Different areas of nursing

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Specializes in oncology.

Next semester will be my last and today a professor came to talk to us about placing us in a certain area for capstone clinicals. We can choose our 3 top choices of the area we want to go in. So far, I know that I loved being on the mother/baby postpartum unit for clinicals so that would be my first choice. To be honest, I dont know what to put for the other two. I dont like peds, psych, or surgery. I was thinking Med-surg b/c obviously I'll get a ton of skills in but what else is there? I thought about picking oncology just so I could see what it's like and if I'd like it since we never got to spend any time on that floor at all. Any thoughts?? I enjoyed ortho/neuro but its a lot of lifting and I'm a small person. How about rehab??

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Specializes in tele, oncology.

Unless you're literally a little person, as in midget, your size shouldn't limit you. I'm not that big myself...5'3" and a healthy weight and about as far from athletically built as you can get...and the only times I had problems was when I was 8 months pregnant. My sis is 5' even and weighs about 100 lbs max and works as a tech with no problems, but she has the advantage of having some awesome arm muscles.

I'm partial to tele as a sugestion...you'l see pts who are more complex than the medical floor without being overwhelmingly ill. Psych is good b/c you'll always run into those pts, no matter what area you're in, so experience there is always good. Oncology can be very rewarding, but often frustrating as well, in regards to the ethics of end of life care/family decisions/denial issues. Med-surg will give you a good general overview, and I'm old-school enough to think that everyone should have some decent med-surg experience before they go on to more acute settings.

Sorry that didn't really narrow it down for you...each area has both pros and cons that you'll need to think about. Where do you see yourself at in a few years? What areas would help you confirm or disprove this desire?

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Specializes in CV OR, ER.

I'm a little partial to the ER, because that's my own personal niche, but it is a great area of practice because you really do get a little of everything... critical care, maternity, med-surg, psych... you name it, it comes in the door! I've already learned so much.

Hope you enjoy whatever you settle on! Don't be afraid to try something scary; you might enjoy it!

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Specializes in Pediatric Mental Health.

There is a field for every nurse. If you decide bedside isn't your thing there is community health, school nursing. I work pedi. psych at a school for autism it is so much fun and the hours are great (holidays off, no nights or wknds).

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I'm 5'2", 110lbs and lifting hasn't bothered me. A lot of times patients underestimate what I can do...they think I'm too small to do anything! If you enjoy ortho/neuro, why not make that one of your choices? In all of the job descriptions I have seen, there is always a "must lift at least 50lbs..." requirement.

Do you have an interest in L&D? Although they are both mother/baby, L&D and PP are two different things. That could be your second choice. Med-surg is an awesome precepting placement because you are exposed to so many different things.

Is the NICU a possibility? I know it was for my school, but it was a hard placement to get.

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Specializes in oncology.

The thing is they want us to pick something from a different category so since I picked mother/baby it is under the category of OB so I cant pick L&D or NICU :(

I would have liked to... I'm pretty sure I'm going to choose Med-surg as my second choice and I'm thinking oncology for my 3rd because we never got to spend any time on the oncology floor for clinical so I dont know if It's something I would enjoy or not and would really like to find out.

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