You don’t need to know what field of nursing you want to be in right away.
There may be some classmates who already know that they want to be a pediatric nurse or in the maternity field. You’re not sure where you want to go and even if you do, you may end up changing your mind when you graduate. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this.
Sometimes you can go into nursing clinical and feel absolutely confident that this is the field you want to be in. You may end up feeling overwhelmed and think that it’s not the field for you if you’re not doing well in that particular class. You tell yourself you have always wanted to be a pediatric nurse, but you’re barely passing.
Remind yourself to hold your head up high and that the real world is NOTHING like nursing clinical. Your experience in nursing clinical should not affect what happens in the real world. There will be training when you get accepted to your first job. You will not be thrown out there to the wolves and lose your license because you lack the experience to provide the adequate care.
Many nursing graduates start out in nursing homes and Medical-Surgical units because it is extremely difficult to find a job. The ironic part is that there’s a huge nursing shortage. Every hospital has available jobs for nurses. However, almost all positions require nursing experience. Although you may want to aim straight for your dream nursing job, remember to build your experience and focus on building your resume. Once you get the experience, then build the courage to grab your dream job.
If you do land your dream job and you realize it is nothing like you believed it’d be, hold your head up. The first year is tough because you have to get trained, your coworkers have to get to know you, and you need to grasp the routine. It is impossible to do this in one week or one month, especially if you’re new. Remember that you’re going to go on a journey that will change you as a nurse and as a person. Do not quit just because it gets tough in the beginning.
10 Nursing careers that doesn’t require experience:
- Clinic nurse
- Medical-Surgical nurse
- Hospice nurse
- Dialysis nurse
- Travel immunization nurse
- Seasonal nurse (Flu season)
- Float nurse
- Cardiopulmonary
- Telemetry
- Mental health
10 Nursing careers that usually requires experience:
- Pediatric Outpatient/Inpatient nurse
- NICU nurse
- Maternity nurse
- School nurse
- Critical Care nursing
- Emergency Nurse
- Oncology nurse
- Nurse educator
- Perianesthesia nursing
- PACU nurse
