Quick run down on different specialties in nursing and the priorities.

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Hey all,

Wondering if anyone can either point me to the right discussion board or give a quick run down of how different specialties work. For example, Med-surg: more continuity of care VS Emergency Room: triage, life threatening priorities, etc.

Curious If someone has worked in many different specialties, if you can give me your impression of the priorities and main concerns of different areas of nursing. Thank you!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Welcome to Allnurses.com! I've been here a while and I think that your question may be the broadest question I've ever seen!

There isn't really a "quick run down" answer. I think if you go to the "Specialties" category on the yellow ribbon at the top of any page, you can visit the various specialties (61 listed - no doubt there are more) and read some threads on each. That might give you some type of feeling for each specialty.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

All nursing areas have the same priority - keep the patient safe, meet patient needs, support healing/recovery & provide quality care. Differences are dictated by the types of technology used in each department & stability of the patient. The basics (e.g., Airway management) apply across the entire continuum.

Today's "Specialties" are categorized according to Medical (not nursing) distinctions. If hospitals were organized around nursing specialties, we would have departments like "Inflammation", "Fluid Balance", "Wound Care", etc.

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I get that... I'm asking how the day to day differs from specialty to specialty. I get fundamentals. I'll ask a RN in person... Thanks anyways.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
I get that... I'm asking how the day to day differs from specialty to specialty. I get fundamentals. I'll ask a RN in person... Thanks anyways.

I doubt that an RN in person can do any better than this answer:

"All nursing areas have the same priority - keep the patient safe, meet patient needs, support healing/recovery & provide quality care. Differences are dictated by the types of technology used in each department & stability of the patient. The basics (e.g., Airway management) apply across the entire continuum." by HouTx

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I get it. A lot gets lost in translation... obviously I am not able to clearly articulate what I need to say. Thats why i'm going to ask a RN in person. Thanks for your help though.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I get that... I'm asking how the day to day differs from specialty to specialty. I get fundamentals. I'll ask a RN in person... Thanks anyways.

It's not that we don't want to answer, it's that even within specialties your day to day can differ as much as two completely different specialties in some cases. Pediatrics in a small community hospital is very different from the same specialty at a teaching hospital is different from pediatric ambulatory care, for example.

As Roser mentioned, checking the specialty categories is the most effective approach. Many of them contain articles written by members that endeavor to explain the nuts and bolts aspects of various specialties you might find interesting. Best wishes!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

Well, I'll take a shot at this based only on the areas of nursing where I have worked:

Med/Surg--Make sure all meds are passed, all assessments are done, all physician communication is carried out as needed on a case by case basis, make sure all treatments are done...that are expected to be completed during your shift.

Hospice--Make sure that the patient is comfortable and his/her needs are being met first and foremost, make sure that patients' families are cared for in terms of having their questions, fears, and grieving addressed in a satisfactory manner.

Long Term Care--Make sure that meds are passed in a timely manner and that CNAs are communicating any new developments with their patients to you, since you will not have time to consistently check on everyone as regularly as you really need to.

Dialysis--Make sure that all treatments are proceeding in a safe manner without extreme hypo- or hypertension issues, needle infiltrations, disconnected lines, or other problems such as chest pain or dyspnea that may come up and be ready to address these issues immediately if they do occur, since they can be life threatening.

And of course, add to all of the above what HouTx stated previously:

"All nursing areas have the same priority - keep the patient safe, meet patient needs, support healing/recovery & provide quality care. Differences are dictated by the types of technology used in each department & stability of the patient. The basics (e.g., Airway management) apply across the entire continuum."

Is this more along the lines of what you were looking for?

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Thanks wesitluv, this was more where I was heading towards. I guess I should have asked differences between units.. Thank you for your response.

Nursel56, I guess I was looking for a very broad comparison of different units. Like I said, I wasn't able to get my question across the internet... :-/

Thank's to everyone who responded though

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Like you, I was interested in seeing what a normal work day was like in different nursing specialties. I went to the specialty areas I was interested in and searched through and found some great stuff in there. Quite a few threads or articles in each specialty detaining what their day is like. It was really helpful.

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