The main reason I decided to change my major and become a RN is because of my passion of caring for babies. The NICU is the place I want to work in for the rest of my career.
I have volunteered in the following units[multiple times]:
PICU
NICU
Med-Surg
L&D/Nursery
Cardio/Neuro
Adult ICU
(I'm very active in a medical volunteering organization)
The only specialty I am BEYOND interested in is Neonatal, specifically acute care. There's no interest in me to work with adults nor older kids(general peds). Computer engineering was my previous major and I had a FULL scholarship but gave it all up for the babies after extensive research in the field as well as many others.
I start clinicals next semester (Jan-2017).
Did any of you guys know the specialty you wanted to go into before starting clinicals?
I mean, I thought I wanted something peds. I thought I didn't want anything else, didn't want to really consider it.
I ended up doing neuro med/surg/tele with acuity ranging from should be in ICU to walkie talkies as my first job. The amount of things you learn there...wow, just wow. I was then offered multiple jobs: ER at one hospital, PICU at another or OR at the hospital I'm at now. I decided since I already had a year of experience and could always switch (easier to get into PICU or ED than OR in general) if I hated it, I'd try the OR job (because of the training program). Early on in OR orientation, I openly stated I'd do "anything but neuro". Guess what I do now? Primarily neuro.
I take care of people of all ages - I've taken care of a 20ish hour old preemie whose only hope at survival was surgery, and I've cared for a 93 year old little old lady who fell, hit her head and needed surgery (and we'd later find out she had advance directives asking for no such surgery, but coming in unidentified it's hard to follow wishes). I get to do a little bit of everything, enough to need to know how to care for all age groups.
NICU is far, far from quiet and peaceful. Maybe at moments it's quiet, but it's also caring for the sickest and most fragile patients you could possibly encounter. It's calculating and titrating micro-doses of medications to maintain blood pressure and heart rate, achieve fluid balance without fluid overload, managing specialized ventilators, and constant observation and assessment to detect life-threatening complications like ventricular hemorrhage and necrotizing enterocolitis. Please don't think NICU is all quiet and peaceful, feeding little babies until they get big enough to go home.
Shookclays, it's fine to have an idea of where you would like to work when you enter school. But keep in mind that the NICU will be a minute part of your nursing education. In fact, most nursing programs only do a one day shadow in the NICU, if any time is spent there at all. And after graduation, NICU positions are highly coveted. Few will hire nurses with no previous experience. It's possible, but depending on your location, it's very possible you may not be able to enter the NICU right after graduation. Your focus during school should be getting a well rounded education, learning how to think, assess, and act like a nurse so that you can pass the NCLEX exam and become licensed. By all means, take advantage of opportunities to network and get a feel for what nursing is like in the NICU, if your school offers them, but also leave yourself open to other areas and opportunities as well. Then, after graduation, if you still feel NICU is where you want to be, search for jobs in that field, with the understanding that you may need to accept a position in another speciality in order to get the experience required for employment in the NICU.
Specializes in Psychiatric RN & Retired Psychiatric CNA.
It was public health, then I wanted to travel. Now I just want NICU. I realized it when I bathed a baby in Post Partum, an I doing L&D, I don't like it very much. I'm a male nurse and I often have to switch patients. I missed a vag delivery and it's rare for a female patient who is willing to let me observe, especially considering the cultural demographics of the hospital. Babies don't care if I'm a male nurse.
NICU has their area just next to L&D, very quiet and peaceful. There were only 3 nurses in the area from what I saw. NICU is for me.
No and I definitely had no idea it would actually end up being pediatric hematology/oncology. I figured I would just be working with a more geriatric population in acute care but once I figured out how much I loved peds hemonc and got my foot in the door to one of the most fabulous hospitals to do this kind of nursing in, I was hooked and there was no turning back.
My main concern was paying loans and saving for a home.
If you are accepted to a specialty area, great. However, the goal for most people should be getting experience and working towards your chosen area. The job market is fierce in many areas, especially for new grads.
When I started nursing school I had the idea I was interested in L&D or being a school nurse. I knew I DIDN'T really want anything to do with ER or surgery.
