In the field of nursing, there are many exciting subspecialties. Nurses work in every part of the medical world, from the operating room to the emergency room. When nursing students choose their specialties, they often want to know what the special requirements of each area might be.
Julia Batchelder, Nursing from New Orleans, Louisiana, shares the details of many subspecialties within her field and the advantages that each may possess.
Registered Nurse (RN)
Registered nurses are the backbone of the field. There is a huge demand for nurses in the workplace today, and job growth is predicted to increase by 9 percent in the coming years. Registered nurses work in various clinical settings, from doctors offices to hospitals. They provide support to doctors while at the same time handling a variety of clinical tasks. Registered nurses make an average salary of $75,330 or $36.22 per hour.
The advantages of working as a registered nurse include predictable hours if working in an outpatient clinic. The compensation is excellent, and nurses have many opportunities to help people one-on-one, meaning that their job is satisfying.
Cardiac Nurse
Cardiac nurses are employed in hospitals and by cardiologists. They are responsible for taking on the specialized tasks that include testing for cardiac conditions, providing clinical support for cardiologists, and specialized care for cardiac hospital patients.
Cardiac nurses also assist in surgical procedures like pacemaker surgery, angioplasties, and bypass surgery.
The advantage of working as a cardiac nurse is that it is an exciting field where lives are saved daily. Unfortunately, some cardiac patients are very fragile and do not survive, but the possibility of saving lives motivates cardiac nurses to come to work.
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
Nurse anesthetists have large salaries at about $153,000 annually and a demanding job. They are in high demand, and they must receive a great deal of specialized training. A graduate degree such as an MSN (Master of Science in Nursing) is required to become a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
Anesthetist nurses provide an important service because they assist with anesthesiologists workload. They can manage patients pain in the hospital.
Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
Clinical nurse specialists are a subset of advanced practice registered nurses or APRNs. They are leaders within the nursing field and can manage patient care independently, including prescribing medication. In some cases, this position requires a Doctor of Nursing degree. They may be involved in educating other nurses.
Clinical nurse specialists have more supervisory responsibility than other nurses, meaning that they can coordinate care teams and provide expert care to their patients.
Critical Care Nurse
Critical care nurses are also known as ICU nurses. These nurses must manage intensive care cases quickly, efficiently, and correctly. Critical care nurses are in extreme demand, with significant shortfalls projected for several years.
Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
Family nurse practitioners work in outpatient doctors offices, providing frontline care to their patients. They treat a full range of people from infants to the elderly, managing many chronic conditions and handling sick calls and ongoing issues.
In many cases, family nurse practitioners can work a 9 to 5 schedule, meaning that their jobs are excellent for nurses with young families. The extra education needed (generally a Masters degree in Nursing) sets family nurse practitioners apart in the field.
Labor and Delivery Nurse
Maternity nurses handle the labor and delivery floor in many hospitals. They work closely with obstetricians to provide excellent care for mothers and newborns. They must be well-versed in the labor process and provide personal care and support to their patients and families at all times. They must also handle long hours, overnight shifts, and the stress of emergent medical conditions suffered by mother and child.
Maternity care is incredibly rewarding, and nurses often feel joy at bringing new lives into the world.
Geriatric Nurse
Geriatric nurses help doctors care for elderly patients. They must be specialists in the many diseases of aging, including diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, dementia, Alzheimers disease, and other serious problems.
The Nursing Shortfall
To meet high standards of patient care, many more nurses will need to be hired. The shortfall in nursing positions can only be remedied if one million additional nurses are hired over the next few years. In addition, the extreme demands of the Covid pandemic have driven many nurses out of their jobs. Nurses with an unshakeable dedication to their craft will be needed to help the population survive. Julia Batchelder Nursing believes that today’s nursing students are prepared to meet these extreme challenges.
A Diversity of Careers Available
These exciting nursing subspecialties provide rewarding careers to nursing students and others who want to expand their career horizons. Julia Batchelder Nursing predicts that nurses will become even more important in the medical field than in the past.
