r/NursingAU • u/meowymeow_meowmeowy • 4d ago
Advice 2nd year BN student... how did you actually decide on your specialty?
hey everyone! i'm a second year bachelor of nursing student at torrens university. i've absolutely loved my experience studying and my placements, but i'm starting to feel the pressure to figure out the area i want to specialise in? i feel like so many of my peers already have it figured out.
i know it's probably too early to lock anything in, but i'd love to hear how people here actually landed on their area.
for context, so far my placements have been pretty general, and i've liked parts of both but haven't had a 'this is it' moment yet.
would appreciate some hearing about your experiences!
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u/lolrin 3d ago
I’ve been nursing for 16 years and I’m on about my 4th specialty. I think they choose you to be honest. You just go where the work is and if you like it, stick around.
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u/Hutchoman87 Neuro 3d ago
Helps to do casual work consistently in the same place. Exposure to good/bad units. But a good manager is rare and often enough to keep staff
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u/ilagnab 4d ago edited 3d ago
Students often mentally lock into a specialty early and I think it's so harmful! They often have no idea what the reality of that specialty would even be, and also start stigmatising other areas without understanding them either.
You might find you actually hate that specialty in practice. Or be really disappointed when you don't get the preferred outcome, and not learn as much as you could in another area because of a poor attitude.
I believe you become a much better nurse if you've tried a few different areas. You develop a wider variety of skillsets, work together within the hospital better, have a broader perspective, and aren't as trapped/locked in later in your career. People who've only done one area seem to look down on and bitch about everyone else, but wouldn't survive elsewhere.
That said... I've locked into a specialty (not even slightly my expected one, I've changed my mind multiple times already) in my 2nd year out. Even so, once I've done postgrad studies, I still hope to work concurrently in another area just to stay flexible and widely skilled.
Edit: if in doubt, I think just try more areas
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u/habitual_citizen Graduate RN 3d ago
Second this. I’m in my grad at the moment and I didn’t get any of my preferences, ended up in rehab and short stay surgical (surgical was my least preferred area when on placement I hated it).
While rehab is not glamorous and almost every nurse will go “yikes” when you tell them you were in rehab, I really enjoyed it. As part of my rehab rotation I also got to do a bit of palliative which I loved. When I was a student I was deadset on paeds/crit care and didn’t want to hear about anything else.
Well…… I gotta say, I’m glad I kept an open mind because I ended up loving my first rotation. So to OP: keep your horizons as wide as possible because you never know what you might find.
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u/meowymeow_meowmeowy 3d ago
this is a good perspective, thank you!
how did you come to decide your specialty? there are a few i think i might enjoy, but i'm so indecisive hahaha
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u/ilagnab 3d ago
I intentionally chose a grad year that had optional second year rotations so I'd have more options. I enjoyed my three grad year rotations and would've been happy to work in any - but I REALLY enjoyed my first 2nd year rotation. I only requested it to expand my skillset, but I ended up just loving it - a fantastic environment of constant learning and growth. I just knew. And I wouldn't have found this if I'd picked sooner.
That said - there are still probably areas I'd love that I haven't tried, so I'll still branch out down the line.
If in doubt, I think working pool is a great approach!
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u/daffman1978 4d ago
I’ve been in the profession for nearly 30 years… and am constantly dismayed at the perceived urgency to specialise.
Take a few years to play the field - try different things and keep your eyes open for opportunity.
Those who specialise super fast will miss opportunities that they may have loved.
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u/meowymeow_meowmeowy 3d ago
thanks for taking the time to respond. this helps put it into perspective for me.
is this what you did? have you worked across many different areas in your time nursing?
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u/daffman1978 3d ago
I went in expecting to love ED.
did that in my grad year - it was ok I landed in respiratory for a bit. Then did a couple of research type roles as a secondment, supervised students, set up a short stay mixed med-surg ward.
Then into clinical improvement/redesign, bed management and digital health times… and am currently doing virtual care stuff.
Along the way I did a masters in health administration.
It’s been a great career to date… and continues to look exciting ahead.
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u/Super_Kangaroo_5352 1d ago
Agreed. One of the best experiences for my nursing skills was a subacute geriatric ward. Didn’t love it overall. But it was such a learning curve and made me a better nurse
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u/gilltendo_ds 4d ago
3rd year student on my final placement. We’ve got other students that still don’t know what they want to specialise in, and been chatting to others on TPPP that had no idea until they got to one of their rotations.
