Do you usually stay in the specialty you start out in?

Nurses General Nursing

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A teacher in nursing school once to me in nursing school, "where you start is where you usually stay". Is this generally true? How long have you been in your specialty? Is this your initial specialty or did you transfer?

What you want and what a hospital will hire you for are often not the same.

I started in med-surg because that is the only area my hospital was hiring new grads for at that time.

ICU has been a rewarding move.

But life is long, and a career can span decades, so who knows when I might want to make a change.

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Specializes in Psych, OR, ICU.

I started in psych and spent 2 years there because I said I would and I had great respect for the staff and my manager, however I burnt out after a year and a half, that last six months was awful. After psych I moved to surgery and fell in love, did that for nine years and worked on my BSN. I am in neuro/med/trauma ICU now and have been accepted to anesthesia school so I can get back to the OR!

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Specializes in Neuro, Cardiology, ICU, Med/Surg.

I've only been working as an RN for a little more than a year and a half and I'm still at the same unit I started at. When I was finishing up nursing school, after my variety of clinical experiences, I had decided I would like to work in an ICU. I still think that would suit me better, but the decision is based on a number of factors. At 48 years old, I am really loath to go through the whole seniority thing all over again. In my year and a half, there are already about 12 people below me on the seniority list, though those above me include another 15 or so who aren't going anywhere. Though it is imperfect, I like the way we do scheduling on the unit, and I like the leadership (nurse director and CNS's) of the unit. Thus if I am to leave, I would want to think long and hard about what I am getting into WRT to scheduling and management.

As someone who jumped into nursing after 20 + years as a software engineer/manager, I'm not averse to change or risks, but I am averse to having to work too many weekends and having little control over my schedule. Of course, if I hated my specialty or unit, I would be looking to change as soon as possible.... but imperfect though things are, I kinda sorta like it here. I really like the way things are run at my hospital and the role that nursing has in top levels of management, and am not likely to leave my hospital any time soon... so, I will keep my eyes open for any ICU positions and consider them, but am not seeking to jump ship without some serious consideration.

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Well, I started out in neuro/tele, and I never thought I'd even start there --but I did. And I have learned so much about the brain, but also the heart, and also the kidneys, since they are so interrelated, and also GI stuff, because we get a lot of that, and also psych, because we get a lot of that, and even a lot of trauma, because we get a lot of that.

I mean -- any med surg floor is going to boast it's "speciality," but what you get usually is a lot of med surg. So, you learn everything.

I think the major concentrations are on adults vs. peds vs. adolescents, etc. I think it would be very hard to switch from one to the other.

I've enjoyed neuro a lot, and through floating, I've learned exactly how much of a neuro nurse I really am. I'ts nice to develop an area of expertise, though. My boss mentioned -- you can move all over and jack of all trades, master of none. Depends what you want to be.

Cool that nurses have so many options -- sure never gets boring, and there's always something new to learn. I'm not moving on in a NP program, so I'm learned it all over again from a different perspective.

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I started in PICU and recently moved to perinatal (crosstrained in L&D, antepartum, and postpartum). I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would and will probably transfer again although I'm unsure of what to do next. I think I need to get out of bedside nursing all together. I'm tired of having the stress of being responsible for someone's life.

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Specializes in AA&I, research,peds, radiation oncology.

Definitely not true for me....started in LTC, then Neurology, then an AA&I clinic, research facility, peds clinic,peds home health and now radiation oncology....I've been at this facility for 15 months. I'm still trying to find my "niche" but having fun during the process!!!:)

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Pediatric Home Health.
I started in PICU and recently moved to perinatal (crosstrained in L&D, antepartum, and postpartum). I'm not enjoying it as much as I thought I would and will probably transfer again although I'm unsure of what to do next. I think I need to get out of bedside nursing all together. I'm tired of having the stress of being responsible for someone's life.

I sympathize with you! I don't think every nurse is meant to be a bedside nurse -- I consider myself one of those nurses. Although I am very competent at what I do and do enjoy my patients, I know that I am not meant to be a bedside nurse. I don't know if it is necessarily the stress of being responsible for anothers life, but I do know that I need to get out of bedside nursing. I plan to stick with bedsie nursing until I finish my masters degree (I graduate late 2011), and then hopefully I can transition out of bedside nursing.

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Specializes in CTICU.

Got a chance to work ICU in my grad year and didn't leave. Have worked in industry and diff areas now, but CTICU is my true love!

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