fitness and nutrician nursing??

[beatrice1]

I am in my first year of nursing. (First Semester actually)

I have no idea what field of Nursing I want to go into. People ask me all the time and I really have no idea. Did most of you know what kind of Nursing you wanted to do, or did something interest you during school.

I have always been very interested in fitness and nutrician. Does anyone know of a way I can incorporate this into my nursing career?

Thanks,

Bea

[John20]

(Nutrition)

Get a degree in Kinesiology or phys ed instead.

[invisigoth]

I'll be watching this thread. I was wondering the same thing too. I'm interested in alternative living, herbs, helping people live longer and enhancing the lives of the elderly.

[elkpark]

While most nursing programs include a basic, intro course in nutrition and nurses do talk with clients about nutritional concerns in lots of settings in the course of practicing nursing, there's no nursing specialty concerned specifically with nutrition -- that "turf" belongs to dieticians. Ditto for "fitness" -- if these are your primary interest, you may want to look at other disciplines than nursing.

[Southern Fried RN]

As far as what specialty of nursing you want to go into when people ask you....don't feel like you have to pick anything at all right now! That's why you have all different clinical sites, to experience what's out there. I know that I thought for sure I would be in nursery or L&D, once I went to ICU I could not be dragged back to women's health. Most people take a few jobs before they settle into an area, and some people change areas throughout their career. Nursing is so versatile.

I think if you really wanted something fitness/nutrition related, you could still be an RN and then get another degree or certification. Check out the nursing electives your school offers. I know a person from nursing school with her first bachelor's in exercise science, then went back for nusing. You could work in cardiac rehab as an RN and then you could help develop programs for the patients drawing on the exercise/nutrition part of it. An RN can practice independently. There is nothing wrong with an RN having an office or opening a fitness center and advising people within the limits of the scope of practice defined by the state. Check out http://www.independentrn.com/faqs.cfm. You could work as a hospital nurse for a few years, fine tune your skills and make professional contacts while putting together an independent practice. Good luck!

[iteachob, MSN, RN]

My side job is as a certified group fitness instructor at our local YMCA. It fits in well with my full-time job in nursing education. My knowledge of the human body and how it works, people with risk factors, things like that....is really useful working in fitness.

My training for group fitness was completely separate from nursing, and done through a certification process; plus, a dance background helped.

[chicagonurse2b]

An inspiring woman named, Lori "Minky" Radcliffe, R.N.,B.S., is also a certified personal trainer who specializes in "Adult Care Fitness" . She pushes the idea of "fitness nursing", and encourages nurses who choose this area to always be a nurse first who specializes in fitness. She is trying to start a fitness nursing association. Lori has a website: http://www.fitnessnursing.com/ .

My personal goal is to incorporate fitness and holistic health in the best way that would benefit chronically ill adults, and seniors. Good luck! Hope folks will venture back to this post!