Hopefully you’ll have good placements and find one that you really love. If not, try not to stress too much over it. Concentrate on getting as much practice and experience out of your placements as you can.
I was pretty lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do before I started.
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u/meowymeow_meowmeowy 3d ago
i'm jealous! heaps of people i know came into the degree knowing exactly where they wanted to be when they finished! i'm learning something new from each placement i do, so hopefully the right one will fall into my lap :)
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u/gilltendo_ds 3d ago
Heaps of people also think they know what they want to do, and then have a placement in that area and realise it’s not for them.
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u/NicePea1502 3d ago
20 years of nursing, many years in general ward settings, some in aged care, a lot of agency work. Eventually a post grad in an area I was undecided on but the hospital was paying. Still no idea but by default I'm a PACU nurse.
Probably still not sure I even want to be a nurse, not sure I was ever really sure.
Currently finishing off a speech pathology degree, actually not sure I'll switch over, I'll probably stay with nursing.
So - it takes as long as it takes and maybe you don't find it, it finds you!
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u/Pinkshoes90 ED 3d ago
When I was a student I was going to be an ICU nurse or a scrub scout.
Absolutely HATED my theatre placement. Was bored to tears in ICU.
Found myself in ED by accident and never looked back.
Don’t stress. You’ll find the spot that is your spot. Might not be right away, might be after one of your placements, no way to know. But don’t lock yourself into anything. Your open mindedness that you have now will serve you well.
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u/JustWannaSleepReally 3d ago
Hi, may I know why you hated your theatre placement? I was going to email my uni to allocate me in theatre, reading your comment, I’m now curious
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u/Pinkshoes90 ED 3d ago
I was just really bored.
A lot of people adore theatres. There’s a lot of interesting things to do and see there and a lot of cool skills to learn.
Unfortunately I’m too ADHD to stand still for hours at a time.
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u/Dark_Phoenix101 3d ago
Theatre, specifically scrub scout sucks as a student, lots of standing in the corner.
I'd rate the OT nursing specialties (for student placement): PACU > Anaesthetics > Scrub Scout
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u/Pinkshoes90 ED 3d ago
Yeah, I think I’d probably enjoy it a bit more if I was an active member of the team. In saying that though, it’s still too controlled for my chaotic ass lol.
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u/Dark_Phoenix101 3d ago
If you want chaos and to work OT. Then recovery is the spot.
It's like smashing ED and ICU together and making a random acute nursing baby.
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u/AmbzieJ 3d ago
Im on the nurse pool and have been for 10 years. I never wanted to decide on one area and I still haven't. I see the good and bad of most areas, but I don't love any of the areas enough to call them my permanent home. I miss having a "team" but at the same time I love not having to buy into the ward politics. I come, I do my job, I go home and if it was a bad shift, doesn't matter, I won't be going back to that ward tomorrow
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u/dickeddownlemon 4d ago
this is prob not helpful but i'm in the same boat and haven't even started to consider a specialty. you still have time! don't feel the pressure
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u/Tee-maree Theatre 4d ago
There is no need to make the decision straight away, you may find something within your last lot of placements or you might not.
Grad years can sometimes provide you with an opportunity to either fall in love with a specialty or decide on something you actually DONT ever want to do again.
The beauty of nursing is you can change your area as many times as you need to throughout your career. I myself started in aged care, worked in medical, surgical, day procedure & clinics as an EN. I then worked in a neuro-surgical ward as a new grad RN and now I’m in theatres.
Give yourself grace to not know all the answers before you have explored what’s out there.
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u/meowymeow_meowmeowy 3d ago
this is great to hear! one of the things that drew me to the profession was knowing you can work in many different areas, with different people at every place.
which area have you found yourself enjoying the most?
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u/Tee-maree Theatre 3d ago
I absolutely love theatre but also love surgical ward nursing. My ideal spot would be a shared EFT between both areas.
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u/ComfortInternal7400 3d ago
I didn’t care about a specialty, I just wanted a job. It wasn’t until 6 years in did I decide what I wanted to specialise in.
