Choosing a Specialty

Nurses General Nursing

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How did you guys choose what type of nursing you wanted to go into? Did you figure it out while you were in nursing school, or did you just specialize in whatever you took your first job in? Is it difficult landing a first job as a nurse? I have so many questions!!!

I'm not a clock in clock out task oriented type, I'm more project/autonomy oriented. I've loved my career in home health as both a case manager and supervisor. How I actually got there was starting out in med surg and seeking out a regular weekday daytime schedule.

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I started on neuro med/surg (acuity ranged from stepdown to super walkie talkies). It's where I could get a job.

About a year in, I relocated (again) for an OR position. I'm still there (it's been over 3 years). My coworkers are awesome, and the physicians I work with are stellar. I have learned so much, and grown in ways I couldn't have imagined before this job. I have a work family and I'm incredibly blessed with the opportunities I have been given.

I thought I had it all planned out, had my career figured out before graduating with my BSN. Wow was I ever wrong.

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Specializes in Only the O.R. and proud of it!.

Had a 3 week rotation in surgery in nursing school. Knew right then and there perioperative nursing was for me. Fortunate enough to get into the OR right out of school! Been there ever since.

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During school all of my clinicals ended up being on medicine floors. I worked as a UAP on two surgical units a PACU and Cardiac Surgery ICU. Having exposure to those ICUs and liking surgery more than medicine is how I ended up on a Surgical Trauma ICU. I think the best way to find what you're passionate about is to try to cast as wide a net as possible and see what you're drawn to.

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery.

Even before I went into nursing I was fascinated with birthing and neonates. During my ASN degree we were given the opportunity to do internships for the last two semesters. I did the NICU and Labror & Delivery just to make sure which one I really wanted. It was a no brainer, I always knew I wanted Labor & Delivery. I was relocating to another state due to personal reasons, so applied before school ended and landed my first L&D job as a new grad right after graduation, which was at a high risk unit at a medium sized teaching hospital. A year after I moved back to my home town and now work in L&D at the largest hospital in my area which has a very high risk unit, including an enormous NICU. I love where I work and know I will miss parts of it once I complete my NP degree.

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Specializes in Hospice and Palliative Care.

I went to nursing school to be a hospice RN. I really enjoyed all my clinicals though! I do inpatient hospice care and will probably stay in this specialty my whole career. I absolutely love it. I get a great mix of technical skills (vents, trachs, PEGs, NG tubes, chest drains, complex wound care, foleys, accessing chest ports, PCA pumps, pressor drips etc.), nursing education, and being privileged to care for EOL patients! I don't think I'll ever work in a hospital unless it's on a palliative care team or as a hospice liaison. I love reading about everyone's nursing passion and am so glad we all have different gifts! :)

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Specializes in Hospice.
I went to nursing school to be a hospice RN. I really enjoyed all my clinicals though! I do inpatient hospice care and will probably stay in this specialty my whole career. I absolutely love it. I get a great mix of technical skills (vents, trachs, PEGs, NG tubes, chest drains, complex wound care, foleys, accessing chest ports, PCA pumps, pressor drips etc.), nursing education, and being privileged to care for EOL patients! I don't think I'll ever work in a hospital unless it's on a palliative care team or as a hospice liaison. I love reading about everyone's nursing passion and am so glad we all have different gifts! :)

Question-why are you dealing with vents, complex wound care and pressor drips in Hospice? Those are very aggressive treatments, and not generally a part of a Hospice Plan of Care.

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Specializes in NICU, Trauma, Oncology.

I wish there was a test to predict your ideal specialty. I'm halfway done with my ADN and although I thought I was 100% oncology (since I came from a background of cancer research) I keep having thoughts of ER, transplant, LD, mother baby. So many choices.

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Specializes in Hospice and Palliative Care.
Question-why are you dealing with vents, complex wound care and pressor drips in Hospice? Those are very aggressive treatments, and not generally a part of a Hospice Plan of Care.

Inpatient hospice is much different than home hospice. A vented patient will be transferred to us from ICU for withdrawal from the vent to allow natural death (with the appropriate comfort medications). We don't make adjustments to the vent settings or wean patients. The pressors are allowed (without titration). The patient may die on the pressors anyway, or the patient/legal healthcare decision maker may request they be stopped. The wound care comes into play when we receive a patient with multiple staged decubitus, dehisced abdominals and/or multiple fistulas. We've done wound vacs when appropriate. Hospice has changed a lot over the years due to many reasons, one of which is Medicare. The goal is still the same, but some of the therapies the patients are provided would be too traumatic to d/c right away. They are also much sicker than in years past.

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