Nursing is an important career, but it is not nearly as simple as it seems on the surface. When you think about a nurse, chances are good that you picture someone in scrubs helping patients in a hospital. While this can be true, there are many different specializations and career paths nurses can consider. From working with children and new mothers to helping the elderly or providing comfort and support to cancer patients, there is a lot of opportunity to find a highly tailored niche if that’s how you’d like to work.
This article will examine the specialties you can select in nursing, how your degree impacts them, and how you can find the right area for your interests.
What does growth look like in the nursing industry?
Before looking at the kinds of jobs and specialties you can pursue as a nurse, let’s talk about progression in the industry. There are two main types of career progression you can expect to see as a nurse:
- Horizontal growth
- Vertical growth
Both of these progression options have pros and cons, and there are people who swear by each. Let’s take a closer look at vertical and horizontal growth and what each means for the savvy nursing professional.
Horizontal growth
Horizontal growth is career progression that focuses more on developing talents and skills than on following a corporate ladder progression model. Instead of looking at the number of promotions they can expect in one, five, or ten years, people focused on horizontal progression look instead at the improvements they can make in themselves and their professional abilities to improve their value. Once you have put in the work and evolved your career-specific skills, you are free to apply for the jobs of your dreams with a more impressive resume and greater expertise in the industry.
Vertical growth
Vertical growth is the more traditional kind of growth. When you think about progressing at work, you probably consider a line of progression running from worker to manager to CEO. There are many stops on that path, and you might not be able to complete the journey at your current company, but the path is pretty direct even if you must look for other jobs to continue it. Vertical growth is very much a “ladder” in direction. Your goal is to move upwards at whatever cost rather than improving your professional abilities and expanding to the side like horizontal growth.
Note here that there is no right answer as to which kind of growth is best. On the contrary, both types of progression are valid, and they are not a “one size fits all” approach. On the contrary, some people will find that vertical growth is the best choice for their goals, while others swear by horizontal growth and the learning opportunities it provides. The right choice for you depends on your career goals.
Advanced nursing programs and role progression in nursing
When you think of nursing education, you might envision graduating from university after your four-year degree and heading into the workforce. While this is certainly a path you can take, you can also choose to earn an advanced degree in the field. An advanced degree can help prepare you for the specialty of your choice and enable you to find the right job for your goals once you graduate and enter the workforce.
There are a few popular advanced degrees in nursing to consider. We’ll go over two of the most common below.
How can I earn an MSN or DNP?
If you are interested in exploring advanced degrees to take advantage of the benefits we’ve outlined above, you’re in luck! There are two main degrees you will likely work towards, although there are a few other options depending on where you’re located and your career goals. You will probably focus on obtaining a Master of Nursing (MSN) or a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) depending on your overall goals. Some of you might decide to complete both, which is an excellent option depending on your chosen career goals. With that said, if you aren’t sure where to begin, you aren’t alone. While the path to either is fairly straightforward, they can be confusing to follow when you aren’t sure how to get started. With that in mind, let’s talk about how you can earn an MSN, DNP, or both!
First, you must enroll in a university program related to nursing in some way. If your university doesn’t offer an undergraduate degree in nursing outright, consider speaking with your academic advisors if you aren’t sure which option is right for you. Once you have completed your undergraduate degree, you are ready to move on to a more advanced degree: an MSN.
Wondering what can you do with a master’s in nursing, such as the one offered by Cleveland State University? All sorts of things! A master’s degree is enough to get you a head start on various specialties, allowing you to explore the area that interests you most, such as specializing in human anatomy or care management.
To earn an MSN, you must apply to graduate schools either after you graduate from your four-year degree or when you have a confirmed graduation date. Once you are accepted to a program, you can expect to spend from two to three years learning more specialized information about the medical area of your choice and honing specialized skills to allow you to hit the ground running.
Finally, if you have more advanced career positions in mind, like clinical nurse leadership positions, you might consider continuing your education just a bit more and completing a doctoral degree. This degree is the most advanced nursing degree you can obtain and positions you for leadership roles in a wide range of specialties. It is truly the option of choice for students with a penchant for specialization and management, and you can further refine your knowledge of specific medical areas while working towards it. You can expect this degree to last anywhere from two to four years.
When you have completed the advanced degree of your choice, you are ready to explore all of the specialties and jobs the nursing field has to offer.
Nursing specializations
Before we look at specific jobs to consider, we want to review some of the broad specializations that interest nursing students and nursing professionals across the country. Here are some of the most common of them.