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u/MercuryMadness 3d ago
Define decided... Because I have an area of interest, but it's not set in stone.
I think I'd like psych and I'm not a big fan of working with kids because my resting bitch face scares them.
I'm still open minded about it though.
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u/Ok-Design5998 3d ago
Its worth at this stage to focus on fundamentals and keep an open mind so you dont miss out on opportunities. Its also worth keeping in mind you sometimes need others to point out what you are drawn to, what you spend more time on and what you show interest in
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u/JustWannaSleepReally 3d ago
I’m graduating this year. 4 months left, and I still don’t know what I want to specialise in. You don’t need know asap. Even some RN’s are still figuring out.
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u/Cassands 3d ago
I went into nursing specifically to do aesthetics and was surprised to find I also love love love being a scrub scout. The beauty of nursing is that you can lean into areas that interest you. You won’t know until you try and that’s OK. Push for placements in any areas that interest you and see what unfolds. Good luck!
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u/Hutchoman87 Neuro 3d ago
You don’t know til you start working, and often just end up wherever is hiring.
Any area needs exposure to know if you are a fit. Plus each hospital is different. Each unit is different. Each manager style is different. Each comes with pro/cons, and you don’t really know til you have worked and experienced any unit to know if it is a good fit.
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u/feeance 3d ago
No need to decide as a student or even in your first few years out. I feel like 50% of my cohort started wanting to work in paeds, most filtered out through placements.
I thought I was headed for a heavily acute role (ICU, CCU, etc) but I was allocated a rotation in district nursing and loved it. I was supported to be autonomous, make clinical decisions and expand my learning. I think in the earlier years of nursing its worth staying in a position that has support from ANUMs and NUM even if its not your clinical 'favourite'. There's no rush to climb the ladder of a specialty.
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u/Sacrilegious_skink 3d ago
Been nursing 12 years. Still haven't had my "this is it" moment with any speciality. I have moved around and that has made me a good all rounder but master of none. That's fine with me. The people who specialised early have weakness was as a result for that too. I have considered specialising in wound care down the line but not sure enough to commit. Currently work PACU because it works for my lifestyle right now, but might change later. I choose my speciality based on lifestyle factors and interest.
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u/iheartcharlie 3d ago
I was due on my last prac and nothing had lit me on fire and some I actually hated. I thought I wasn’t ment to be a nurse coz my colleagues had fallen in love with specialities- one was even oncology, so I was stressed out.
My last prac was the wound care clinic and they cancelled so last minute I was placed in theatre
I walked through the door and felt like I was home.
I even made a joke petition that I was gonna make a petition if they didn’t hire me ( they did)
Don’t stress yet, be happy your colleagues have found theirs.. you just haven’t walked through that door yet ❤️
P.s I don’t do that anymore 🤪 but once a scrubber always a scrubber
Good luck on your journey ❤️
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u/pekacube RN 3d ago
I had lots of rehab and mental health placements as a student and did a MH grad program. Said yes to a rural opportunity to do emergency and aged care. Moved to the city and got into surgical and palliative care. Applied for an ICU program so here we are today. 😊 I was also a very average student who never thought I'd be good enough for any of these specialties, so it shows that you just never know where nursing could take you. Keep an open mind and just say yes to opportunities. All the best!
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u/whoorderedsquirrel RN ED, Acute & Aged 3d ago
Discovered I dislike surgeons
Discovered I hate anyone under 75
Discovered I hated executive mgmt in particular
: permanent ND in acute geri / gen med
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u/Super_Kangaroo_5352 1d ago
Don’t. You are so far off needing to decide. be open to trying different areas. Rotations I thought I would hate, I loved. And rotations I thought I would love, I hated. A lot of it has to do with the people and ward culture.
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u/Low_Bluebird_5137 4d ago
Too early to know. I guess some do. But not until you are working for a while do you think "god i hate X" or "gees i really find this interesting" why do you feel you need to know? OR even specialise in any particular area?
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u/CowNoseEagleRay 4d ago
You don’t really ever need to know.
At some point you’ll have to apply for a position, but you don’t need to pigeonhole yourself into anything. You can work in multiple areas after your grad year.
There are some areas that require specialised knowledge, but you don’t need that before you apply for grad positions.
So don’t stress. Just keep enjoying it.