RN, Orthopedics, and me

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Hi everyone, I'm still a newbie to the forums, and was considering taking the path of RN versus RES because I was told of a specialty field called Orthopedics, which deals with skeletomuscular patients and the like. Being a Kenpo Karate instructor I felt this would "balance" what I do, but a few things are looming in the distance.

First, I have been reading about the state of the healthcare industry, and how badly nurses in general are treated. How bad is it really? I see lots of posting about leaving hospitals after only a couple months on the job, some even leaving the profession as a whole after only a couple years.

Second, is the subject of Orthopedics. I cannot seem to find much information on the specialty field, and what it would take to get from pre-nursing student--->Ortho nurse.

Any info and / or advice is greatly appreciated. This is only my 1st semester and I'm still doing pre reqs so I want to research as much of each field as possible before committing to a specific major.:smiley_ab

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Here is an orthopedics nursing forum here: https://allnurses.com/forums/f38/

Hopefully, you will find some answers to your questions. It shouldn't be difficult to find an an ortho position once you graduate. Many hospitals have ortho nursing openings.

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Yea, I went there last night, and none of the threads I looked at (several pages mind) had anything that referred to links or urls to faq pages or informative sites for ortho. :sniff:

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http://www.orthonurse.org/

Here is the link for the National Association of Orthopedic Nurses. As for your question about getting from pre-nursing student to orthopedic nurse, once you complete nursing school and get licensed as a Registered Nurse (or LPN), you can choose to specialize in whatever interests you, and orthopedics is one of the possibilities. You would not need any additional training or education to get started in orthopedics (although you could choose to pursue further specialized education at any point).

I worked on an orthopedics unit (in a general hospital) for a few months when I first graduated (years ago), before going into psychiatric nursing.

Welcome to allnurses, and good luck with your studies!

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We might have similar interests. What is RES?

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Hi everyone, I'm still a newbie to the forums, and was considering taking the path of RN versus RES because I was told of a specialty field called Orthopedics, which deals with skeletomuscular patients and the like. Being a Kenpo Karate instructor I felt this would "balance" what I do, but a few things are looming in the distance.

First, I have been reading about the state of the healthcare industry, and how badly nurses in general are treated. How bad is it really? I see lots of posting about leaving hospitals after only a couple months on the job, some even leaving the profession as a whole after only a couple years.

Second, is the subject of Orthopedics. I cannot seem to find much information on the specialty field, and what it would take to get from pre-nursing student--->Ortho nurse.

Any info and / or advice is greatly appreciated. This is only my 1st semester and I'm still doing pre reqs so I want to research as much of each field as possible before committing to a specific major.:smiley_ab

LOL!!!

Is it a common theme that martial artists gravitate towards ortho!

I recommend a book called "Deadly Karate blows" by Bryan Adams (a kenpo guy). It shows the medical implications involved in such injuries.

P.s. I'm a WingTsun instructor and nursing student.

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Lol sorry I took so long to reply to u all. Getting hectic in classes, finals around the corner for this semester, and I got sick for 4 days which put me a weeks worth of work behind. RES = Respiratory Therapy (I'm asthmatic), and I was interested in that for obvious reasons. As for my interests, I'm still not sure, and I know time is running out for me to make up my mind on what path I'm going to take. It's starting to stress me a little, because I don't want to end up in a specialty field no one wants or needs by the time I graduate.

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