subject: 5 Specialties For Your Nursing Career [print this page] If you have decided to commit to a career in nursing, and are in the process of completing a relevant program, it is time to consider the various specialties available and the different settings where you can build your career. A description of five main specialties follows.
*Critical Care Nursing: If you have a Registered Nurse (RN) license you can get into this field, which involves taking care of patients from all age groups who are critically ill. You will have to routinely work in intensive care and emergency departments, and be required to handle sophisticated equipment. Lots of opportunities are available due to shortages in this field.
*Legal Nurse Consultant: In addition to a RN license, if you have special training or gained certain insights into the legal system, then you can very well take up legal nursing. With your relevant skills you can review and interpret medical data and analyze any medical issue related to a claim or legal case.
*Occupational Health Nurse: If you do not want to work in a formal medical facility, you can opt to be an Occupational Nurse. You will be working for large businesses, mills, factories, etc. Your job will include managing the health of the work force, and may also involve ensuring safety standards and maintaining relevant records.
*Travel Nursing: If you don't like to be confined to one place, then you can consider Travel Nursing. You will be working for a nursing agency, and can specify your preferred locations of work, which might be within the state or any anywhere in the country. Accordingly, you will be assigned work for a short or long term period. Besides great flexibility, you get a good salary and accommodation, along with variation in your assignments. Alternatively, if you want to take up only part-time nursing, you can ask the agency to assign you to close-by locations where you can work for specific hours on a shift basis.
*Holistic Nursing: Do you think of a patient beyond just the ailment? Then you can consider Holistic Nursing, which requires you to take a more wholesome approach to any patient. Here you will have to combine regular clinical cures with alternative treatment to heal the ailment along with the patient's mind and spirit. However, this kind of nursing requires a completely different attitude to nursing.
As you can see, the nursing field offers you several opportunities to work in varied environments, this coupled with the rising demand for nurses can help you to advance your career in a specialization of your choice.
