How did you choose your nursing specialty?

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I am currently a CNA on a Med/Surg floor of a hospital. I am finishing up my last 2 classes needed before I begin nursing school. After working on the Med/Surg floor since July, I can honestly say I have no interest in being a Med/Surg nurse. Far too much time is spent babysitting adults (Making sure people arent getting out of bed that arent suppose to be, stopping them from yanking out IV's). Of course this is usually caused by dementia and is not the fault of the patient, but I just have no interest in spending the majority of my nursing career focused on that.

So I am looking into other areas I may want to go into. I have considered pediatric nursing, but am not sure if I can handle seeing small children in severe pain without becoming too emotional. This is something I can work on though. Maternity nursing and Trauma have also got my interest.

So I wanted to hear from some of you more seasoned nurses. How did you choose your specialty? What made you choose it? Do you regret your decision? Pros and cons of that specialty?

Thanks!! :yeah:

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As you go through your clinical rotations you will get a better idea of where your interests lie. You may even discover that something you thought you would love is just not for you.

If there is a specialty you feel you need more exposure to, try to set up a shadowing experience. And do keep in mind (especially with the current job market) that just because you start your career on one floor does not mean you have to dedicate your life to that type of nursing. Any experience is helpful.

I knew I loved peds & ob but I still wasn't sure if NICU would be too heartbreaking. I did my senior practicum in a level III and discovered my passion. I love my babies and although there are extremely sad times, the joy of the success stories makes it worthwhile.

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kxc100 had some great information. I chose ED because I had been a tech in the ED and loved it. My job right before nursing school as a medical interpreter allowed me to go everywhere in the hospital, even the OR. I saw few departments who worked as well as a team as our ED did. When graduation time came I realized I would have to do Med/surg until I could transfer to the ED because of the economic crisis and the difficulty finding jobs. Luckily, I landed the job of my dreams. I love the ED.

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You might give the float pool a try. Even if your hired med/surg let the charge nurse or supervisor know you are willing to float. You will get to work in a lot of areas prior to choosing your specialty.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I went into critical care partly because of my EMS background. I liked having really sick patients. I like having people that are very complex, that makes me think a lot throughout my entire shift. I also like that fact that with these patients, even the smallest of nursing interventions can make a difference. I also like the 2:1 patient to nurse ratio. I can focus a lot more on my patients and truely give them individualized care. I know med/surg nurses try their best to do the same, but with 6-8 patients its just not possible. Also, in critical care, I have many standing orders that I can use, so this way I dont' have to call the MD or mid-level for every little thing. If I want a CXR or KUB, I can order it. If I want an ABG, I get it. etc.

If I was to go somewhere else, I think I'd be very happy in the ED. Not too sure I'd go anywhere else, maybe NICU or PICU.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.

After watching too many pts in LTC die with no family all alone (not enough staff to do 1:1), I decided to try hospice. I love being able to give each of my pts my undivided attention while I'm with them.

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Specializes in Med/Surg Nurse.

Currently, I think many new nurses are limited to availibility concerning what nursing specialty they enter into. I work on a Med/Surg floor and it definately wasn't my 1st choice but it was the only opportunity I was offered as a new graduate RN. It's been a great experience for me and I think I'm developing a great foundation for my nursing career whichever route it will take. Afer working bedside for the last year I'm leaning more and more to try to get into a more specialized procedural arena. Good Luck with whatever route you take.

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Specializes in FNP.

I worked in M/S for a year or two after graduation. I was rotating days/nights, didn't like it. I asked for either days or nights w/o rotation. The NM told me there was a non-rotating position in MICU, that they didn't usually take m/s nurses with less than 5 year exp. but that she would recommend me. She did, I got the job and never looked back.

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Specializes in Case Management.

Back when I was in bedside nursing, my specialty chose me actually. Or the staffing people chose my specialty. They kept floating me to telemetry. I was afraid of the monitors. I didn't know what was a good strip and what was bad. I asked a lot of questions and wanted to know more. The nurse manager asked me to come work steady nights on her floor. I told her I wouldn't mind it but I didn't understand telemetry enough. I agreed to work there if they would train me. The next month, they started a telemetry course for the new nurses on the floor (there were 5 of us) So my specialty was chosen for me.

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As you go through your clinical rotations you will get a better idea of where your interests lie. You may even discover that something you thought you would love is just not for you.

If there is a specialty you feel you need more exposure to, try to set up a shadowing experience. And do keep in mind (especially with the current job market) that just because you start your career on one floor does not mean you have to dedicate your life to that type of nursing. Any experience is helpful.

I knew I loved peds & ob but I still wasn't sure if NICU would be too heartbreaking. I did my senior practicum in a level III and discovered my passion. I love my babies and although there are extremely sad times, the joy of the success stories makes it worthwhile.

Thanks for the post. I am looking forward to being able to experience different areas once my clinical begin. I think OB and Peds will be interesting. Critical care and ED I have also considered. In the ED you would still see a wide variety of cases and if its a level 1 trauma center, it should be pretty active, but hiring a new grad for that would probably be tough.

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There are so many threads on this topic with so many different responses. Here's one to get you started.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/what-kind-of-934714.html

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For many new grads, including myself when I was a new grad, I specialized in the area where I first found a job. I had my mind made up in nursing school about a certain path I wanted to take but when I graduated and found it difficult to get a job interview, much less a job offer, I made up my mind to start of with humble beginnings and think about a specialty after a couple of years.

I ended up working in the one area I did NOT want to work in: peds ICU and step-down ICU. That's the job I was offered. Here I am more than 3 years later and I love some aspects of it very much. Other areas not so much (some of the cases are enough to give the toughest person PTSD), but I have learned to cope with it and leave it behind at work when I clock out.

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