When did you figure out your specialty?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just out of curiosity, how long did you guys take until you found your specialty? And what was your specialty you chose.

I want to be a NP someday and I was thinking about how long I should work as an RN before I began to apply for grad school.

Public Health Nursing: I'm more of a systems thinker; I grasp the big picture more easily than the details. Epidemiological investigations bring me joy. I'm also a huge proponent of preventive services. Thus, public health nursing is a natural fit. I was fortunate enough to pick up on this in nursing school. As a side note, I'm not an auditory or kinesthetic learner, so learning in the acute care setting came slowly to me; it made me shy away from it.

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Specializes in geriatrics.
My specialty is Pediatrics. I knew before I went to nursing school that is where I wanted to be. You could not even pay me enough to work with adults!
Ha! I say the same about peds. I would give up my license if peds was the only option. That's the great thing about nursing. There is something for everyone :)
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Specializes in cardiac CVRU/ICU/cardiac rehab/case management.

Cardiac nursing is my specialty Tele,CVRU and now cardiac rehab . I have done other specialties but have spent the most yrs in cardiac. I absolutely love the heart in a way that comes close to neurosis . Despite learning all the high tech nursing ironically my best skill is with pts dying. I knew that my first week as a nurse but I wanted to explore all of nursing first.

I have no regrets and am happy to still get to look forward to doing hospice, the field that is deepest to my heart and spirit. So perhaps the order doesn't matter so much after all ? I took the long road and I am grateful for it. Certainly some areas like OR didn't suit my personality but I still feel it was valuable and worthwhile. Rather than field themselves I guess for me it was more about just being with the pt ,growing as a person and continuing to learn.I am so happy that I have had the good fortune to become a nurse.

And yes, I still have days when I'm leaving the hospital after a bad day thinking " That's it.I have had it .I am definitely going to quit! "

Have fun exploring! I'm sure glad that I did.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

I'm working in Geriatrics currently, but I know eventually I want to be in Psych. I LOVE psych!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Neuro, ICU, travel RN, Psych.

Psych! I did 4 years of M/S, tele, ortho, stuff like that. I travelled for 2 years, and did a little bit of homecare on the side as well. One year ICU, which was more of a progressive care low acuity ICU. My goal was always ER, but after doing ICU and floating to ER as well, I realized my priorities had changed. I'd always had an interest in psych, so decided to give it a shot. I transferred, loved it, and am now getting ready to apply for my Psych NP. I've been in psych 2 years.

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Specializes in CICU.

Found out when I got my first RN job in Step-down/Tele. Turns out I love it, and don't plan on going anywhere for awhile.

I sometimes think of trying ICU for awhile, but mostly because I think it would make me a sharper step-down nurse...

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Good Luck with your Psych. NP program! :-)

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Specializes in Dialysis.

Home Health.....after 10 yrs of med/surg and burnout, I tried it and still love it! Unfortunately, no advancement there. I have my BSN, almost MSN; quit 2 classes before graduating to teach. Decided I'd rather beat my head into the wall than deal with students inflicted with a sense of entitlement. Before I get bashed, I know not all students are like that. But believe me, quite a few were.....

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Specializes in Maternity & Well Baby Nursery.

I knew that I wanted to work in maternity when I was 7 years old (all that I knew was I wanted to work with pregnant women and their babies). I got a job in maternity upon graduating from nursing school. My specialty is post-partum mothers and their newborns. Although I have floated to the NICU, L&D, and Peds, I like "home" the best!

Aradien

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Specializes in Labor & Delivery, Med-surg.

Worked the surgical floor all my life. I knew I wanted to specialize somewhere one day but Maternity fell into my lap as they needed more nurses there and were willing to train. It was the most fulfilling thing I've ever done!

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Started in a high-risk cardiothoracic ICU as a new grad, did that for about 3 years (Sounds short I know, but when I left I was a vet on that unit, probably could count 20 people who started AFTER me who had left BEFORE me! High turnover...)

Anyway, now I'm doing what I've wanted to do since nursing school, in grad school for CRNA. I had an idea I wanted to do that when I started in college, but it was absolutely confirmed after my first shadow experience with a CRNA during my summer break after my sophomore year. And that decision was confirmed every time I've shadowed in the OR since.

To the OP if you're still in nursing school I'd call some of your local hospitals (if you don't already have contacts there) when you're on break to see if you can get in to shadow in different areas you might be interested in (or to shadow with an NP). Many facilities are usually pretty good about letting students shadow (little harder to do when you're an RN!) Before I finished college I had about 30+ hours shadow experience in the OR which really helped in my final decision on a career path as an APRN.

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

I started out in the ICU, which is where I was an apprentice nurse all through nursing school. I thought it was where I belonged but looking back, I liked it because it fed my ego and my codependency issues....LOL. I wasn't allowed to continue working in critical care once I surrendered my nursing license for a horrible addiction to pain meds so I ended up at my current job, where I've been for 3 1/2 years. I am now a psychiatric nurse in an outpatient setting and I love it. I work for the state and we serve a population who can't afford insurance/healthcare. I am able to do a lot of patient education, which is my first love. I love to teach and this job enables me to work in the nursing field while providing education. I also work around a lot of substance abuse clients, which is good for me as well. It reminds me of where I used to be and I am able to have empathy for them. I understand their struggles. I plan on eventually going back to school and getting my Master's in Nutritional Science so I won't be around in nursing forever. But for now, I'm pretty happy :-)

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