Nursing is a highly rewarding career that is forever evolving and adapting to the new advancements in medicine.
Any nursing role comes along with a lot of responsibility. In some cases, the lives of your patients will be in your hands, and you will need to make quick decisions about their care.
It’s a career that isn’t for the faint-hearted, and you will need to be confident and caring to succeed. You will see patients at their best and at their worst. You might see severe injuries and trauma and a bit of blood.
However, it’s one of the most diverse career paths that you can choose, with specialties from oncology to pediatrics to mental health. No matter what you’re interests and passions, you can make a huge difference in hundreds of lives every year.
You will work as part of a larger team, including doctors, dietitians, therapists, and nursing assistants, to provide optimal care for each of your patients to restore them to full health. Depending on the special to you choose, you might need to perform certain procedures or take different approaches to each of your patient’s care.
If you’re keen on helping others and you have a strong interest in medicine, nursing could be the perfect career for you. The question is, which specialty is the most interesting to you?
Some nursing specialties require you to study for additional qualifications but you will be able to enter most of them with a standard nursing qualification. If you decide you want to specialize further down the line, you can always enroll in additional courses.
Here are five of the most popular types of nursing specialties for you to keep in mind if you are considering becoming a nurse.
- Geriatric Nursing
With life expectancy increasing and people living longer, geriatric nursing is one of the fastest-growing areas of medicine. It involves the nursing of older adults. As a geriatric nurse, you will be working to help elderly individuals remain comfortable and healthy.
You will assist your patients with their activities of daily living (ADLs) to improve their quality of life. For example, your role will involve helping a patient to eat and drink, take medications, get dressed, and wash in a walk-in tub shower combo.
As a geriatric nurse, you will need to understand the aging process and you will need to have a lot of patience and empathy. Older adults can often struggle to do things independently, and it’s important that you are willing to help them with basic daily activities.
- Family Nursing
As the name suggests, family nursing revolves around the treatment and care of families. Nurses that specialize in this area of nursing treat patients of all ages, from young children to older adults.
Family nursing enables you to work in a wide range of healthcare facilities, such as hospital wards and clinics, community care centers, schools, and residential homes. The options are vast and you will be able to progress within your role as a family nurse.
Your role will involve assessing patients to make diagnoses and identifying the best treatment options for them. You will work with all members of the multidisciplinary team to ensure your patients are given the best care possible.
- Oncology Nursing
Oncology nurses specialize in the treatment of patients who are suffering from all types of cancers. Usually, to become an oncology nurse, you need to have a nursing degree and work experience in the area of cancer treatment.
As an oncology nurse, you can work in hospitals, community cancer centers, or nursing homes. You will be administering medications to patients and helping them to prepare for radiotherapy or chemotherapy.
Great communication skills and empathy are vital in your role as an oncology nurse. A lot of your time will be spent chatting to patients and their relatives to keep them well-informed of the treatment process.
You’ll need to know how to have difficult conversations with your patients and their families in a gentle and caring way. It’s also important that you have great teamwork skills as you will be working with a wide range of healthcare professionals to provide high-quality care for patients.
- Pediatric Nursing
Pediatric nursing is incredibly popular because many people enjoy working with children and helping them to recover from various illnesses and injuries. Within pediatrics, you can work with children of all ages, from toddlers to late teenagers.
When you work in pediatrics, you can further specialize in mental health, oncology, gastroenterology, and more. To specialize, you may need to study for additional qualifications on top of your basic nursing degree.
Pediatric nursing is required in a range of areas, including hospitals, schools, and community centers. You will work closely with pediatric doctors, dietitians, therapists, midwives, and nursing assistants.
Children can be diagnosed with a range of medical conditions, so unless you have further specialized in a specific area of pediatric medicine, your role will be highly varied. You will need to be adaptable and able to respond quickly to any given situation.
If you want to become a pediatric nurse, you will need to have great interpersonal skills and you’ll need to be great at interacting with children and teenagers.
- Cardiac Rehabilitation Nursing
Cardiac rehabilitation nurses are involved in the care of patients who are suffering from heart conditions. They can work on hospital wards or in clinics and form a key part of the multidisciplinary team.
As a cardiac rehabilitation nurse, you will provide up-to-date information to patients regarding heart health. You will provide personalized advice on how patients can make positive lifestyle choices to maximize their overall health. You may treat patients of all ages, but you will predominantly work with older adults.
To specialize in cardiac rehabilitation, you will need to complete a standard nursing degree and specialty training. It’s a highly specialized area of nursing but if you have a keen interest in heart health, you will love working in cardiac rehabilitation.