male and female nurses

The Spectrum of Nursing Specialties

Introduction

Nursing is a cohesive element that holds the health care journey of a patient together. Throughout the whole experience of a patient, regardless of any available assistance, nurses work hard and tirelessly to detect and provide the needs of the patient. Nursing is a highly specialized profession that requires and demands compassion, time, dedication, and focus; it is a continually evolving profession that addresses the changing needs of society. The profession of nursing can be described as both an art and a science because it requires the mind as well as the heart of an individual. The Mind is required to do rigorous core learning of this profession, and the Heart is required to uphold or maintain a fundamental respect for human dignity, assess needs, and address the needs of the patient.  Nursing has a wide variety of requirements and duties to perform, from educating the public about critical health issues to ensuring the most accurate nursing diagnoses. However, in every big or small, robust, or straightforward role, it takes skill and drive to become a nurse. There are many different types of nursing specialties to get an idea feel free to explore 105 types of nursing at the nurse journal site located at https://nursejournal.org/articles/awesome-nursing-specialities-you-should-know/.

Emergency Nurse

An emergency nurse requires a unique set of skills above and beyond the standard and necessary nursing skills; an emergency nurse works in a fast-paced and often stressful environment. Emergency nurses must have the ability to stay calm, collected, and focused on crucial and pressing situations. There are also different specialties of emergency nurses, i.e., trauma nurse, code nurse, triage nurse, disaster response or emergency preparedness nurse, flight nurse, and burn center nurse, for example.

Emergency nurses treat patients who are suffering from minor to severe medical conditions who require urgent care and treatment. These nurses are required to make quick and critical decisions to reduce the pain of the patients and stabilized them. According to the data collected by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the reasons behind most of the ER visits in 2014 are as follows:

  • Upper-respiratory infections
  • Abdominal pain
  • Superficial injury
  • Strains and sprains
  • Chest pain

Most emergency nurses work in emergency departments of hospitals. Still, some of them can be seen serving in unique working environments like critical care transport, or urgent care facilities, or on cruise ships or as movie medics. To become an emergency nurse, an individual needs to possess a vast range of characteristics, including the capability to stay calm and composed, the ability to adjust and adapt to a multitude of situations at the drop of a dime in a fast-paced, high stressed environment.

Critical Care Nurse

The nurses working who work with patients who are deemed critically or are acutely ill can be categorized as Critical Care Nurses. Critical Care Nurses also require above and beyond intensive skills in order to provide high-level nursing care for critically ill patients who are experiencing life-threatening conditions. These nurses provide care to patients who are in their most vulnerable state of existence. They are the health care professionals that spend the most one to one time with each and every patient, caring for the patients every need. They address complex health care issues to assure that the patient receives the most appropriate critical care treatment. They spend a lot of time operating and or monitoring a vast array of devices, for example, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) for dialysis, Hypothermic Therapy for Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) patients, and Balloon Pumps that are inserted into patients to help pump blood to the body. Nurses of critically ill patients are required to possess advanced critical thinking abilities and attain advanced skills to treat and monitor a wide variety of patients. Critical care nurses are skilled at providing comfort and care for families of patients during stressful times while tactfully educating them about the patient’s different healthcare options during the tense status quo. A critical care nurse can work in a wide variety of settings, such as in intensive care units, in a transitional unit between intensive care unit and acute care or and in emergency rooms as well.

Oncology Nurse

Oncology nurses treat and assist chronically ill cancer patients. They help the patient going through lengthy treatments while communicating the potential risks of terrible side effects from medications and or procedures. They provide encouragement and celebrate the victory of successful treatments with their patients and their families. They build a close bond with their patients and perform a vital role in making sure that patients and the caregivers go through the treatment process successfully and thoroughly. These nurses are companions of the patients who went through the ups and downs of the treatment together; they comfort them after hearing any bad news, support them when they feel down due to illness, educate them through a complicated procedure, advocate for those who need extra care and help, and often work as a communicator among the rest of the medical team and caregivers.

These nurses coordinate cancer care; their patients may need to see multiple professionals from different medical specializations. These nurses are the constant providers of the information and guidance required for the treatment plan. To become an oncology nurse, an individual is required to have grace, passion, empathy, and compassion, along with essential and specialized nursing care qualities, including taking a chemotherapy/immunotherapy provider course.

Orthopedic Nurse

These nurses are professionals who treat orthopedic issues such as arthritis, bone fractures, replacement of joints, a broken bone, osteoporosis, and genetic malformations. They focus on musculoskeletal diseases and disorders. These nurses know traction, casting, mobility devices, and pain management. These nurses assist the physicians in preparation for the procedure or the required surgery, and they help the patients during their recovery after the operation. Some of these nurses also work in the operating room. They are the experts in orthopedic conditions and work closely with their patients and their families and with the orthopedic team to avoid any miscommunication and to ensure a smooth recovery with minimal complications.

These nurses educate their patients about how to protect their bones and to maintain joint health and encourage them to enhance their mobility; they implement strategies to lessen their pain and complications. To become an orthopedic nurse, an individual must have the quality of empathy, and impeccable communication skills along with all the required educational criteria.

Telemetry Nursing

The telemetry nurse is proficient in cardiac care and works closely with the patients who are suffering from cardiovascular complications; they continuously monitor the heart rate and rhythm and watch for any irregularities or cardiac issues. They care for patients admitted with telemetry orders as well as post-catheterization patients who may have received cardiac stents and or had a pacemaker inserted. A telemetry nurse acts as the first line of defense for the patient whose having cardiac problems that are life-threatening or who’s health condition is deteriorating. These nurses are required to use their clinical observations, findings, and assessment skills to detect any deflection from the patient’s baseline heart rhythm or health condition. They are required to provide continuous surveillance to their patients to make sure that their cardiovascular health is stabilized, improving, or not improving. These nurses mostly work in hospitals, health care facilities, or clinics and customarily take care of patients suffering from different heart diseases throughout the lifespan as well as other acute care patients with various medical conditions. To become a telemetry nurse, an individual is required to use critical thinking, to treat and care for patients with a variety of cardiac diseases, to monitor and observe blood pressure, oxygen saturation, respirations, heart rate, and rhythm. Telemetry nurses are also required to educate their patients and promote healthy heart lifestyles.

The Spectrum of Nurse Specialties

Nursing is a vital and evolving profession of a society. Nurses, most possess a wide variety of knowledge and skills to practice in any health care facility, as well as obtain specialized certifications to work in specific specialty departments. These qualities include the ability to stay calm and compose in high pressured or high stressed situations, confidence, quick and thorough observational ability, ability to make smart and effective decisions, empathy, impeccable communication skills, and flexibility.

nursing specialty careers

 

Conclusion

Nursing is an active part of all health care facilities, and it is the most prominent health care occupation within the United States, according to nursingcenter.com. Nurses play significant roles in hospitals, clinics, and private practices. Nurses perform an immense array of duties such as documentation, assessments, procedures, medication administration, communication and collaboration with team members, skincare, wound care, including but not limited to end of life care. They are continually educating patients and their families about complex treatments and their potential side effects, meanwhile they encourage and support their patients and their families. Nurses understand that patients are in a vulnerable state, and they do their best to make them comfortable. The bottom line is that nurses usually become nurses because they want to make a difference one patient at a time.

Links:

https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/workforce/what-is-nursing/

https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/nursing/blog/emergency-nursing/