why did you pick the speciality you are in?

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2012

I guess I will start. I like community and public health with some mental health and med surg.

I have always believed prevention was better and I love educating (health dept--my fav!), I believe patients heal better in their home (home health), I believe in equal access to care without regard to ability to pay (I think health care is a right not a privilege) and I had an awesome professor for community and public health, so having her also helped cement that love of community and public health. Plus, I think (in my opinion), that community and public health involves every aspect of nursing--med surg, mental health, OB/GYN, of course community and public health aspect, peds, etc. Also, I think their is quite a bit of case management and community outreach, so I think it goes beyond the actual hands on nursing aspect and also considers other factors that could influence a person's health status (socio economic conditions, environment, etc.) LOVE IT!

Mental health...that one is a given. I have mental health issues and I think I absolutely learned a lot and have a place in my heart for those patients.

Med surg...wonderful to learn drugs, time management, basic hands on skills, and procedures. Plus, sometimes, you still get the patients with mental illness. Nice base.

NursieNurseLPN, LPN · Dec 6, 2012

I have always envied the people who just KNOW what they want, where they want to work. Most of my classmates had their end goal decided from day one- such as ob, peds, icu, etc. i did learn certain things that interested me through nursing school, but ive never felt that passion for one particular specialty. In a way, what ive always wanted was to become proficient in multiple specialties, and get experience everywhere. I hope that by doing that, ill come across my niche and have that AH HAAA moment. So i am very interested in others answers to this post, and curious about others like myself who may have been passionate about nursing from the start, but took awhile to find what specialty called to them. Good question op!

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 6, 2012

I have always envied the people who just KNOW what they want, where they want to work.

I thought I was one of those- I just knew I wanted to work either peds or L&D. Then I got to those clinicals in school. Yeah, there went that idea!

I didn't know until about 3 months before graduating what specialty I wanted to do- I just knew I'd never survive med/surg. So when practicums came around, I chose the PACU. It's how I got my only exposure to the OR (seriously, I didn't even get an observation day during the entire time I was in clinicals before then!).

And that's when I knew I'd found my home. Seven+ years later, and still going strong. It's not perfect, but then no job ever is. I love the fact that my patient is asleep (99.99% of the time), there's no family visiting (other than the few minutes in preop before I take them back to the OR), and there's some great teamwork with the folks I work with.

whichone'spink, BSN, RN · Dec 6, 2012

I was drawn to Emergency Nursing because I like the thrill of getting someone who's unstable, and then getting them stable enough to send to a higher level of care. I also like the variety of cases I see in the ER. And I'll be honest, I don't want to spend 12+ hours taking care of the same crop of patients. I like that patients come in and leave, as quickly as I can get them out.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 6, 2012

I landed in psych because it was a choice between 8 hour shifts in psych and 12 hours shifts in a PCU, and I had a 4 year old that I didn't want to stash in childcare for 15+ hour days. So I turned the PCU down, figured I'd start in psych and then transition out to medical nursing within a year.

That was three years ago...I'm still here because I fell in love with psych and decided I didn't need to leave it if I enjoyed it so much. Now I'm certified in psych/mental health and starting the certification process for addictions nursing.

I may dabble in medical nursing down the road for variety and experience, but I don't see my career really leaving psych.

picurn10 · Dec 6, 2012

I always knew I wanted to do ICU and work with kids. I thought I wanted to do NICU, until I had clinicals and realized there wouldn't be much variety (NICU babies seem to have the same set of problems). I LOVE what I do because I never know what I'm going to get, I can have a newborn or an 18yr old, a DKA or a gunshot victim, I really like the autonomy that comes with ICU and the stress of it. I love helping families through such a difficult time, and especially seeing a really, really sick kid recover! I have to float to NICU from time to time, and I know I made the right decision for me, but its fun that I sometimes get to dabble in that world too. Not sure I will always be in PICU, but I have no idea what else I'd like to do. Honestly, the plan is to become a NP and work in a peds clinic when I get tired of the stress and bedside thing.

somedaypeds · Dec 6, 2012

I picked my specialty before I picked nursing. I always wanted to work with kids. But daycare doesn't pay well. So I went to nursing school to be able to make money doing what I love. Fortunately I discovered that I love nursing. Being a Peds nurse is very fullfilling.

PediLove2147, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2012

Because they offered me a job!

I went to nursing school to be a peds nurse, I did a year in private duty peds but wanted the hospital experience so I took what was offered. My goal is to transfer to the peds unit though soon, maybe eventually PICU.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Dec 7, 2012

I thiught I didn't know enough for icu or er or pacu ( in many places you need icu or er experience). OR or 45pts in ltc seemed too intimidating . do not want to work with kids. so i tried to look for jobs in adult med surg! and have been there for 2 yeArs. I still do not want to work in peds or LD but maybe step down or icu one day. not sure i will actively pursue it.

Aurora77 · Dec 7, 2012

Mine just sort of picked me. I work post op, primarily ortho. In a million years, I would never have guessed that's what I'd be doing, but I love it. I really enjoy starting out with a patient on day of surgery barely able to do much, then three days later they're up walking with little staff assistance. It's great. Plus, most of my patients have all sorts of other diagnoses, so I've learned much about other disease processes.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Dec 7, 2012

Because I was offered a job in PCU! I always wanted to work in ICU or an ICU step-down, though.