Interesting Specialisms in Nursing That Could be the Right Career Choice for You

The ongoing COVID-19 situation has really highlighted just how important healthcare professionals and the work they do is in our society. For many people, this has been a real source of inspiration, and may well have made a lot of young people who are considering their career options look in the direction of nursing and medicine.

Nursing is not only a rewarding and interesting career path, where every day is different; it can also be a lucrative one. Nurses of all disciplines are always in demand, and some of the most specialized or sought-after nursing roles can attract six figure salaries. There are other advantages too, like the wide choice of working environments, the ease of finding work if you want to relocate (because nurses are needed everywhere in the world), and the fact that nursing is very unlikely to become obsolete as a career any time soon.

If you are considering pursuing a career in nursing, however, one of the most interesting things about it as a field is the sheer number of specialisms there are to choose from. There are so many branches of nursing that there is something to suit everyone – even, as we’ll look at in this article, nursing roles for people who no longer want to treat patients directly. 

Becoming a Nurse

Nurses generally start out by getting a BSN, becoming an RN, and then gaining some experience in a clinical setting before advancing their career into a more senior or specialist role. If you want to become a nurse as your first career out of school, then gaining the BSN is the first step. However, there are also accelerated BSN online programs from colleges like Baylor University that can be done online if you already have a degree in another field, so it can also be possible to move into nursing even if you studied another subject at college.

Here, we look at some of the most interesting nursing career paths you can then consider:

Family Nurse Practitioner

A family nurse practitioner or FNP is a senior nurse that can provide a wide variety of healthcare services, and this is one of the most popular choices for nurses looking to advance their careers. An FNP can diagnose and treat a wide variety of conditions, and essentially can do many of the things a GP does – often filling the gap between nurses and physicians, especially in places where there is a shortage of GPs and in rural areas. 

The work of an FNP is varied and rewarding, with this kind of nurse able to provide care to patients at every stage in life, from babies and children through to pregnant women, people with ongoing health conditions who need regular care, and the elderly. It is a good choice of nursing career path for those who want a well-paid and highly sought-after role that offers variety, plays an important role in the community, and can be highly rewarding.

Informatics Nurse

For nurses with a technical mind, a career as an informatics nurse can be an appealing choice. Informatics nurses deal with things like clinical data and diagnostics, as well as aiming to innovate in terms of the way technology is used in healthcare. They sometimes work in hospital settings, but can also work for tech companies or research centers, providing medical and health industry knowledge during the development of new health IT.

Most nurses who want to pursue this career path take on a health informatics related master’s degree after gaining some experience working as a nurse. It can be a great career choice for people who want to be on the cutting edge when it comes to how IT is used in healthcare provision, or who are interested in data science.

Oncology Nurse

An oncology nurse or cancer nurse provides care to people who have been diagnosed with forms of cancer. This can include things like administering chemotherapy. Many states have special licenses or certifications that nurses can gain, which can help them pursue oncology as a field. There are, of course, specialisms within this field, such as nurses who specialize in specific forms of cancer, and nurses who specialize in hospice care for terminally ill cancer patients. This can be a good choice for nurses with a good bedside manner who want to make a difference to people with serious illnesses.

Trauma Nurse

A trauma nurse typically works in emergency room settings, and deals with people in need of emergency care. This means this type of nurse needs to be ready to deal with anything, and good at managing stressful situations. Trauma nurses typically gain experience in a hospital ER and then obtain emergency nursing qualifications, though this varies by location. 

Working as a trauma nurse can be a good choice for people who work well in high pressure, unpredictable environments. It is a nursing role where you can literally save lives, and one where no two days are the same, but it can also be one of the most stressful nursing career paths.

Nurse Midwife

Nurse midwives provide care to women during pregnancy and throughout childbirth, and they also provide postpartum care. In some cases, they also provide other reproductive health care and advice to women. To work as a midwife, nurses need an MSN, as well as the Certified Nurse Midwife credential. 

Midwives play a very important role in family health, and this can be a good choice for people who like the idea of working with expectant mothers to make their pregnancies and births as comfortable as possible – as well as of course, those who like babies!

These are just some of the many different specialisms a qualified nurse can pursue, but they give a good idea of just how varied nursing can be. From providing day-to-day care to patients through to dealing with emergencies, from delivering babies through to working in technology innovation, there are countless interesting and important things you can do once you begin your nursing career.