Still pretty much following these same lines, though I've also realized I think that I'd be quite good at hospice and find it to be rewarding. I also would probably like wound/ostomy. Currently working LTC. Not my dream but I'm getting experience and I do care a lot about my patients and still want very much to do right by them. After I do that for a while I'll try to get into LTAC for more acute experience and go from there.
I suggest keeping an open mind. A lot of people find they would really dislike the specialty that they originally went to school for and fall in love with something else. Or they find something a little less exciting works better for their lifestyle- wanting to work "normal person hours" or whatever.
Before clinical I thought I wanted to work in the ER or an acute care unit at a big hospital. During clinical I learned that I didn't like any of the medical units at all. I found them all to be stressful and couldn't see myself working on those kinds of units. Luckily I had my consolidation on a psych unit and I fell in love with it. It took me 10 months after graduating but I am now working on a psych unit.
Probably over 80% of my nursing school class said that they wanted to work with babies or L&D...well what i know of 1 out of the 30 some people i graduated with is in NICU. I initially wanted ER and sadly i did not get hired for the ER job i applied for however i did get employed at my second choice in the neuro/trauma ICU, i love it and would literally never go to ER now.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
This. I thought I wanted to do psych... and while I do find the subject fascinating, the actual work I found disheartening. Seen many aggressive people under treated, and many others admitted inappropriately (having difficulty setting up a vcr stand or avoiding jail time). I got burnt out so fast.
See now, I love psych - have been doing it off and on for 16 years. I keep coming back. I am now 53 and will likely stay where I am until retirement I get shift differentials and hazard pay on one unit - plus I'm just good at it. this may have something to do with my being raised buy a bi-polar mother with psychotic features as well as having a borderline personality disorder. I learned to bob and weave at an early age.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Yes, I went into nursing specifically to become a lactation consultant, so I knew from the very start that I wanted to work in OB/L&D. While in school doing our clinical rotations, I really enjoyed ICU and how technical and specialized it was. That was sort of my alternate choice if I wasn't able to get into L&D. I was very fortunate that I was chosen by L&D/OB for the new grad program and some facet of women's health is all I've ever done.
That said, I think my situation is fairly rare, both with my single-minded determination that THIS is all I wanted to do as a nurse, as well as the opportunities I was afforded - being chosen as an extern in L&D while in nursing school, as well as being hired as a new grad right into the unit. It usually doesn't happen that easily for most new nurses, so I would caution you to keep your mind open to other options or possibilities.
I often wonder how my life and career path would have been different had I gone into ICU instead of OB.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Nope...I had no particular passion or specialty in mind when I enrolled in a nursing program. However, since I dislike infants and children, areas such as NICU, pediatrics and well-baby nursery were never serious considerations for me.
Specializes in Psychiatric RN & Retired Psychiatric CNA.
Nope...I had no particular passion or specialty in mind when I enrolled in a nursing program. However, since I dislike infants and children, areas such as NICU, pediatrics and well-baby nursery were never serious considerations for me.
Wow. I wouldn't have revealed that but, anyway, how did you do in peds?
.thumb.gif.9c97ffa9443a5f22ff38e1eac832292c.gif){kind=avatar}
FurBabyMom, MSN, RN
1 Article; 814 Posts
I mean, I thought I wanted something peds. I thought I didn't want anything else, didn't want to really consider it.
I ended up doing neuro med/surg/tele with acuity ranging from should be in ICU to walkie talkies as my first job. The amount of things you learn there...wow, just wow. I was then offered multiple jobs: ER at one hospital, PICU at another or OR at the hospital I'm at now. I decided since I already had a year of experience and could always switch (easier to get into PICU or ED than OR in general) if I hated it, I'd try the OR job (because of the training program). Early on in OR orientation, I openly stated I'd do "anything but neuro". Guess what I do now? Primarily neuro.
I take care of people of all ages - I've taken care of a 20ish hour old preemie whose only hope at survival was surgery, and I've cared for a 93 year old little old lady who fell, hit her head and needed surgery (and we'd later find out she had advance directives asking for no such surgery, but coming in unidentified it's hard to follow wishes). I get to do a little bit of everything, enough to need to know how to care for all age groups.