Choosing a Specialty

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jul 27, 2005

I decided when i had clinicals. I had full intent of being a med-surg nurse until i did my OR rotation.

HRM672 · Jul 28, 2005

I decided when i had clinicals. I had full intent of being a med-surg nurse until i did my OR rotation.

Ok thanks :) Maybe some of these others who are so sure will change their minds, too. Hopefully I'll figure something out before I graduate.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jul 28, 2005

People decide at various times what they want to go into. Some knew what they wanted before school, some didn't know till later. It'll come to you.

nsgstudentjen · Jul 29, 2005

Hi There. I am in an accel BSN program, and will graduate in Dec 05.

Most of my classmates (32 of us total) plan to work in Med/Surg initally for experience, etc. After that, most of us have some idea of what we want, but I bet you that will change.

I started to see recently that some are going the Peds/OB/NICU route, and others are going the adult med-surg/ICU/Gero route.

So I guess, do you enjoy working with children and babies or adults is a big question. And you don't know that until you do those clinicals.

I prefer adults, but I am not ruling anything out yet. After doing Med/Surg for a year, I think I will have a better idea.

Best of luck! It will all work out.

ImaERtraumaRN · Jul 29, 2005

I posted in another forum about this earlier. I thought I wanted to do Labor and Delivery when I went into school. I changed my mind several times - I always knew I didnt want to do med/surge and that I wanted to specialize. I actually chose where I wanted to go from my interviews/shadowing. I gave a list of several areas I was interested in to my recruiter. I got interviews in many of those areas, shadowed on the units with an RN and I chose the unit where I got the best "vibe". The nurses seemed friendly, I liked the unit, the director, and the other staff. It seemed a good fit and a place where I would learn the most, use the skills I liked the best adn I wouldn't get bored quickly. This happened to be the ED -which I had not considered seriously until during the last semester of school.

And, btw, I Looooove it!!!

AtlantaRN, RN · Jul 30, 2005

That is why you get so many various clinical experiences during your nursing school experience. I KNEW I couldn't do L&D, because I nearly passed out...woman in unrelenting pain...I was pushing with her! I LOVED my ortho rotation, and I enjoyed NICU, but I've been in med/surg for the last 9 years...but I do love to float...

today I'm taking all postops from breast reconstruction to hemicolectomy...

atlantarn

HRM672 · Jul 30, 2005

Thanks for all the input!

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Jul 30, 2005

With me it just clicked. My first day, i was there, and said "this is it, this is where i want to be". Fellow students had the same. One wanted to be in Maternity, until she did her ortho days, and she fell in love with that. Another was going to do home health, but change her mind when she did her dialysis time.

SmilingBluEyes · Jul 31, 2005

I have a feeling you will "pick" a few you like in school. My advice is to keep your mind and heart open and let things happen. You will come to what you like, sooner or later!

Nurseinthemaking · Jul 31, 2005

Hey don't feel bad, this is very normal. I went into school thinking pediatrics was where I wanted to be. It was so funny because after I would walk out of each new rotation I would go, "omg, I loved that one, that is what I want to do". Except for OR, there is no way in heck I could do OR. My rotations consisted of Nursing home ofcourse, Med Surge, OR, Recovery, ER, ICU, L&D, Ortho Recovery, Hospice, Dialysis, Family Doctor, Pediatricians Office and a Pediatric Hospital. Oh it was awful I just kept going, ya, that's the one. But there was a real special place in my heart for Dialysis. I just kept saying, oh I am going to go Med Surge for atleast a year. I liked everything and I thought that would help me weed out which ones I liked more then others.

But, just out of a fluke I interviewed with this Dialysis Center. I wanted to interview because I knew someday this is where I wanted to be and I thought I would start getting familiar with how things work and what they expect out of their future nurses. I'll be darned if she didn't hire me. I about passed out. I cried for 2 days everytime I thought about it. We have this Dr. Friend who called me and asked if the Dialysis Nurse was in, wow that was really cool to hear that.

I would recommend picking the hospital you want to work at and asking HR if you could shadow a Nurse out of each department to get a feel for how each deparment runs. You can kind of get a feel for how moral is too.

Good luck, you have over a year to decide and it will come to you.

HRM672 · Jul 31, 2005

Thanks, you guys are really making me feel better!!