Career path development

[HTmommy]

I am a LNA who is going for my LPN, eventually progressing to RN (the long road I know). I prefer the hospital setting and am wondering which career path within the hospital is a good route to go for either a) financial gain or b) personal gratitude. What direction did you take and what areas did you wish to go into? Which direction leaves most flexibility from which to change course. I'd love to get your opinions. As I will be be starting at a hospital soon, I need to assess my options for career path development (I also realize the path will be somewhat different for every hospital).

[llg, PhD, RN]

A foundation in adult med/surg gives you the most career flexibility in the long run. Many specialized and/or advanced roles build on the knowledge and skills of the adult med/surg nurse. If that's a field that interests you, then I would recommend getting some experience there.

However ... if adult med/surg is not to your liking, rest assured that it is not necessary to have that type of experience on your resume. For example, if you know that you will hate adult med/surg -- and know that you will want a career in the maternal-child field, there is nothing wrong with getting some general pediatric experience and/or experience on a women's OB/GYN unit, mother-baby unit, etc.

What I would avoid is a job in which you don't get a chance to work with patients directly ... seeing them, gathering assessment data, talking with them, doing a few technical skills, etc. Such activities will help you be comfortable with patient care in general and the application of basic care principles.