Something interesting is happening in healthcare right now.
While hospitals scramble to fill nursing positions, a quiet exodus is underway. Experienced RNs—the ones hospitals can’t afford to lose—are trading their scrubs for a different kind of practice entirely.
They’re heading to med spas.
And if you own a medical aesthetics practice, you need to understand what’s driving this shift. Because the nurses walking through your door aren’t just looking for a job change. They’re looking for a lifeline.
Let me explain.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Here’s what’s actually happening out there.
A 2023 study found that 20% of the country’s 4.5 million registered nurses intend to leave the profession in the next few years. Not switch hospitals. Leave nursing entirely.
Think about that for a second. One in five.
Between 2020 and 2021 alone, the total number of registered nurses in the United States dropped by more than 100,000. That’s the largest drop we’ve seen in 40 years.
And here’s the kicker: Many of these nurses leaving the bedside aren’t retirement age. They’re under 35. They should be the future of the profession.
Instead, they’re walking away.
But here’s what’s fascinating—they’re not actually leaving healthcare. They’re just leaving hospitals.
Guess where many of them are going?
The Burnout Breaking Point
I’m an RN. Been one for over 20 years.
So I can tell you firsthand what’s driving nurses out of hospitals. It’s not just one thing. It’s everything.
The American Nurses Foundation found that 52% of nurses are considering leaving their current roles. Up to 70% report being so burned out and unhappy that they’re actively exploring other options in healthcare.
Let me paint you a picture of what bedside nursing looks like today.
Long hours. Unpredictable shifts. Weekends and holidays are a given, not an exception. You’re managing more patients than is safe, with less support than you need, in an environment that feels increasingly hostile.
According to government data, healthcare professionals are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than workers in other fields. Five times.
One Arizona emergency room nurse, Brittni Allred, worked full-time in the ER for more than a decade. She recently told reporters that burnout and patient aggression pushed her to make a change. She now owns The Needle Fix in Peoria, specializing in Botox and filler injections.
Her quote? “Switching out of a hospital setting had a huge impact on my mental health.”
That’s not just one nurse’s story. That’s becoming the standard story.
What Med Spas Offer That Hospitals Can’t
So why aesthetic nursing?
What makes med spas so appealing to experienced RNs who’ve dedicated years to bedside care?
Let me break it down for you.
First, there’s the schedule. Aesthetic procedures happen during regular business hours. No night shifts. No rotating weekends. No holidays. For a nurse who’s spent years working Christmas Eve, that’s not just appealing—it’s life-changing.
Second, there’s the work environment. Med spas operate outside the managed care model that dominates conventional hospitals. That means less bureaucracy, fewer departmental tensions, and significantly less of the office politics that drain nurses’ morale.
As one aesthetic training organization puts it, nurses who pivot to aesthetic medicine can look forward to “much less politically fraught work environments.”
Third—and this is huge—there’s autonomy. In hospitals, nursing has become increasingly paint-by-numbers. Follow the protocol. Check the boxes. Keep moving.
Aesthetic procedures, on the other hand, must be customized to each patient. That gives nurses the freedom to exercise their own best judgment, guided by standards of practice but not suffocated by them.
Fourth, there’s the patient relationship. In aesthetic nursing, you’re not managing 8-12 acute care patients who may or may not want to be there. You’re building relationships with clients who chose to see you, who value your expertise, and who leave feeling better about themselves.
One aesthetic nurse described it perfectly: “It is just a whole different type of nursing. It is more of a friendship, relationship building.”
Try building that kind of relationship when you have seven minutes per patient.
The Money Question
Let’s talk about what everyone’s thinking but not everyone’s saying.
Do aesthetic nurses make more money?
Not necessarily. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, traditional RNs make around $94,480 annually. Aesthetic nurses make roughly $92,600 on average.
So it’s not really about the base salary.
But here’s what the numbers don’t show: the quality of life per dollar earned.
When you factor in no night shifts, no weekends, no holidays, better work-life balance, lower stress, and a more predictable schedule—that $92,600 starts looking pretty attractive compared to $94,480 earned in a pressure cooker.
Plus, there’s entrepreneurial potential. Many aesthetic nurses eventually open their own practices or develop side businesses. That’s nearly impossible to do when you’re working rotating 12-hour shifts.
What This Means for Med Spa Owners
If you own a medical aesthetics practice, this trend is both an opportunity and a responsibility.
The opportunity is obvious: You have access to a deep pool of experienced, highly trained, licensed healthcare professionals who are actively looking for what you offer.
These aren’t new grads still figuring things out. These are RNs with years of clinical experience, critical thinking skills honed in high-pressure environments, and a level of clinical judgment that only comes from real-world patient care.
They already know how to assess patients, manage complications, communicate effectively, and work within their scope of practice. They understand HIPAA, informed consent, medical documentation, and regulatory compliance.
In other words, they bring everything you need—except the specific aesthetic training.
