Do you recommend specialty nursing right out of School?

Posts: 2 · Joined: 21 Feb 2005 Posts: 2

I am in my last semester of Nursing School and I want to know what your opinion is about going into a specialty field such as peds, oncology, or OB straight out of school. Let me know . Thanks

Posts: 47 · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 47 Location: San Diego

If you can find a position in a speciality area, I would jump in it. It can be more difficult to find specialty positions in the future without that experience....however it is always possible to move back to a less specialized position in the future.

I can't speak to the clinical aspects of working, but as far as marketability is concerned...I would definately do a specialty in the begining of your career.

Many hospitals require that their nurses have 1 year of acute care experience in the last three years, and 1 year of critical care experience in the last three years for specialty positions. Hope this helps.

Posts: 1 · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 1

I can only go with my experience but all throughout school I was intrigued with babies and special care involved with them. I went straight into neonatal nursing beginning with my last semester and am in my 8th year and I cannot imaging being anywhere else in the hospital. I know a lot of nurses who did not have a particular area they were interested in so went into med-surg or ER and loved it too. You have to go with what you feel is right for you. If you have a strong desire to start in a certain area then do it--it's probably where you need to be. However, if you don't, then take the opportunity to do a float pool in a hospital that provides that option. That will give you the chance to learn all aspects of nursing care and perhaps find the area you're meant to be in.

Hope this helps............

Posts: 8 · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 8 Location: mississippi

At one of the larger hospitals I've worked at they allowed their new grads to rotate around the hospital to various areas before settling on one area. According to their nurse managers, this cut down on the turnover rate. Maybe search for a hospital that allows for this. Good Luck and go with your heart. Like roadcaps said, go with what feels right. Very Happy

Posts: 11 · Joined: 26 Feb 2005 Posts: 11

I recommend MED/SURG nursing.. It id the NUTS and BOLTS of nursing

Posts: 34 · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 34 Location: Wisconsin

I think you have to do more "general" nursing first, and I agree with med/surg. I still do that (almost 4 years out of school), and I think you learn the most...not only do you deal with the surgical aspect, but the medical problems complicated by it. I personally think that if you specialize right off the bat, then you get stuck in that and it is harder to make a change.

Posts: 2 · Joined: 25 Aug 2008 Posts: 2 Location: AUS

I finished my graduate nursing program. Then i commenced post graduate studies in neonatal intensive care. I found the nurses in the unit to be very unsupportive of each other and 'clicky'. It was a difficult learning environment and at times i was put in positions that were beyond my scope of practice ( like delivering cytotoxic drugs) there was no cytotoxic gown and the nurse didnt use aseptic tecnique for the picc line. The support wasnt and available and there was a lack of preceptorsto help in these situations. If you can develop some confidence in practice and first and in your clincal skills you will be better equipped to work in these specialist fields and deal with unfriendly staff that unfortunatelly out there. The disparity between hospital trained older nurses and the new nurses comingin formed a hierachy. Nurses were to scared to speak up despite the known bullying on this ward and union involvement. Of course im sure other people have had some positive experiences. Hope you find out what is good for you.

Posts: 2 · Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 2 Location: TX

I'm a retired (for 8 yrs) labor & delivery assistant head nurse. I hired into a large high risk labor/delivery unit as a new grad. Fortunately, I had an excellent preceptor and was able to learn my skills quickly. During my college years, I worked as a nurse extern on the med/surg units of this large hospital. Therefore, I had a good foundation established in the med/surg aspect of nursing before starting as a new grad in a specialized unit.

I would definitely recommend and encourage at least a year of med/surg nursing before applying to any specialized unit. Learning the basics before the fine points of the specialty is always recommended, in my opinion.

L&D RN

Posts: 77 · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:57 am

i say go for whatever your specialty you want to be. it is not required or necessary to start on M/S. most people that think that are people who had to start there themselves and think everybody should have to. i started out in PCU and loved it. you will learn M/S while you are working in your specialty area and be way ahead of the game Smile