Fining Your Nursing Niche

I think the best thing of the nursing profession is that you have TONS of speciality options and there are more specialty options that are continuing to evolve. So, let’s start with the basics: hospital bedside nursing, nursing education, and clinic nursing. These three are probably the basic three nursing positions that you could find especially 10-20 years ago.

Since then we know that nursing has evolved from those three basic positions. Nurses now are administrators, advanced practice nurses, and nurse entrepreneurs. Nurses can work in forensics, work as media specialists, and become legal advisors. Nurses can even get specialized in their particular field. The world is your oyster! And, I am really excited to see what nursing will be like in 10-20 years into the future.

So now that you know that you have a lot of options, how do you drill down to your niche?

How to find out where you’re “meant to be” or if you’re not feeling that happily-ever-after…find out “what fits now”. Which is honestly how I have lived my nursing career. I started in pediatrics mainly because I didn’t want lift anyone in his or her that was heavier than me. I kid you not. Seriously, that is where my thinking was in my twenties. Not the most scientific thinking or altruistic but, I enjoyed my time in pediatrics. I enjoyed my patients, my coworkers, and the hospital environment. For several years, I worked in one of the best children’s hospital in the nation and I was on my A-game. I learned so much for working with the top pediatric physicians, nurses, and staff.

Then, I was ready to move on. I decided to go back to grad school and I tried working at a local university as a graduate assistant. I helped the nursing professors with their research and tutored nursing students. So basically, I quasi-experimented with education for those years and then decided to give ob-gyn a try.

I was at one of the best local hospitals that focused on women and infant health particularly for indigenous and lower-income populations. I loved women’s health. I loved the population. But, I got bored. And I moved to hospice.

I know! Hospice? Of all specialities, I chose a speciality that I dreaded. I had lost my father a couple years before and I was not emotionally ready to deal with death on a daily basis. But, I love my patients, especially my veterans. I love helping ease the pain and suffering of a family who is experiencing their loved one transition.

So long blog short…. how do you find your niche? Just go for it! Experiment. Talk with others. Interview. Take the job. Maybe try travel nursing.

Find out what speaks to your heart. Or think about what you’ve always wanted to try. As you grow in your career and in your personal life, you realize things that you never thought about when in your twenties or thirties. Like I mention before nursing is probably one of the best professions to grow. You definitely want to consider in your retirement plan when switching from job to job but maybe you can stay in the same hospital system. Just go for it! Change does happen in your comfort zone.