What Are Some of the Specialty Areas in Nursing?
Generally when you think of a nurse you think of what you have seen on television – those that are in the Emergency Room of a local hospital or those who are caring for patients in their rooms. But in fact there are many types of nurses or specialty areas that a person can venture into. When you think about your career path you might want to consider some of these:
Ambulatory – care for individuals in an ambulance or travel by air or other transportation
Burn – working with these patients requires very specialized treatment
Cardiac Vascular – nursing specializing in the cardiovascular system
Critical Care - for critically ill or unstable patients.
Developmental disabilities - working with handicapped patients
Emergency – can be very fast paced with lots of variety and rapid decision making
Forensic - working is police investigators
Gastroenterology – caring for patients with illness of the digestive system
Geriatrics – working with the elderly
Home care - working with patients who have been released from hospital or are being cared for at home – often terminal patients
Intensive care – this can be surgical, cardiovascular, medical or neonatal and is often with critically ill patients
Legal Nurse – consults on legal healthcare issues.
Mother/baby care – working with patients giving birth and with newborns or as a Midwife or Obstetrics
Nurse Educator – Education other nurses, or new nurses
Oncology – working with cancer patients
Operating Room – assisting doctors in the operating room
Pediatrics – working with children
Recovery - working with patients recovering from operations or illnesses
Rehabilitation – therapy for patients after surgeries, illnesses or other traumas
Renal - working with diabetes patients and those undergoing dialysis
Research - working in research hospital
As you can see there are countless paths that a nurse can take besides the standard one of taking your temperature in a hospital bed. Many specialized areas require nurses who are experienced in handling certain types of patients so specialties are becoming more and more popular as nurses branch out into areas that didn’t use to offer a career path and people are finding that they enjoy the non-traditional roles.
See Also – Nursing Jobs Outside the Hospital Career Options for Nurses You Might Have Overlooked
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