How do I specialize?

Specialties NICU

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Hi guys. So I'm in nursing school and I'm working on my ASN at my college, and after I am planning on taking am online bridge from ASN to BSN. I've always been interested in working with newborns or pregnancies. I originally wanted neonatal, then decided labor and delivery, now I also want to be an obstetric nurse. Either way, I've been looking at these jobs and in particular, obstetric nursing asks for 2 years of experience in obstetrics before you can become certified as an official obstetric nurse. My question is, for obstetrics and any sort of specialization, how do you gain experience in a field? Do you just work alongside them? Even for labor and delivery they ask for experience and you need to specialize and I'm just not sure how to do that. Thank you.

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Specializes in NICU.

Certification is not a requirement to work in a specialty. You need to get 2 yrs experience before being eligible to take the certification exam. Certification is usually optional.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Basic nursing education is just that. You are learning to be a generalist. Even going to med-surg will involve some on-the-job learning. You can apply to any job as a new grad. If it's a specialty, make sure they will educate you appropriately for doing patient care.

Good luck.

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