Nursing Specialties
There are as many nursing specialties as there are medical specialties in general. A nurse can specialize in treating a specific group of patients. For example, a geriatric nurse would work with the elderly and deliver the specific care they need. Nurses can also specialize in specific disease management. A nurse specializing in diabetes would teach diabetics how to manage their disease, including diet and insulin shots. Nurses can specialize by area, for example, in the emergency room or the operating room. Or they can specialize by body system, such as the kidneys and work with patients who need dialysis. Some of these areas overlap.
A nurse can also specialize by degree. A registered nurse with a BSN can go on to receive more training and become specialized in many areas. An RN who wants to get an advanced practice degree (master's level) can choose to specialize at that point and become a nurse practitioner delivering health care, a nurse midwife delivering babies and taking care of moms and babies, a nurse anesthetist who gives anesthesia during surgical procedures, or a clinical nurse specialist with a master's degree.
Nurses with master's degree training get yet more choices of specialties. A nurse practitioner can choose from a number of areas in which to practice – treating patients on his or her own. A clinical nurse specialist may want to do research, or teach, or work in administration. He or she can specialize again in a specific disease or a specific care area.
So, to think about nursing specialties, you need to think about degree, training, and choice. If you want to go beyond basic nursing duties, you should get an RN, preferable a BSN, and then you will be eligible to specialize. Once you are hired you may be able to pick an area in which you want to work and get on-the-job training. You may have to work a little in other areas before you get to where you want to be.
If you get enough training at work, you can be certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. You must prove that you have a degree, as well as enough hours working in the specific specialty in order to test for a credential. For example, to test for a certificate in ambulatory care nursing, you must have an active RN license, and practiced two years full-time as a registered nurse. You must have at least 2,000 hours of clinical practice in ambulatory care, and 30 hours of continuing education in the last three years. Most specialties have similar requirements.
According to the ANCC, their certified nurses make an average of $9,000 a year more than their non-certified counterparts.
What are some popular and well-paid specialties today? Not surprisingly, nurses with advanced degrees command higher salaries, but some specialized RNs also make more money than others. Here are some examples. A certified registered nurse anesthetist makes an average of $135,000 a year. A nurse researcher, who probably has a master's degree, makes an average of $95,000 a year. A psychiatric nurse practitioner makes $95,000 a year. The average annual salary of a certified nurse midwife is $84,000. A pediatric endocrinology nurse who may or may not have a master's degree earns $81,000 yearly, on average, as will an orthopedic nurse. A nurse practitioner, general, will earn an average of $78,000 a year. A gerontological nurse practitioner earns somewhat less, an average of $75,000 a year. A clinical nurse specialist (also with a master's degree) will earn about $76,000 a year. A neonatal nurse, who also could hold a bachelor's or master's degree, earns a yearly average of $74,000.
While specializing in a specific area will cost you money in training and testing, you will ultimately make more money. If you are interested in specializing just because you have a preference for certain nursing work, you can do that by getting a job in that area and learning all you can while you work.Published: 2009-10-14
