Sell me on your specialty...

[rose_marie]

I am just finishing up the first quarter in my ABSN program and so excited about everything I'm learning! However, I find myself in a rather wonderful predicament...I have no idea what kind of nursing I want to do! It seems like every week I fall in love with a new area (peds, cardiology, rehab, wound care, ortho, etc.) and I just can't get enough!

I know I'm just a baby (nursing-wise :)) and that I have plenty of time to figure this out--there's lots more experience and practice ahead of me that will hopefully shape my path. What's more, all my nursing instructors have had incredibly dynamic careers and many have changed their "specialty" several times, so I know that it's not just about picking one area and staying with it forever...but I still find myself looking for a bit of direction in terms of what's ahead.

I would love to hear what you have to say about the pros and cons of your area/specialty of nursing? What do you do, what do you love about, and what do you not like? What personality traits or skills do you find serve you best in this area? What experiences led you to choose your area? In what ways are you fulfilled by your work, or in what ways is it draining? What have you learned about nursing, your clients/patients, and yourself in your area or specialty?

Thank you for your feedback!

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

Kooky Korky should get a new career and a new attitude. If you don't like your profession.... then leave.

It's better to be a starry eyed, excited 22 year old than a negative, cynical, old timer nurse.

That old timer may have learned some things along the way that may be useful for younger nurses to learn early in their career. There may very well be a good reason she isn't a starry eyed 22 year old anymore.

[sherri12]

The old timer needs to be try and think way back about why she wanted to become a nurse in the first place and try and be more positive or not say anything at all.

These old timer nurses that hate thier jobs are tiring to listen too. They should be grateful that they've had a great career to begin with. There are many people who wish they could even have a job, any job, to begin with! They want to dampen the spirits of nursing students who are excited to be nurses.

[BacktoBasics]

not to be negative but in this economy it might be the specialty that picks you!

that being said......sicu....and always in a teaching hospital!!!!!

pro: teaching hospitals tend to get the juicest cases

-rounding with the residents and the attendings....you will learn a ton

-icu nurses get a decent amount of respect.

-in teaching hospitals there is always a resident around and in the icu's they almost never leave the floor

-you will do invasive monitoring, crrt, vents, iabp, vads.......i could go on for days with the equipment that you will learn to use

-drugs, drips, drains and dressings...oh boy!

-your nursing colleguagues will have your back when the poop hits the fan......i have never been in a crisis without a handful of nurses in my room helping

cons......you will rarely get a sit down lunch!

icu all the way!

i also think that physicians listen to us icu nurses more and provide more autonomy in practice. you're usually more informed regarding the plan. i like having control over and knowing everything about my patients. you form tight bonds with your co-workers.

cons, like you said, you don't really get a lunch break. often other nurses in the hospital don't understand your unit- they think you just sit around all day. it's either feast or famine. and sometimes it gets preety hairy even if you have 10 nurses helping you out, you still might not sit down and document until after your shift ends.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

Do you want to be able to utilize all of the skills you learned in school?

Do you want to be able to know everything about 6 patients with varied diagnoses and be able to juggle all of their needs at once?

Do you want the ability to be nurse, tech, clerk, janitor, escort, security guard, therapist, plumber, electrician, babysitter, chef, entertainer and chaplain WHILE JUST BEING ONE PERSON?

COME TO THE WORLD OF MEDSURG!

Seriously, the floor gets a bad reputation a lot of the time. Sometimes we're treated like the bottom of the totem pole - we are staffed last, our pages are answered last, that sort of thing. The phrase "just a floor nurse" is said often.

However, I do use my skills. I might be giving Mr. White G-tube meds and doing his trach care, while his roommate Mr. Green requires bladder scanning and straight catheterization. Mrs. Brown in room 6 has a pile of dressing changes and a few JP drains. Mrs Black has continuous bladder irrigation and several IV antibiotics. Ms. Gray's blood sugars are nuts AND she requires Lovenox teaching.

I also can multi-task like none other. My patients may not be as ill as those in the ICU, but there are more of them and they still have the same body parts!

Also, once a nurse has a year or two of MedSurg, it looks great on a resume that he or she did time in the "trenches."

And guess what, folks, MedSurg IS a specialty. I am board certified in it!

(BTW, I completely respect nurses who work in ALL settings, and I know most nurses reciprocate. I would love to work in the ICU, but must like MedSurg if I'm still hanging around after this long. I don't think MedSurg nurses are better or deserve sympathy!)