Which Specialty Do You Have Your Eye On?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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In between the stresses of pre-reqs, applications, interviews, and entrance exams, it's fun to kick back and imagine our careers as fully-fledged RNs!

Discuss the specialties that just really stick out to you. You can say a bit about why you think that specialty is a good fit for you. If you're not sure, you're still welcome to jump in and explore your options with us!

While we know that maybe our minds might change in nursing school and plans go awry, what is the harm in dreaming and planning?

I'll go first: Trauma, critical care (of any kind), and emergency sound wonderful to me. Nursing research and/or informatics could also be highly interesting for post-grad. I love technical skills and improving patient outcomes.

Pediatric Oncology for me - that is the area God called me into this profession for so that is where I will go!

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In the distant future, I have my eye on anesthesia. In the near future, cardiac icu. I love the heart!

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L&D - ultimately - CNM. I'm getting my ADN, doing an ADN-MSN Bridge, and then ultimately MSN for Nurse-Midwifery.

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Specializes in CNA/LPN.

I definitely see myself working ER/Trauma for a great amount of my career starting out. Eventually, I see myself going into a local Pediatrics office when I'm much older and settling down with my kids, needing more time at home. I also look forward to clinicals, because there's no telling! I might change my direction a bit...but something tells me ER definitely fits my personality and interests permanently.

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Specializes in LDRP.

so im halfway through my nursing program and i have gone through stages of specialty preferences:

OR - changed my mind quickly after 2 days of OR rotation, its not bad, but sort of boring to me, and if i was in the OR id want to be a scrub nurse, but ive learned that the pretty much exclusively hire scrub techs for that position and the RNs are usually circulators who sit on the side, do the paper work, and move equipment around. boringggggg.

Oncology - still an option for me, as i havent had any bad (or any at all) clinical experience in this area, but i have done hospice volunteer work, and i just dont know if it really clicks with me like i thought it would. and i find that to be a specialty that you need to have your whole heart into, because it can be very draining.

Peds - Before I started my peds rotation, I thought I would love Peds, and actually had some aspirations to one day work in a PICU. But as of right now I am not a big fan of peds at all. It may have something to do with the unit I'm on right now, but all but 2 of the nurses are really mean. You dont get as much time with the kids as youd think, because their parents are there 80% of the time and do all the care and you basically just do your assessment, vitals and give meds if needed and thats it. On the rare occasion there is a kid/baby whos parent isnt there i am torn. i am pumped because i know i can spend a lot of time with him/her, but then i feel bad when i am doing anything but spending time with the kid because i know no ones there with them..

anyway, i digress,

ER - Really, I never had an interest in ER nursing until I had a rotation there. I loved the kind of work they do, but all of the nurses seemed really cynical and kinda of rude to the patients. i can see how they got that way, because there are a lot of people coming into the ER for reasons they dont need to be (drug seeking, common cold, homeless and wants a place to stay so they pull the psych card, crazy moms bringing their kids in with no s/s other than a fever of 99 degrees..) so they begin to stop trusting the people who may be in actual pain. Im not saying that just because these nurses are like this, that working in an ER will make me like that too, but I find myself to be a pretty caring person and dont want to risk changing that.

now here I am halfway done, burned out of all these areas hoping to work in an ICU (as of now). who knows, i might change my mind again :p but i really loved the atmosphere of the ICU and I love learning more and more and there is a whole lot to learn in an ICU.

PACU also intrigues me.. hmmm.. :idea:

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Specializes in LDRP.
Where are all the OR peeps? lol! I'd love to be front row to some interesting procedures. (Maybe that's all the Grey's Anatomy-watching, but it would still be cool nontheless) :)

im a greys anatomy fanatic, but trust me, the OR is nothing like greys.. i havent seen ONE hot doc in the place. haha, and i have yet to find any on call sex closets with beds in them! :p

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L&D and Antepartum. Ultimately I want to become a CNM, preferably a dual degree with FNP or NNP and Public/International health. I plan to work internationally.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
In the distant future, I have my eye on anesthesia. In the near future, cardiac icu. I love the heart!

*** That's great and I wish you much luck. I do have some advice for you though. Don't tell ANYONE you would like to go to CRNA school. ICU nurse managers just hate spending lots of time and money training ICU nurses just to have them leave for CRNA school just about the time they are becoming usefull to the unit (2-3 years). In the many years I have worked in ICU/Trauma/ER I have heard many a nurse manager complain about this.

So go for you goal but keep it to yourself is my advice.

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Hoping for either OR, Obstetrics, or Trauma here : )

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I know my mind might change but I am leaning towards geriatrics :)

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