What is your most and least favourite area/specialty of nursing and why?

hawaiicarl, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2015

Most favorite area - ICU

Most favorite patient - childless, orphan, ventilated, and sedated who never has visitors

Least favorite area - Pediatric Oncology (It's a heart breaker)

Least favorite patient - The one who rings the call bell to ask me where the call bell is .... STAT transfer to stepdown in aisle three!

Cheers

Wrench Party · Sep 1, 2015

Most: anything cardiac- the tele, medical, treatment, the devices, post-ops, you name it, I'm all about it. I can't wait to be trained to CTICU in the near future! (a few years)

Least: gotta be med-surg or mother-baby. The first is really depressing, and I find the second to be meh, unstimulating.

Farawyn · Sep 1, 2015

I've liked so much about nursing, but my favorite has been Employee Health. My "patients" are Employees, all the blood draws, vaccines, Flu and Noro Virus outbreaks, Fitness for Duty stuff, etc.

Also liked Medicine, Onc, and OB/GYN.

I quit the OBGYN clinic because of management, but it was so much fun, both staff and patients made my stomach hurt from laughing all day, but also a lot of high risk stuff, psych stuff, and again with the needles. I got flowers from patients over half a dozen times just for telling them to get to the hospital NOW. If that place was staffed and run properly I would go back in a heartbeat.

Least? Peds (I'm a HS Nurse, age 13 is all I can take) Ortho. Surg .

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2015

Different favorites at different points in my career:

In school-ER ( Student Nurse, Pediatric hospital in St. Louis. I LOVED that job!)

After graduation, brand new shiny RN-Pediatrics. 12 years.

Later on, MedSurg-had its ups and downs, bedside nurse for 14 years. (Left the hospital setting in 2005, right before the doo-doo really hit the fan for nursing).

Now-Hospice. â¤ï¸

Dislikes?

Home Health-got tired of manipulative, non-compliant, playing the system patients.

OB-discovered I hated this in my clinical rotation. If I had to palpate one more fundus I was gonna puke lol.

cayenne06, MSN, CNM · Sep 1, 2015

I've lived and breathed OB for my entire career, and up until a few months ago I would never have hesitated to call it my favorite specialty. But now I work in an outpatient GYN/repro health clinic (Planned Parenthood), and I have never, ever ever been so satisfied with my work. Something very satisfying about telling a patient they do, indeed, have HSV2 and no, their world will not end. I love having a patient leave my office relatively reassured after having to give them a hard diagnosis. Putting in a dozen LARCs over the course of a week and knowing I've helped prevent that many unplanned pregnancies, helped that many women gain control over their reproductive lives. Providing a woman with a safe, compassionate abortion experience. Being trusted enough that my adolescent patients will ask my advice on anything from safe sex to coming out to their parents. Participating in public health initiatives and research studies that can contribute to health at a population level. Being able to provide a low income woman with full preventative health including highly effective contraception, and see her relief and gratefulness when her bill is $0.

My least favorite? PACU and private duty nursing (did full time nights as a PDN when I was getting my BSN online, holy hell I did not like it one bit). I also dislike LTC but that has more to do with the unconscionable workload/staffing ratios at many facilities. I love taking care of elderly people and I imagine I would really enjoy a theoretical job at a well staffed, well run LTC facility.

I also cannot imagine myself ever enjoying a nurse manager role in the inpatient setting. Takes a special person!

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Sep 1, 2015

Favorite: Pediatrics

Least favorite: anything that involves taking care of adults.

LWitcher, BSN · Sep 2, 2015

LOL!!!!! I needed this laugh! :laugh:

BecomingNursey · Sep 2, 2015

Favorite: ER. I thrive in the chaos :). My element is adrenaline! Love it!!!! Trauma alert? Heck yes! Bring it on!!!!

Least Favorite:

OB/Peds. Blech.

LTC. Nope.

Home health. No way in h.e.double.hockey.sticks. ðŸ˜‚

RedInScrubs, ASN, RN · Sep 2, 2015

Most favorite is med-surg, hands down. It can be chaotic, the turnover is nuts, but you just get so many challenges, you never get bored. Even on the same floor, you are constantly given a load of patients that tests your ability to adapt and predict based on very little. Algorithms that work on the cardiac floor tend to not fit well at all with so much variety on the med-surg floors.

Least favorite is a toss-up between psych and skilled nursing/long-term care. I get tired of patients who either don't remember me most of the time, or cycle between moods and personalities so often that I spend most of my time on edge worried I'm going to get attacked.

Mumto4 · Sep 2, 2015

Favorite...hands down, L&D. I love the one-on-one care, the pacing, the autonomy...everything.

Least...psych. I only ever had to do psych through my clinical rotations, but I hated it. Med/surg or OB patients with psych issues? No problem, but when the main issue is psych, I'd rather be elsewhere.

ovy32 · Sep 2, 2015

A friend joked that I became an RN and an NP but do not wish to work with sick people. I agree with one of the previous comments - employee health, also travel medicine, vaccines, weight management, etc. Least favorite - LTC, working with acutely sick people.

Trauma_drama14, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Sep 2, 2015

Throughout nursing school, my favorite was the ICU rotation. Least favorite definitely peds & OB. I don't like having to take care of sick kids and don't want to endure pregnant or post-partum women with their babies.

Also have found out in the past year of me working as a nurse, how much I hate neuro and cardiac. Me and my husband get into it over each others specialities (he's in cardiac & I'm in surgical care).