How did you *know* your specialty and when?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. When did YOU know your specialty?

    • 26
      Before I started nursing school!
    • 22
      During or halfway through nursing school!
    • 20
      After nursing school!
    • 29
      I'm still not sure!
    • 21
      Don't stress you'll find it :)

109 members have participated

Hi nurses! :redpinkhe

I was just curious - when did you know what specialty you wanted to work in? I have one year left of nursing school and have done several placements but haven't really found my "niche" yet (although I know that mental health nursing is not for me).

Next year we have to choose our placements and wondering if I should pick a few really different ones (that I may not have imagined I'd like) and see if I like it? I guess it's the time to experiment maybe?

A lot of students in my class already know what their "calling" is - many want to work in NICU. When did you know?

Thanks! :nurse:

Specializes in Geriatrics.

I knew going into nursing school I wanted to do Peds, though my favorite rotations in school were Peds, neuro, and psych.After graduation, I worked Peds private duty home care for a couple years, then worked in a Children's hospital for a few years on the medical unit, and I really enjoyed it.I took a few years off work when my boys were young. I took a refresher course, and had to do my clinical hours in a hospital or nursing home. I chose a nursing home, and I fell in love with it! Shocked me! ;) I can't imagine being anywhere else now.

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Before nursing school, I got a job as an ED scribe, and it was then that I wanted to work in the ED. I'm still pretty certain I want to work in the ED, even after a terrible experience as a student. However, I had several great rotations in nursing school, such as ICU and NICU. I would love to work in the ICU. Maybe the ICU is more for my personality. It's adrenaline (code blue) without the crazy ass environment of the ED.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
About 1 hour into a shadow day in the ER. :smokin:

I also had that feeling after my first day as a student in the ER! My instructor came to see how I was doing halfway through, and I was so happy I talked her ear off!

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Thank you so much for all your replies! So interesting! And very true one person who said that its not necessarily one calling for some people but will be a narrowing down from things you dont enjoy! For example, I know I dont want to be a theatre nurse! Stay tuned :)

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NICU is a very common desire for nursing students, IMO. I would hazard to guess that very few will actually go there. I can think of only one person who I went to school with (out of a class of nearly 100) who is a NICU nurse.

You're absolutely right! Its a VERY popular choice amongst our class, although none have been in a NICU ward yet so time will tell! Thanks so much for the advice!

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Specializes in Rehab, critical care.

Same as others. Haven't been a nurse that long, but I work where I end up being hired. Started as a rehab nurse since that's where I got a job, and it was alright, but didn't really enjoy that area of nursing. I really do like my current job in MICU, though. I'm sure I'll end up trying another nursing specialty area in the future since I'm a curious person, though I'm not looking to leave ICU anytime soon since the team on my unit is great, and the depth and close attention I can give my patients makes it a rewarding job.

In the future, if I ever get burnt out, I might make a lateral move to PACU, which really isn't all that different from ICU. I've heard on this site that this is where burnt out ICU nurses go, and it makes sense. You still retain the ICU atmosphere you love, but have a higher turnover of patients, shipping the patients out once the sedation wears off lol.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.

Before nursing school I wanted to work in women's health or L&D. In nursing school I discovered that I loved med/surg. I loved connecting the dots and seeing the big picture come together and learning about the diagnoses. I work in rehab with geriatric people right now and I love it. Because I'm in rehab, my patients stay longer than they do in med/surg, but they are still require a lot of teaching and chronic care. It's the best of all parts of nursing IMO.

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I was absolutely sure I didn't want Psych and was very much interested in OB/LD... My OB clinical solidified it for me! I didn't mind getting up at 0400-0500, in the freezing blistering cold and was always happy to be there.. every other clinical was just, meh...

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@StephMom&RN, I haven't started nursing school yet so have not taken clinicals nor have I ever worked in a hospital, but I'm curious as to what turns you off to psych? I've heard a lot of people saying they don't want to work in that area and I'm curious as to what people experience that can be offsetting? I love neuro anatomy and am interested in psych but I don't know what to expect since I haven't been really exposed to any of it and I'm starting to get a little cautious about it.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

In school everyone, including myself, thought I would end up being a career critical care nurse. I enjoyed the one-on-one aspects of the ICU and it suited my intellectual nature. I am/was also really into cardiac...it fascinates me. For my senior preceptorship I was given the chance to be on a Cardiac Step Down, which I thought was a great place to start and gain experience for my ultimate goal of recovering open hearts or working the cath lab or a dedicated cardiac ICU. I had a great preceptorship and was offerred my first nursing job on that floor, which I jumped on.

Then the real world of floor nursing hit me and I learned that being a student nurse is nothing like being the RN, and I did not have time for the in-depth chart reviewing and study that I longed for. I wanted to understand what was going on with my patients, but there was just no time. I wanted to connect with patients, but I felt like a task master. I was very disappointed, miserable, and the stress was making me physicall ill.

A school nursing position fell into my lap, and since I enjoyed that rotation in school as well, I decided to go for it. All my old instructors were shocked, except the one I had for Community Health (which was the School Nurse rotation) who said she easily saw me in this role. I have been a School Nurse ever since and I adore the specialty. I am taking some time off to raise my kids, but as soon as I am ready to go back to full time nursing, this is where I see myself!

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

I knew when we stood up to say goodbye at the end of the interview, shook hands and my (now) manager said "I'd like to offer you the position".

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab.
@StephMom&RN, I haven't started nursing school yet so have not taken clinicals nor have I ever worked in a hospital, but I'm curious as to what turns you off to psych? I've heard a lot of people saying they don't want to work in that area and I'm curious as to what people experience that can be offsetting? I love neuro anatomy and am interested in psych but I don't know what to expect since I haven't been really exposed to any of it and I'm starting to get a little cautious about it.

For me, I knew it would hit too close to home with my family's lengthy psych history. And when I actually did psych clinicals, I found it way too emotionally exhausting. I went home more tired than med/surg clinicals. I think it's great that nursing has so many options because we're all so different in our reasons for choosing a particular area.

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