a calculator for nurses thinking about leaving bedside —

See exactly how to leave bedside
without going broke.

A free calculator built by a physician and an RN. Plug in your numbers — get your runway, your bridge plan, and the minimum-viable version of your next move. No signup to use it.

built by a physician & RN · independent · Los Angeles, CA
monthly burn
your fixed costs
the real number
runway
savings ÷ burn
in months
minimal move
smallest safe step
your bridge plan

what you put in
what you get —
a plan, not a pitch
i.Why this exists

The wall isn't the job market.

The #1 reason nurses don't leave bedside isn't the job market — it's not knowing if they can afford to. This is what they're saying out loud.

What's stopping me is the pay decrease. I'd need to keep PRN until I cleared a hundred K.

r/HealthInformatics, 2025

I walked into work today, into the lobby, and physically and mentally could not get on the elevator. So I turned around and left.

r/nursing · 1,523 upvotes

I keep applying to utilization review jobs but I have no experience so keep getting rejections.

r/nursing · 80 upvotes

Three quotes from 180+ we read while building this. The calculator below answers the first one.

iv.The Ledger

Pay-cut anxiety, quantified gently.

The number-one reason nurses don't leave bedside is not knowing if they can. A worksheet — slide the numbers and watch the runway become real, fictional, or one PRN shift away from being real.

the worksheet —

rent or mortgage$2,200
insurance, monthly$350
childcare$0
debt minimums$400
groceries$700
other essentials$250
liquid savings$18,000
— bridge income, if you want it —
prn shifts kept / month2
$ per prn shift$720
part-time, hours / week0
the reading —
covered.

With your bridge plan, Nursing Informatics / Epic Analyst clears its safety buffer. Savings becomes runway insurance.

monthly burn$3,900
runway, no bridge4.6 mo
bridge income$1,440/mo
runway, with bridge7.3 mo
— estimates only. not financial advice.

the next-roles map —

Each path, against the runway you just built. Click one to plan it.

pathto 1st paycheckpay vs. nowreading

the minimal move —

Nursing Informatics / Epic Analystalready clears its safety buffer with your current numbers. There's no minimal transition to engineer — the math is on your side. Use savings as cushion, not bridge.

pay change vs. now — Nursing Informatics / Epic Analyst−$640 / mo
path estimates from market data + nurse-reported outcomes. your real number varies by region and experience.

keep this reading —

A clean summary of your burn, your runway, and your minimal move, sent to your inbox. We don't store the line-item numbers you entered — only the summary.

iii.The Atlas

A preview of the map we're building.

A few of the off-bedside roles you can sort through. Pay ranges are estimates from BLS + Glassdoor; the full atlas — with certifications worth doing, hiring stories, and first-year pay by region — is part of the app we're building next. The calculator above already covers these and more.

i.

Clinical Informatics

remote · technology-adjacent
$98 — 135K

EHR builds, workflow design, governance. Pairs clinical fluency with product-thinking.

ii.

Utilization Review

remote · phone & chart
$82 — 110K

Review medical necessity for insurers. Predictable hours, computer work.

iii.

Telehealth Triage

remote · shift work
$75 — 95K

Phone-based triage. Bedside skills carry directly.

iv.

Care Management

remote · payer-side caseload
$80 — 105K

Coordinate care for high-risk members. Heavy phone + EHR.

v.

Medical Writing

remote · freelance possible
$70 — 115K

Patient education, CME, regulatory docs. Strong writers thrive.

vi.

Quality Abstractor

remote · per-chart pay
$65 — 85K

Chart abstraction for HEDIS, trauma registries. Per-case structure.

iv.Marginalia

The questions worth answering up front.

Three honest questions, answered the way we'd answer them across a kitchen table. The shorter the list, the truer it stays.

“Will any of this really apply to me?”

It's the question under all the others. We try, here, to be honest about what we know and what we don't — and where the answer is “it depends,” we tell you what it depends on. The calculator is the start of that.

i.

A physician and an RN, in Los Angeles. The calculator is the first tool we've shipped — the bigger app it points toward is being built behind it. We don't take placement commissions, we don't have an employer-side product, and we're not selling a coaching package. It's a planning tool.

ii.
iii.

You don't have to figure this out
at three in the morning, on shift.

Run the ledger. Get your runway, your bridge plan, and the minimum-viable version of your move. Free, and yours in five minutes.

— with affection, the editors ✶