I am trying to decide what specialty to go into....I really like labor and delivery thus far. Can you share with me which is your favorite and why???? Thanks!!!

Dmazment is right...I am leaning towards Oncology or Cardiology.  I use to work in the Cardiology Dept, for a local hosptial in Dallas.  I was able to watch cases in the Cath Lab and I scheduled all cardiac tests, so I was able to observe some of those.  My father had a heart attack and my grandmother at CHF and that what really started my interest in Cardio.  But then it again that might change.  Good luck!

Deb is actually right. I'm not yet a registered nurse coz i'm still in nursing school but have alreday experienced almost all of the areas of specialty. When i first step at the Delivery room & took my maternal & child concepts, i found it really amazing. When I had my OR, i thought that OR was really meant for me. Then comes a time of my psychiatric exposure, i had fun and took the idea of having it as my specialization. Then i was hooked by the Emergency dept. and finally the intensive care unit. For me choosing you area of specialty would really depend not only on your interest but with how competent and skilled you are to a certain area. It's how you get the best of your self in giving nursing care. Anyways, at the end of the day what matters most is how we helped save life! :)

imjustmee143 says ...

Thanks for all of your replies....I will be graduating in May so we have done all of our rotations thus far. I am now trying to figure out in which area I should do my preceptorship. I really enjoyed L&D but everybody says to go to medsurg first. 

You'll hear some say this isn't necessary, but a year or so of MedSurg actually gives you a good foundation, because I've found far to many L&D nurses are so narrowly focused on their speciality, they literally can not function well outside the speciality.

I may have had that fate, if I didn't do two years of Ortho and MedSurg before going into the OR.

I am in my last year less than 6 months to go and I am leaning toward ICU.  We start our precepting in Jan.

I can't believe how fast nursing school has flown by.. 

Again, Deb speaks the truth. I lasted about 6 months in MedSurg before realizing that peds was my calling. That was almost 14 years ago. I have done OR/PACU over the years and still found myself back in peds eventually.

 I'm a skimmer.  What does that mean?  I've tried just about every specialty except for L & D.  I've done Cardiac Med-surg, ICU/CCU/CVSCU/NICU/ER/Trauma/PACU.  I'm currently in Post Anesthesia/Recovery Room.  Love it.

Why?  No more emotional connections to patients; it is nice to send them either home or to the floor.  

I've been a nurse for a long time and really enjoy differently specialties--i enjoy complex cases and critical thinking scenarios.  I get bored easily and enjoy a lot of challenges, but at the same time no longer want the emotional pressure from families with dysfunctional dynamics.

So...PACU I stay... =)

I agree with Deb about the time in Med/Surg, you learn so much about nursing and critical thinking.   Personally, I like Med/Surg, I've done ccu, cardiac step down, ER, ortho, home health, cardiac rehab.   I do like ER too, as long as the facility has a pediatric ER separate.   My ER background had a separate ER for peds from biguns. I have never done L&D.   When people were pulled from Med/surg to fill in for L&D, I truthfully told them 'no experience, it scares me, and I might kill somebody'. 

I recently graduated LPN school, and haven't gone to work as yet.  But I think I want to specialize in pediatrics. 

I'd love to get some advice/hints from any other pediatric nurses...

I would think that a Master's in Nursing education would probably be the most needed. We are in desperate need of nurse educators in my area.

I have worked in most of the challenging ones but one thing that i learnt from working in each specialty was that nursing would be incomplete without having a background Med-Surg experience.

ER was exciting,brain-storming,full of activity and enthusiasm, LD was full of compassion and seeing a new life emerging and feeling proud of being a woman myself, NICU was all touch,being as gentle as i could be,giving all the love that one can hold in his/her heart to these tiny small but sick babies.......... And many more but i ended up doing hospice that has a very slow pace as compared to any one of these.But maybe i was destined to be in Hospice.

Wherever you go,your Med-Surg background always always helps you no matter what. The knowledge and the critical thinking that you acquire stays with you forever.

There also maybe a time when you see yourself working in all different specialties yet not feeling satisfied. Sometimes it just takes a while to know exactly what your heart likes.But at the end of the day,thoughts always come to our minds wherein we question ourselves.....Am i really a good nurse,Is it why i had decided to become a nurse,Is it what i had always wanted to do.I believe making a difference to someone's life is more important than anything when we have a profession called NURSING.And i can do that only when i am happy from inside(not filled with stressors).

Choose your specialty considering few of these things-What is your personality suited to-LD,ER.... or....Will i feel peace of mind,satisfaction and above all FULFILLED that i am a proud nurse who does touch someone's life.

Always remember What goes around,comes around and whatever good we do to others always comes back to us.Do everything with all your heart.Good luck.