How did you choose your current specialty, and what about it makes it the right "niche" for you?
And if you care to elaborate, was this the specialty you knew you wanted to choose right out of school, or did it take a few false starts before you found the right field for you?
I'm headed to school in the fall and have little idea other than that I'm not cut out for pediatrics or geriatrics, and would love to hear about your experiences.
When I was in school I thought for sure I would want to be an L&D nurse. Nursing school changed that; you couldn't pay me enough to "go there" once I finished nursing school. I didn't know what I wanted to do so I wound up on a Step-Down unit and eventually evolved into a cardiac/telemetry nurse. When I discovered a few years ago that you could be an NICU nurse without "doing time" on L&D or PostPartum I jumped on that opportunity.
I really like what I'm doing now and one of my only fears is that "someone" is going to figure out what a great job I have and put a stop to it. Silly I know!
Here's the great thing about nursing, you can change specialities and it's not that big of a deal. One job I had I floated to all med/surg type units in the hospital and it was kind of cool because I had the opportunity to sample medical, surgical, oncology, ortho/neuro and telemetry. When you get a permanent job, make friends that travel into all the units like EKG techs, RT's and visit other kinds of units to see what they do. Do it tactfully and you can see a lot of things. We have nurses that visit from other units off and on to see if they would think they would like NICU.
I just graduated from LVN school and when I started I swore up and down that I'd never work at a LTC, I wanted med/surg and nothing else. I started working as a CNA and the only place that had eight hour shifts was a LTC facility so I bit the bullet, did it and ended up loving it. I was offered a postion the week before graduation and I'll stay there while I attened an LVN-RN bridge program. After that, who knows?
I Liked All Of My Clinicals But I Was Shy And Did Not Have Much Confidence During My Clinical -- But I Made It Through
What I Did Though Is I Copied All Of The Medications That I Need To Give To During My Drug Med Nurse Clinical And I Find Out All About Them And Made A Cheat Sheet Of 2 X 4 Cards And Carried Them In My Pocket -- I Also Brought A Drug Book That Is Small And Compact
But The Thing That I Made History Is When I Was Doing Clinical At Pediatric Where I Noticed And I Was The One That Mentioned It About A Boy That Did Not Have Testicles But Had The member Organ
I Forgot What The Disease Was Called Do You Know?
That Was Why The Reason Why He Was There And I Think I Prayed For Him That Somewhat A Miracle That He Will Get Cured
Oh Boy They Got Me Out Of There Real Quick
Well I Liked Giving Medicine -- I Used To Not Be Afraid Giving Injection But I Tried To Give It A Good One And I Used To Think That Oy Boy I Hope I Can Be A Star That My Giving Injection Is A Unique One
I Liked My Psychiatric Clinical I Played Billiard And Talk To A I Think He Was A Man Perhaps I Forgot But You Know Drug Addict Or Alcoholic Or Mentally Ill Or Depressed And I Talked To Him And I Psychological With Him --
I Did My Theory Paper On A Boy Of Whom I Did My Study -- I Had C Though Due To Typing Error Otherwise I Think I Would Have Graduated Top Of My Class
Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.
My first three years after graduating from Nursing School and passing boards, I worked as a float RN in a large Medical Center: Medical ICU, CCU, DOU, Charge Nurse in Med/Surg and Ortho, worked in Post-Partum, Newborn Nursery and NICU.
I then got the chance to train in the Cath Lab in another facility; stayed there 1 1/2 yr.
Then moved, worked another three years in different facility, doing Med/Surg charge, then ICU, then PACU and Angio/Cath Lab.
Then moved again, worked Radiology Dept (including Cath Lab) X 21 yr.
Now I'm in another facility, working exclusively Cath Lab (cardiac catheterizations and permanent pacemaker implantations; helping with TTEs and some treadmills).
Another question though as I see a couple of you were nurse externs while in school - did they pay you for that? My local hospital offers an extern program starting in the summer after the first ADN year, and I was wondering whether it was likely a volunteer position or whether they would pay a little.
I've been working in the ICU as an Apprentice Nurse (extern of sorts) since after my 1st semester of nursing school. I was paid $16.37/hour as a student and the experience was priceless. I am starting in the same ICU that I've been working in on June 6th and am looking forward to it! I love my unit and after doing rotation in Peds, L&D/OB, Neuro, Med-Nephrology, Oncology, Psych, Long Term Care, PICU, NICU, and CIC, I realize more than ever that I belong in the ICU. I'm a control freak (teehee), I love really knowing everything about my patients, titrating drips on a really unstable patient, love the traumas we get (we are the only Trauma center in the area), and just enjoy the atmosphere, staff, supervisors, and patients where I'm at.
I started out in home care which I didn't like because I felt more like a maid then a nurse so I left that and went into LTC. I liked the unit I was on which as short term rehab. It was fast paced and you had new patients all the time, but after a while I realized it wasn't for me. I've always wanted to work psych.
I moved to a different unit last year at this time and I absolutely LOVE it. I have 2 wings one of which is HIV and the other is psych. I am in heaven and have found my niche. The HIV is great because it is still so new and there is so much to learn. My facility sends me to seminars which are really interesting. The psych is great because I have just always loved psych patients. I fell in love with psych in school and all the others thought I was looney because they hated it.They all went gaga for OB and I didn't enjoy that rotation. That's the beautiful thing about nursing...something for everyone!!
As a side note, I find when a nurse really loves what he/she does they are SUCH a better nurse!!
TiffyRN, BSN, PhD
2,316 Posts
When I was in school I thought for sure I would want to be an L&D nurse. Nursing school changed that; you couldn't pay me enough to "go there" once I finished nursing school. I didn't know what I wanted to do so I wound up on a Step-Down unit and eventually evolved into a cardiac/telemetry nurse. When I discovered a few years ago that you could be an NICU nurse without "doing time" on L&D or PostPartum I jumped on that opportunity.
I really like what I'm doing now and one of my only fears is that "someone" is going to figure out what a great job I have and put a stop to it. Silly I know!
Here's the great thing about nursing, you can change specialities and it's not that big of a deal. One job I had I floated to all med/surg type units in the hospital and it was kind of cool because I had the opportunity to sample medical, surgical, oncology, ortho/neuro and telemetry. When you get a permanent job, make friends that travel into all the units like EKG techs, RT's and visit other kinds of units to see what they do. Do it tactfully and you can see a lot of things. We have nurses that visit from other units off and on to see if they would think they would like NICU.