- Pediatric nursing
Pediatric nursing is one of the most popular nursing specialties we’ll explore. Pediatric nursing focuses specifically on pediatrics, or children. You will work with child patients of varying ages ranging from adolescents to newborns and everything in between, to provide healthcare education and services designed to ensure healthy development. Pediatric nurses must be able to communicate well with children and adults as they spend a lot of time working directly with caregivers. You can expect to provide services like immunizations, development screenings, and family education.
If you are interested in pediatric nursing, you will find jobs in a wide variety of places, including hospitals, pediatric clinics, and smaller pediatric departments in healthcare organizations.
- Critical care nursing
The second specialization we’ll discuss is critical care nursing. Critical care nurses don’t see patients for simple tasks like triage or immunizations. On the contrary, they work directly with patients in intensive care units (ICUs) because they require specialized care. As an ICU nurse, you will be expected to provide detailed and attentive care to the seriously injured and ill, including implementing complex treatment plans, paying close attention to vitals, and working together with multidisciplinary care teams.
Note that because this area of nursing is often fraught with medical emergencies and high-stress situations, nurses are encouraged to continue their education in innovative technologies, best practices, and healthy trauma coping strategies. Nurses see many traumatic things while working, and some are more affected than others. It is always a good idea to ensure that you have a toolbox varied enough to deal with even the most heartbreaking situations.
- Geriatric nursing
Geriatric nursing is another common specialty for nurses. These nurses work with the elderly to address age-related challenges that can affect their quality of life. This specialty is particularly involved, and the ability to interact with other medical professionals is critical because older patients tend to have larger teams to guarantee comprehensive care.
If you want to work in geriatric nursing, make sure that you build a strong foundation in cognitive changes as well as physical changes. Dementia is a relatively common issue to encounter in this age group, so you’ll want to have a good grasp of it just as you would the causes of impaired mobility and other physical ailments. Geriatric nursing is an increasingly important field of nursing as the number of aging Baby Boomers continues to rise, so if this is your specialty of choice, you will likely have a comparatively easy experience finding a job.
- Oncology nursing
Oncology nurses work with patients with cancer. They are a critical component of their care teams, in fact, and are responsible for administering chemotherapy, managing the side effects of chemotherapy and the disease in general, and providing patients and their loved ones with education about managing symptoms at home. Many oncology departments have nurses on standby 24/7 in case questions arise during caregiving and patients or their loved ones need help.
As an oncology nurse, you will be an important support pillar to your patients. From discussing the effects of cancer and chemotherapy on the body to offering warm blankets during chemotherapy administration, be prepared to work closely with very ill patients. You’ll make a huge difference in their lives and make their experience easier to handle.
- Psychiatric nursing
If you are interested in helping patients with their mental health, psychiatry might be the right specialty for you. While we touched on this briefly in other specialties, such as gerontology and dementia, psychiatric nursing covers many mental health battles that require competent care to overcome. While your exact responsibilities will depend on your education level, psychiatric nursing can expect to help triage patients, talk to patients about their medications, including physical and mental side effects, and help patients access resources that can better help them fight the condition in question.
In some states, nurse practitioners can actually prescribe and manage psychiatric medications. If you hope to dive that deep into the field, you can expect to complete an advanced degree of some kind in order to qualify as a nurse practitioner. You should also look into which states grant nurse practitioners this kind of authority, as not all of them do.
How do I pick a specialization?
Does more than one specialization catch your eye? You aren’t alone. Many nursing students struggle to pick their specialization and start their more closely defined education in their field of choice. Some find it helpful to volunteer in the disciplines that interest them to help them make a final pick. If you are interested in psychiatric nursing, for example, there are programs where you can work in the office of the healthcare facility in question and help check patients in. This can give you a better idea of the kinds of patients you will work with as a psychiatric nurse. If you enjoy working with children, maybe pediatric care is the better choice.
If you have the opposite problem and none of the specialties above catch your eye, don’t worry. That list is far from exhaustive and there are as many options for specialization as you could possibly need. Don’t be afraid to do some research on your own!
When you have your specialization decided, you must pick a university. This is where the need to do some research comes into play. Sometimes you’ll need to shop around to find a program that covers the specialization you want to learn about, but if you have some patience and time, you’ll be able to find a good fit.
Once you’ve made your choice and are working towards graduation, you have a few more steps to take at this point. First, build your network. Building professional networks is a great way to make a name for yourself in the industry and get considered for jobs. You should also look into more focused training for your specialization of choice if your university doesn’t offer a degree fully tailored to it. There are many options here, and you can often build your professional network while studying for your field.
Are you ready to get started on your path to nursing? Keep the information outlined in this article in mind as you look for the right program choice and specialty. Don’t be afraid to dig around and do some school shopping, either! The better your pick, the faster you can start working directly with patients and making a positive difference in their lives.
