Hello everyone - this is my first post on this website, and I'm very excited to have found it, as I've been looking for a site like this for a long time. I don't know many people in person who are nurses - or, if I do know them it's only from hospitals or my physician or what have you.
I will be starting nursing school this fall and am immensely excited at the prospect, but I don't really know what to expect...
What I do know is that my mother constantly says I need to know my specialization now. My problem is, I don't really have any experience with the different types of nursing or how the different levels differ in terms of care.
I have been working as an in-home caregiver for some time, and I love it. Even the grosser sides like toileting and blood and vomit don't detract from the fact that I love my job. I don't provide any medical care of course so this is strictly a feeding/toileting/cleaning up after sort of job.
From my very little experience... it seems the further up you go in nursing, the less the jobs have to do with what I love, and what makes it worth it for me.
My mom says if you specialize, there's money. If you go higher, there's money. But I firmly believe that the world needs good, dedicated people in all positions - from the lowest to the highest. If you love your job and are good at it and happy with it, even if it pays less, it just seems like a disservice to yourself and others to go higher into jobs you might not be as happy with and may even come to resent.
I am not good with children as a general rule - young babies and from middle school age up is fine. So I have already sort of ruled Pediatrics out, though I will of course do my best when we do those units in school
I am actually looking more into geriatrics, but I'm not sure.
How far should I go if I want to keep doing the more "undesirable" side of nursing? Does it all depend on where you work? Do I have to think about what I want to specialize in before I'm even in nursing school?
I would be the first nurse in my entire family. I don't really have many places to turn for information. I try to be cool and collected and go along with what my school tells/sends me, but I'm really in a bind and don't have a solid place for advice... my adviser won't e-mail me back and I can't get a hold of anyone knowledgeable over the phone.
I'm starting nursing school in fall as well. My take is it is much too early to figure out what we want to specialize in because we know NOTHING about being a nurse, we have to learn how to be a nurse first & foremost. We'll do our clinical rotations & figure out then what interests us.
Secondly, at least in my part of the states, when we are new graduates looking for a job, we may not have the option to get into our specialty right off the bat, job market can be tough for us new grads, so we may have to take whatever job we can get just to get a job & experience in. After that is probably the point & time when I personally will start going after a specialty, likely not before that.
Also it doesn't sound like mom is a nurse, she means well I'm sure, but she probably doesn't understand how nursing works. So kinda take her well intentioned advice lightly for now.
You & I gotta learn to be nurses first. Everything will fall into place after. I wish you the best of luck & success as you start school!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Having absolutely NO idea what she was talking about never stopped my mother from having strong opinions or expressing them vociferously. She advised me to be a nurse because she had always wanted to go to nursing school and "couldn't pass the test." She was convinced that nurses don't do anything but "drink coffee and flirt with the doctors while the aides do all the work." This was based on her two stays in the "maternity ward" back in the 50s. She never changed her opinion despite the evidence she encountered during my father's prolonged stay in the ICU and in spite of having a daughter who was an ICU nurse. In short; your mother doesn't know anything. Listen respectfully (she's your mother after all) and then forget what she said.
The beauty of nursing is that you don't have to decide upon a specialty now -- or even before you graduate. If something in particular -- like geriatrics -- calls to you, that's great. But keep an open mind and perhaps something else will call to you also. Or instead. Even after you graduate, your choices may be limited to the available jobs in your area or in the areas you're willing to consider. After you've got some experience, you'll be more marketable in the specialty you'd like to explore.
Good luck with your studies, and don't let your mother scare you. She has no idea what she's talking about. (And I expect the child says the same thing about me even though I've been a nurse since the 70s and DO know what I'm talking about.)
I'm a recent grad and let me tell you- unless you have worked in healthcare prior to nursing school, you likely will have absolutely no idea what area you want to be in until you experience some of it through your clinicals. You might think you want to work in X area, only to find that you do not enjoy working in that area at all. I started school thinking I wanted to work in L&D or ICU. Once I got to spend a little time in each of those areas I quickly realized neither were for me.
I recommend studying hard, never missing a clinical and ALWAYS being willing to jump into the mix when opportunities are offered at clinical. By the last semester you will probably find one area that you just REALLY enjoy and can't get enough of. Let that lead you. Don't let Mom convince you that money is the most important thing. As a new nurse you will be paid pretty much the same wherever you go (for example ED, Med-Surg, Mother/Baby) . It's the years of experience that increases your pay more than the specialization (unless you go on to advanced practice, but that is a bridge pretty far away that you really don't even need to think about just yet).
Good luck and enjoy your studies. Your heart will lead you to where you are meant to be!
It becomes a whole nother ballfield when you want to go to grad school for nursing though. I've been comparing schools. I have one more year before I graduate with a BSN but I am very serious about furthering my education, right after school, while I work. Not only do you have to decide on your specialization(FNP, AGNP, PNP, MHPNP, WNP, etc), but you'll also be deciding acute vs primary care. So just take all this time in your nursing school now to get a feel of nursing in general and what you might end up liking!! (Basically I'm repeating what everyone else in this thread said now). BTW I plan to go for MHPNP but I will still be able to work as an RN on a variety of floors. One nurse I met is a FNP, but still works in the hospital as an RN, and in an office as a NP. So keep in mind just how many choices you will have, and you don't need to settle.
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MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN
519 Posts
I'm starting nursing school in fall as well. My take is it is much too early to figure out what we want to specialize in because we know NOTHING about being a nurse, we have to learn how to be a nurse first & foremost. We'll do our clinical rotations & figure out then what interests us.
Secondly, at least in my part of the states, when we are new graduates looking for a job, we may not have the option to get into our specialty right off the bat, job market can be tough for us new grads, so we may have to take whatever job we can get just to get a job & experience in. After that is probably the point & time when I personally will start going after a specialty, likely not before that.
Also it doesn't sound like mom is a nurse, she means well I'm sure, but she probably doesn't understand how nursing works. So kinda take her well intentioned advice lightly for now.
You & I gotta learn to be nurses first. Everything will fall into place after. I wish you the best of luck & success as you start school!