What drew you to your niche of nursing?

[Ophelia78]

Another thread sparked my curiosity about this- what is it about your niche (critical care, OB, home health, etc.) that makes you feel it is a good fit for you? Any wrong turns along the way when trying to find your niche? I can imagine this might be helpful for all the new grads starting out now...

For me, I had thought OB was my niche, then discovered I missed the orderly day of the ICU, the resident always on call, and the interesting complex cases. Having a baby going bad was far more unnerving to me than a 78 year old adult, and I like being familiar with all the high-tech equipment we use.

[Jolie, BSN]

A bad back and a lack of interest in adults. (NICU)

Give me a "bad baby" over a 78 year old adult any day!

[kstec, LPN]

I'm a LPN, so options are limited, so as of right now I have not found my niche. But even if I was a RN I'm not sure what it would be.

[Midwest4me]

I don't really have a "niche" as I'm an LPN and there are such limited areas of practice BUT my current job drew me in because of the money and excellent benefits(psych nursing with a government agency)!

[pebbles, BSN, RN]

My mom (also a nurse) worked on the trauma unit when I was in school. She came home with all these cool stories about the accidents and the stabbings and stuff. Plus some really neat wounds. One day she came home two hours late from work, and started crying - they had been running two code blues side by side in the step-down unit. Somehow this didn't scare me, it thrilled and excited me.

I did my senior student experience on that unit, and I felt like I had come "home". :)

[VegRN]

One day she came home two hours late from work, and started crying - they had been running two code blues side by side in the step-down unit. Somehow this didn't scare me, it thrilled and excited me.

holy guacamole, that is a bad day:uhoh3:

I arrived at my niche by accident, correctional nursing. I had no interest in it, i fell in it by way of organizational changes at my acute care hospital. However, this area of nursing grew on me and now I think of it as more of a calling (and I am not even very religious). I absolutely love that area of nursing and feel blessed that things worked out the way they did.

[Djuna]

I didn't do any pediatric clinical in my nursing program and when I graduated I did a lot of agency work. One day I had to go to peds which I was certain I would hate but I loved it and decided to work in that area exclusively.

My next change of specialty came about from working in a very small hospital with a 10 bed peds unit which seldom had more than 5 kids at the most and I was bored out of my mind so I did a short stint in ED to keep my clinical skills up to date.

Well I loved it and here I am, almost a year later still loving it and learning something new every day.

That's the great aspect about nursing, you can change your area if you get bored or need a change for any particular reason.

[nurseinlimbo]

I worked in LTC as an aide, mostly on a dementia unit. I went back to school as an adult because I lacked challenge, knew I could do more. I pictured myself in an acute care area like ICU, ER or OR. I have taken the OR training but found that was an environment that was just not for me. I don't enjoy being yelled at, and staff there seemed verrrrry unhappy.

After a round in psych, geriatric psych, acute care rural, I found myself back in LTC, in the same facility I left. I know everyone here, love the residents, know the rountine, it's close to home and I find that sometimes the devil you know.......

[BULLYDAWGRN, RN]

I've found the sicker the patient is the less complaints (tv don't work, turn the light off/on, my food stunk, pillow to hard/soft) I get from them.

[allantiques4me]

I work with abused children.I think because I am a loving mother that helped me to nurture and care for these poor little kids.Also it is more laid back and less stressful than other areas Ive worked in.Life is too short to be stressed out.