Specialties and Advice

OUxPhys, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2021

I've always been a fan of cardiology. It might be hard for you to get a 9-5 gig right out of nursing school. Usually they want a little experience.

"nursy", RN · Apr 16, 2021

Unfortunately, to be the most eligible for most specialties, it is recommended to have a good foundation which usually means putting in some time in med surge. After that, you can kind of figure out what appeals to you. A lot of nurses love L & D, but I would probably quit nursing first. Same with OR. So YOU have to decide what would work for you; you will get a taste of some of the specialties as you rotate through school. Having said that, I'm at the end of my 40 year career and currently a school nurse, and I love it. Although most nurses would be reticent to go right into school nursing because of "not using their skills," there's several nurses in my district that have made a career out of it, and love the schedule because of their families. Also, when you start in school nursing, you don't have to deal with the pay cut coming from a hospital.

Rarely does anyone "memorize" things anymore since Dr. Google is everyone's best friend.

There's two hugely important facets of nursing: 1. critical thinking and assessment skills 2. nursing skills proficiency and time management. Number one saves lives. Number two gets you through your shift. Mind you, only experience makes you good at either one, but go into school with these as your focus, and not so much memorizing the Krebs cycle. (do they still make you do that ? ?)

SmilingBluEyes · Apr 17, 2021

Doctor office nursing sounds like your gig. It is very regular and routine----usually no call/weekends. But otherwise, most areas even with "normal" day hours require occasional weekends and call. . And most want you to have acute nursing experience first, hence, you may have to take a job with weekends and nights for a short while to get that experience.

Good luck.

LibraNurse27, BSN, RN · Apr 17, 2021

Community clinic could be good! The one I worked at didn't require acute care experience. They said hospital nursing was so different than what their nurses did that they didn't think it was necessary. For example, we didn't treat sepsis or rapid a fib in the clinic, and we didn't treat skin rashes, strep throat, etc in the hospital (maybe in ER). But of course acute care experience is a plus in any area of nursing, due to what you learn in terms of time management, critical thinking, and assessment skills, prioritization, etc.

If they have friendly providers and other staff who will train you well and answer questions, community clinic may be great, especially if you're sure you don't want to try acute care. For some the stress and pace of acute care is too much. Some people know that after clinicals, some find out on the job =/ Skills to focus on for community clinic would be wound care, IM, SQ, IV fluids, triage (phone and in person), point of care tests (strep, flu, glucose, urine, pregnancy, phlebotomy, hemoglobin finger stick, maybe now covid testing!)

Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN · Apr 18, 2021

On 4/13/2021 at 7:33 AM, gtb3435 said:

I was wondering what specialties you guys really enjoy. I really want to do something with a set schedule (like a 9-5 type) and something that doesn't require weekends when I decide to settle down and have kids.

Yep, you and everybody else, LOL. Good luck c that. Most nursing jobs with that sort of schedule control aren't accessible to new grads, because they require a higher degree of autonomy and experience. You might get lucky with a clinic, but don't hold your breath, LOL.

On 4/13/2021 at 7:33 AM, gtb3435 said:

What classes did you not take that you wish you did, and what classes aren't in the general Nursing core classes that you took that you are really glad you did? What classes would you recommend that I study especially hard in and really memorize?

Our major was very tightly scheduled so we didn't have much room for electives at ALL. Later on, I was able to take a great class on law and medicine and learned a lot about consents, risk management, and related topics, which turned out to be a great asset no matter where I worked. I also got to take a half-credit art course, just for fun and a creative release.

As to what to learn really, really well, my vote is going to physiology, the study of how things work in the body, like oxygen and CO2 transit, chemistries, cardiovascular function and compensations, and the like. This is because, as I used to tell my students, sometimes you'll take care of people who have no guts, or no kidneys, or no brains, even. But if they don't have hearts and lungs you won't be taking care of them at all because they'll be dead. EVERY patient you will ever see has to have cardiac and pulmonary function, and since there's no requirement for a sick person to just have one thing wrong, you'll need a solid grip on those systems and processes no matter where you work. Unless it's pathology, LOL.

Good luck!