Nursing Help

[Kater1719]

Hi! I'm a junior in high school and considering a career in nursing, however I'm not sure which one I want to be. I'm thinking about being a NICU nurse, a military nurse, a medical-surgical nurse, a critical care nurse, or a traveling nurse. As you can see, I have a ton of options, but little time. I could use some tips and advice to try to narrow down what I want to be. :)

[roser13, ASN, RN]

You don't need to narrow down any choices now. Just go to Nursing School and be open to every experience and clinical. Most of us thought we knew what kind of nurse we wanted to be when we started out. Most of us are not remotely in the positions in which we thought we would be.

You are lucky in this country - we don't specialize in nursing school. Everyone graduates with the same education and then moves into positions that interest them (usually after a couple of years of more generalized experience).

[BeckyESRN]

The good news is that nursing school will expose you to all types of nursing. You do not have to pick before going into nursing school. Once you start clinical, you'll get to see how different specialties function. Even after you graduate, you'll have a lot of flexibility. Each specialty may require a different length or type of experience prior to even considering a candidate. Kudos to you for thinking about your future!

[snowflower2016]

No need to "pick" your specialty now....I was convinced I wanted to be a labor & delivery nurse before I went to nursing school and then didn't like that specialty at all when I was in clinicals. I learned that I preferred the smell of poop to the smell of amniotic fluid and found that I had an affinity for crabby old men :) so that's the route I went instead.

[SouthpawRN]

Also for travel nursing, you need a couple of years in acute care hospital experience first in order to have the best options. ICU, Peds, Tele, ER etc. tend to be the preferred experience. For example an ICU experience nurse can cover almost any area, a med surg nurse probably would not be hired to cover ICU etc. Float pool at your first hospital employer, once you have got some experience is also a good way to prepare for travel nursing.

[lcgivz12]

Just focus on going to school and getting good grades so you can get into a nursing program. Since you are young, go for your bachelor's degree right away. You will know more of what kind of nurse you want to be once you get into clinicals during nursing school. But honestly, you won't really even know what kind of nursing you like until you are actually working and get a grasp as to what the career actually is. Be patient and work hard in the meantime and enjoy your college experience!

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

The great thing about nursing is that you can work in all of the above fields. If you would have asked me when I was in nursing school, I would have expected that I would still be working as a bedside RN in pediatric neuroscience today. I did that for 5 years as a new grad, then went to per diem at a boarding school, pediatric home health visits, and currently liaising for a home infusion company at a pediatric hospital. Other than my new grad jobs, I would not have guessed that I'd ever work in any of the other positions I've held.