I would only want to do ER nursing.

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I'm considering nursing but my problem is that I only really want to do certain types like maybe ER Nursing. I'm not interested in NICU, pedi, geriatric, general, labor and delivery etc. I would want to do maybe oncology nursing, Forensic or ER nursing. When I graduate from nursing school how do I go about making it for myself that I only do ER nursing? Do I have to get specialized training? Or do I just need to apply for ER openings?

Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

When I lost my factory job a couople of my friends went to nursing school, but I refused because I was afraid that one day I may have to work in an ER and the show had scared the crap out of me.

Well somehow I ended up going to nursing school after all. I love being a nurse and actually ended up in the ER after a rather round about trip. And I love it, wouldn't want to work anywhere else.

And quess what? It is nothing like the show ER. or CSI.

The moral of this story is, keep your mind open. You have no idea what is really available out there to you as a nurse. In school you might discover something really different like public health or insurance company nurse researcher etc.

Welcome to the wacky, wild world of nursing.

I hope you love it like I do

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I've never met a forensic nurse. I'm not sure they even exist, and most new people are thinking about TV shows when they think about forensic nursing (whatever forensic nursing actually is).

Forensic nurses are usually the ones doing rape kits on people in the ER (SANE certified nurses). They may work for the medical examiner as well. However, I agree, that most people only consider it because of TV. Doing a rape kit on a 5 year old really isn't in most people's career aspirations.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I don't honestly think there is any way you can know what you want until you get through school. I am not sure what you're basing your decision on, but if it's TV, man, I constantly talk to my TV when medical shows are on since they're so far off base from real life!

I agree with previous posts about forensic nursing also, there is very little that would be actual *forensics*. I trained as a SANE nurse, and I enjoyed it, but I didn't continue it (my schedule at the time was too hectic to add to, and our program was JUST STARTING and we didn't have enough cases for me to orient timely or effectively). It is a HARD job with quick burn out, you take care of children that have been sexually assaulted and you collect the evidence. It's a very important but very emotional job, and many leave it after a short time because it's so psychologically taxing.

Keep your options open.

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Specializes in LTC.

My advice is get into nursing school or a health care job first. When I first started exploring nursing I only wanted to be an L&D nurse and then go on to become a Nurse Midwife. Now that I've been working as a nursing assistant for over four years and have been in nursing school almost a year L&D is one of the choices that is muuuuuch lower on my list of things I want to do.

I never wanted to work with geriatric patients or in any sort of long-term care setting. Needless to say I found I LOVE that population. Right now my top choices are cardiac and some sort of sub-acute care. I know this is likely to change as I work my way through clinical rotations in nursing school.

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Specializes in ER, SANE, Home Health, Forensic.

"I'm not interested in NICU, pedi, geriatric, general, labor and delivery etc."

I hate to break it to you, but ER is actually ALL of these things, and more. The reason we go into ER is because we want to do ALL of these things, not just one. And in the ER, ALL OF IT is exactly what you get.

When I graduated, I was pretty ambivalent about what I wanted to do. However, you may find it extremely beneficial to have some basic nursing background before you jump into a specialty...:twocents:

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