Nursing is rapidly expanding, bringing new career opportunities for young professionals to explore. These specialty options allow nurses to explore options of specific interest to them. The specialty careers share similar training, skills, and duties to nursing. Moreover, some career paths feature high prestige and pay due to the nature of the field.
Furthermore, there’s a growing demand for these nursing services. There’s something for young professionals to specialize in, whether small, like learning medical language translation or being a certified registered nurse anesthetist.
Let’s explore some fast-growing nursing potentials that offer worthwhile benefits such as high pay, numerous opportunities, professional rewards, and fulfillment.
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetic
Unarguably, RNs are among the highest-paid professions in medicine. These professionals prescribe anesthesia to individuals undergoing surgery. They are heavily involved in the surgery room, ensuring casualties are unconscious during the procedure. They also monitor the patient’s vitals and biological function.
These professionals work in conjunction with physicians, surgeons, and anesthesiologists. Their job description in medical facilities includes preparing individuals for surgery, delivering anesthesia, and performing physical assessments. After anesthesia admission, they monitor the patient’s vitals and recovery from medication. It is a celebrated career that brings fulfillment and satisfaction.
Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner
Another fulfilling specialty career to specialize in is AGNP. This is especially true for young professionals intrigued by working with and helping older people. The job scope of this profession isn’t tied to a hospital but extends to nursing homes, private practices, and schools.
The profession involves the examination of the root causes and effects of an extended list of illnesses. You learn care practices and treat adults with unique needs.
The duties of an AGNP vary depending on their specialization, primary or acute care. Moreover, these professionals can operate in various settings, including long-term care facilities or ICUs.
Nurse Midwife
Pregnant women need all the love and support throughout labor and after the child’s birth. That is why caregivers are essential in the delivery process. A midwife is in charge of delivery, antenatal and postnatal care and support, and showing support to their families.
These practitioners are suited to work in various environments, such as birthing centers, homes, independent practices, clinics, or maternity units. They coordinate with the medical team, which includes doctors, social workers, health visitors, and neonatal nurses. Their prescribed duties include assessing care requirements and formulating care plans, examining and monitoring pregnant women, taking screening tests, and assisting women in labor.
The estimated working hours for such professionals depend on the nature of the organization. However, an average working hour for a nurse includes eight to twelve hours. Moreover, the nature of the medical facility might require workers to work odd hours due to the job’s demands. Therefore, any trainee must be comfortable juggling a stressful situation and professionalism while providing biased support during high-emotion occasions.
Family Nurse Practitioner
There’s a general shortage of primary care physicians. Hence, nurse practitioners are grabbing these opportunities to care for the aging population. These practitioners offer advanced nursing services to sick ones and families while addressing specific health concerns and disease prevention.
FNPs are becoming the first point of contact for families seeking first-hand medical assistance. These professionals provide preventive care plus health conditions, including obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and major and minor infections.
The job description of such workers involves a series of duties, including maintaining patient records, formulating treatment plans, providing patient care, carrying out physical examinations, and providing patient education.
ER Nurse
An emergency room nurse works in medical facilities to provide care for casualties with traumatic or severe medical conditions. Their main responsibilities involve identifying medical care, determining its severity, and offering support to reduce negative long-term effects.
Some common duties involve blood transfusions, bone setting, delivering medication and wound care, giving stitches and sutures, and stabilizing incoming casualties.
The work environment for such professionals is quite demanding and calls for fast decision-making. There are no fixed tasks due to the quick movement of patients in and out. It is spontaneous, without a fixed routine to live by. However, it’s characterized by high pressure and high levels of stress in comparison to registered nurses.
Geriatric Nursing
Gerontology is a growing medical sector, especially with the growing population. Geriatric nurses are highly devoted to caring for the elderly, who need special needs and care while navigating the healthcare system.
These experts perform more than delivering care to older patients. They are trained in delivering medication, educating patients, providing support, and guiding activities. They deal with patients with a range of old-age illnesses, from cataracts, Alzheimer’s, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, dementia, and hearing loss.
The work environment of such practitioners varies depending on the nature of patients from hospitals, long-term care facilities, assisted living communities, home health services, and primary care offices. Alternatively, you can explore your job options, such as health insurance companies or medical supply firms that care for senior citizens.
Mental Health Nurse
One out of two people in the world is likely to develop mental health issues in their lifetime. Hence, there’s a growing demand for mental health nurses. These nurses are responsible for planning and providing medical support for individuals with various mental issues. This includes anxiety disorders, paranoia, depression, dissociation, eating disorders, bipolar, and PTSD, among many more.
Typical duties related to such professionals include assessing nursing care requirements, formulating workloads, visiting subjects, handing out medication, and combating stigma, among many more. Also, they perform basic nursing responsibilities in relation to their subjects.
In addition, the typical employers for such experts include correctional facilities, psychiatric hospitals, outpatient clinics, schools, nursing homes, private homes, and private recovery centers.
Final Takeaway
It’s good news that with further training and education, nurses can explore more opportunities in the nursing world. These specialty careers provide avenues for enhanced career and skill development. Therefore, follow and explore these opportunities to find a field that is suitable for you.
