Help! Pediatric v. Neonatal

[Alaynalee]

Hi I am a prospective nursing student and need help deciding which specialty I would like to take. I want to become an NP and the a college in my state (Colorado) has a PNP program but if I wanted to be an NNP how hard would it be to switch from the pediatric specialty to the neonatal specialty if I want to go that path? Thanks!

[MMC.RN]

In my honest opinion, I would advise you to keep your options open. You are still a student and have a lot of time to decide. I would urge you to explore all of the different areas of nursing and not limit yourself to pediatric and neonatal. I originally wanted to go into pediatrics, but quickly found out that it wasn't for me within days of starting my clinical. You don't have to decide at this time. Keep an open mind because you may find something that you never would've thought you would be interested in. My best advice would be to graduate from nursing school, try to do internships, shadow nurses and don't just rely on advice from people in this site.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

Get through nursing school and clinical first then decide. You are putting the cart way before the horse at this point.

[trendingsnow]

It all depends on the job market. To be eligible for a NNP program you need a minimum of 2 years work experience in a NICU. If you work PICU or the like then it won't count but to get a job in the NICU, the PICU experience may help, but then again, positions for peds don't come pouring out so it may take a while to grab the positions that you really need. Wait until your clinicals start, make connections, network and then see what paths you're going down.