And that training? They can get it relatively quickly. Botox and dermal filler certification can be completed in a fraction of the time it takes to become a licensed RN in the first place.
But here’s the responsibility part: These nurses are coming to you because they’re burned out, disillusioned, and desperately need a healthier work environment.
If you replicate the same toxic dynamics they’re fleeing—unrealistic expectations, poor work-life balance, lack of autonomy, inadequate support—you’ll lose them just as quickly as the hospitals did.
The med spas that will win in this new landscape are the ones that understand what these nurses need:
•Reasonable schedules that respect their personal lives.
•An environment that values their clinical expertise and judgment.
•Opportunities for professional growth and continuing education.
•A culture that treats them like valued professionals, not interchangeable parts.
Do that, and you’ll attract and retain some of the best clinical talent in healthcare.
Why This Matters to Everyone
Here’s the bigger picture.
The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts that Arizona alone will have nearly 30,000 fewer registered nurses than needed by 2025. That’s just one state.
Nationwide, we’re looking at a nursing shortage that threatens patient safety in hospitals across the country. The median age of a registered nurse is 46, and a quarter of nurses plan to retire or leave the profession over the next five years.
By 2030, an estimated one million nurses will retire.
So when experienced nurses leave hospital bedside roles for aesthetic nursing, it’s not happening in a vacuum. It has ripple effects throughout the healthcare system.
Some people see this as a problem. I see it as a symptom.
The real problem isn’t that nurses are choosing aesthetic nursing. The real problem is that hospital working conditions have become so untenable that nurses feel they have no choice but to leave.
And until hospitals address the root causes—chronic understaffing, workplace violence, burnout, lack of autonomy, and unsustainable workloads—this migration will continue.
The Silver Lining
But here’s some good news for everyone involved.
For med spa owners, you’re not just getting employees. You’re getting healthcare professionals with deep clinical knowledge, excellent patient assessment skills, and a level of medical expertise that elevates the entire practice.
For nurses making the transition, you’re not abandoning your calling. You’re finding a way to continue using your skills and knowledge in an environment that allows you to thrive instead of just survive.
And for patients? They’re getting care from experienced RNs who aren’t exhausted, frustrated, and counting down the minutes until their shift ends.
That’s a win-win-win.
The Bottom Line
The great aesthetic migration isn’t a fad. It’s a fundamental restructuring of where and how experienced nurses choose to practice.
Hospitals are losing talent they can’t afford to lose. Med spas are gaining skilled professionals who bring clinical depth to an industry that needs it. And nurses are finding a career path that allows them to use their expertise without sacrificing their mental health.
Because the nurses are out there. They’re ready to make the change. They’re looking for practices that value what they bring to the table.
If you’re a med spa owner, the question isn’t whether you should be recruiting these nurses. The question is: Are you creating an environment worth coming to?
Make sure yours is one of them.
Are you creating the kind of environment these nurses are looking for?
Let’s talk about it.
I’m one of those nurses. I made the transition from bedside to aesthetics, and I understand exactly what drives this migration—and what it takes to build a practice that attracts and keeps top clinical talent.
Book a free 30-minute practice evaluation. We’ll discuss where you are now, where you want to be, and how to position your med spa as the destination for experienced RNs who bring the clinical depth your patients deserve.
No pitch. No pressure. Just a straightforward conversation with someone who’s lived both sides of this story.
[Schedule Your Free Consultation]
Because when you get the talent piece right, everything else gets easier.
—
Sources:
American Nurses Foundation & American Nurses Association. (2022). COVID-19 impact survey. https://www.nursingworld.org
Action News 5. (January 27, 2025). More healthcare workers are pursuing Aesthetic Nursing jobs. https://www.actionnews5.com/2025/01/27/more-healthcare-workers-are-pursuing-aesthetic-nursing-jobs/
American Association of Aesthetic Medicine & Surgery. (April 22, 2025). Why Nurses Are Moving to Aesthetic Medicine. https://aaams.net/blog/why-nurses-are-moving-to-aesthetic-medicine/
American Academy of Facial Esthetics. (May 1, 2024). Exploring the Shift: Why Nurses Are Transitioning from the Bedside to Aesthetic Nursing. https://facialesthetics.org/exploring-the-shift-why-nurses-are-transitioning-from-the-bedside-to-aesthetic-nursing/
Daily Nurse. (January 9, 2024). Is Nursing Heading for Collapse? https://www.dailynurse.com/is-nursing-heading-for-collapse/
Research.com. (2024). How Much Do Aesthetic/Cosmetic Nurses Make for 2025? https://research.com/careers/how-much-do-aesthetic-cosmetic-nurses-make
AZ Family. (September 3, 2024). More Arizona health care workers pursuing jobs in aesthetic nursing. https://www.azfamily.com/2024/09/03/more-arizona-health-care-workers-pursuing-jobs-aesthetic-nursing/
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2024). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
View comments
+ Leave a comment