web page for a health system’s gastroenterology department. None of this type of writing involves interjecting your personal nursing experience into it.

In general, successful nurse writers can:

• Create Word documents
• Create Google Docs
• Conduct basic research at publicly available websites like MedlinePlus
• Use Zoom
• Use an email program
• Use an online calendar, like Google or iCal
• Learn systems like WordPress, Slack, or Trello

The tech skills required to be a freelance writer are pretty basic, though an ability to learn new software is an advantage.

No! Retired or former nurses also can become successful health writers. That said, having an active license gives you a competitive advantage because you can be published with the “RN” (or LPN) designation, which holds great value for the publication or client.

The answer is: Very little to none. Why? Because clients value the common knowledge base and education all nurses share. Clients don’t care how many years you spent in clinical practice, only that you’re a nurse with insider knowledge of healthcare. That said, you can gain a competitive advantage if you possess deep subject matter expertise due to spending many years in a specialty. For example, a nurse with 20 years of cardiology experience can more easily market themselves to companies in the cards space, thanks to the deep knowledge the nurse possesses in the subject matter.

Yes! Our program teaches you, step-by-step, how to write all of the most common client deliverables.

No, not at all! RN2writer teaches nurses how to set up and grow their own freelance writing businesses. This legit work-from-home nursing opportunity has nothing to do with recruiting friends to become writers and then making a commission off their sales - or anything like that. Freelance writing involves taking on writing assignments from clients, getting paid, and keeping the check for yourself.

No. Succeeding as a freelance health writer requires effort and persistence. This is not a fast path to wealth. Our members report landing their first paying clients anywhere from two months to six months after enrolling in our programs - because it takes a little while to learn the ropes of this industry. Some members attain rapid success, such as Elizabeth Morrill, who booked $9,000 per month in ongoing work just five months after enrolling in our Complete Guide to Content Marketing Writing for Nurses course, but those results are not typical. They do illustrate how investing in professional freelance training and dedicating some time every day to work on your writing business can pay big dividends, though.

For all account issues, kindly email [email protected] or contact us here and include the email address used at time of purchase. Many tech snafus can cause our welcome emails to go astray, including:

• Typo in the email address
• Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail account (with aggressive spam blockers)
• Email going to the spam folder or Promotions tab

First, review your state’s Nurse Practice Act to learn the specific requirements for maintaining your license. Most states only require the completion of a certain number of CEUs. A handful of US state boards of nursing have a “practice hours” requirement to maintain an active nursing license. However, those boards don’t precisely define what “practice hours” means. Many nurses jump to the conclusion that the terms “practice hours” or “practice of nursing” means only clinical/bedside practice, but let’s be real: How many CNOs do you see donning scrubs to put in 400+ hours a year at the bedside to maintain their licenses? What about informaticists? Nurse managers? How do those nurses maintain their licenses? In general, “the practice of nursing” includes a wide range of activities that do not involve direct patient care. Specifically, patient education is normally included in activities that constitute “the practice of nursing” - and I, personally, consider what I do as a consumer health writer to be patient education. In Canada, some provincial boards of nursing DO have a real clinical practice requirement. The Canadian nurses I know who have been subject to these rules have generally taken a PRN assignment periodically to ensure they meet their provincial standard for clinical practice. Bottom line: READ your state’s or province’s nurse practice act to determine precisely what is required. Do not leap to the conclusion that “practice hours” refers only to patient care. Read the requirements very carefully.

Yes! All of our courses are asynchronous and self-paced so you can do them at your own speed. 

You can find pricing details on each course's landing page. Check out the Certified Health Writer Program here.