Category: Education

Navigating the Nursing Specialization Spectrum: A 2023 Skills Primer

Many people are under the misconception that Covid caused the nursing shortage that has been plaguing hospitals all over the country for the last several years. Which makes sense. It’s the big bad boogyman that can be blamed for everything from the state of the housing market to the increasingly fraught political scene playing out all across the country.

And while the coronavirus did certainly accelerate resignations in the healthcare industry, reducing the staffing shortages we see today to a casualty of the pandemic ignores the true source of the problem.

Nursing is hard.

So hard, that for decades, more people have been leaving the profession than entering it. And when most nurses quit, they don’t pivot into a different aspect of healthcare. They leave for different waters entirely.

It doesn’t have to be that way. There are many different types of specialties in nursing, each with a unique set of requirements and rewards. In this article, we provide a sweeping primer on the different types of nursing specializations.

Specialty Skills

Despite a fairly quick education for nurses, there a certain set of skills that are required to specialize in a specific nursing field? There are certainly a wide range of concepts that may be unique to each field. However, the skills required to be an effective nurse are largely consistent among the various fields.

  • Empathy: Nurses need to be able to understand and sympathize with their patients’ situations. This quality empowers them to be effective advocates for people who are going through the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
  • Patience: Most people agree that the healthcare industry is frustrating. Just imagine how frustrating it is for people who are completely entrenched in it. Nurses need to have the patience to deal with the stresses of the job and the complications of the industry if they are going to be effective.
  • Adaptability: Nursing requires a significant amount of flexibility every day. As a nurse, you may have long periods of tedium followed by extremely intense and abrupt situations that require your full attention. You will also be expected to adapt to new regulations, expectations, and ways of doing things. School is never completely out for nurses so be prepared for a life of learning.

These skills will help you prepare for a life in nursing, regardless of what specialization you choose. Below, we take a look at how to specialize, and what jobs will be waiting for you when you do.

How to Specialize

All specialized nurses start by going through a four-year degree program, or an accelerated equivalent that is licensed in their state. During that time, they are able to choose specialties that qualify them to work in a unique setting.

However, some specializations may require additional schooling, or training programs. Highly competitive jobs may even only accept applicants who have years of clinical or bedside experience.

Each job is a little bit different in its requirements, but all of them favor professionals who are willing to work hard and put in the time to learn the ropes.

Below we feature five prominent examples of nursing specializations. However, it’s important to keep in mind that there are literally dozens of potential jobs.

Diabetes Nursing

Diabetes is hard to manage. Even healthcare workers with diabetes struggle to get the right balance of glucose-related needs, and often experience sleepless nights as they try to regulate their blood sugar and stay safe.

Imagine how it feels to be on the outside of the healthcare system and find out very abruptly that diabetes has just changed your life forever.

Diabetes nurses are there to help make the transition more manageable. They meet regularly with newly diagnosed diabetics, answering their questions and helping them understand what to expect. Typically, they will work in hospitals, doctors’ offices, clinics, and diabetes management centers.

In certain situations, they may even help people develop a strategy for transitioning out of diabetes (as is sometimes possible with Type 2 diabetes).

It’s important work that literally helps save lives. However, it also tends to have more relaxed hours than traditional bedside nursing. Most diabetes nurses don’t have to work holidays or night shifts, making this an ideal position for people that enjoy being a nurse but are interested in getting a better work-life balance.

Pediatric Nursing

If you like the little kiddos, pediatric nursing might be for you. Pediatric nurses work with infants all the way up to eighteen-year-olds, assisting with a broad range of early health needs. Pediatric nurses can be found in a wide range of settings, including hospitals, clinics, schools, and doctors’ offices.

While they certainly are there to help with the physical needs of their patients, they also receive training to deal with the complex and ever-evolving emotional needs of young patients, making them an important aspect of their patient’s lives.

Critical Care Nursing

Critical care nursing isn’t for the faint of heart. These nurses work with patients in some of their most desperate moments, usually in the ICU, or other high-acuity settings in which the outcome of a procedure could quite literally mean life or death for the patient.

These nurses are specifically trained to work with people who have experienced life-threatening injuries or other deadly health events. Responsibilities can range from assisting in surgery to administering important medications and monitoring vital signs.

As is surely clear, this isn’t a good fit for people who are looking for lower-stakes nursing. However, if you appreciate a fast-paced work environment and you thrive under pressure, this may be right for you.

Obstetric and Gynecological Nursing

Gynecological and obstetric nursing specializes in providing care to women during and after pregnancy. It’s very much a women’s health position, focusing particularly on the reproductive stage of life. It can be an exciting job, helping families grow, but there are also many pressures to be aware of.

Gynecological nurses working in the hospital setting will assist with childbirth, which in and of itself is a daunting process. There are also many very significant complications associated with pregnancy and childbirth, adding a degree of pressure to this job.

Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing

Psychiatric nursing sees the nurse working directly with patients who are suffering from mental and emotional disorders. These responsibilities play out in psychiatric hospitals, clinics, and even community health centers.

The role of a nurse may be to help manage medications or even administer therapeutic interventions that help the patient cope with mental and emotional distress.

It’s challenging work, certainly not for the faint of heart, but it can make a significant difference in the lives of the patients who are impacted.

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With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

The Best Podcasts for Nurses: Empowering, Informative, and Inspiring

Podcasts have exploded in popularity for a reason. They are entertaining, informative, and a great way to pass the time. Since podcasts can be streamed or downloaded, you can listen to them nearly anywhere. With the option to choose from short episodes that you can soak up while sitting around, or longer ones that you can listen to while on the way home from work or a flight, no one has the excuse of being bored anymore.

What’s even more amazing is that they are free! With hundreds of topics to choose from, and thousands of different stations to browse, there is a nearly endless supply of new content coming out all the time. So, whether you are into self-improvement, fictional stories, or the news, podcasts are the way to go.

If, however, you have a bit more of a specific interest in adding to your knowledge base for your career in nursing, browse this list of just a few of the best podcasts for nurses.

Best Nursing Podcasts

NRSNG

The NRSNG podcast is one of the more popular shows in the nursing industry world. Their goal in producing informative, insightful, and professionally informed content causes them to rise to the top of the popularity charts. With the added focus on wanting to help continuously educate nursing students and professionals, they have become a staple in the industry. There is also the added bonus of having video content available to view.

With nearly a half-million followers and tons of content to choose from, this will continue to be a great resource for nurses.

Nursing.com

Nursing.com podcast, connected to the website by the same name, is an established name and trusted source of information in the nursing industry. The podcast goes over a wide variety of episode topics on things like NCLEX preparations, test-taking tips, and interviews with persons in the medical field.

In this the podcast’s goal to help nurses be more prepared in their jobs, is doing much to help advance the livelihood of both nurses, and the patients they serve.

SHIFT Talk

The SHIFT Talk podcast goes about its business by making a point of going into the most important and current issues topics in the nursing world today. A short list of the topics includes patient care, emerging technologies, political policy, and how to avoid burnout. This show is hosted by an RN and a nurse practitioner, who understand the current events and issues in healthcare. More than that, the associated website has a database of other information and resources to access where you might be able to learn more about the evolution of the nursing field.

Nurse Talk

Nurse Talk is part of a multimedia website, Nursetalksite.com that has a mission to promote social healing throughout the country utilizing peaceful means of information, activism, and advocacy. The podcast, hosted by registered nurses, draws from a collective sixty-five years’ worth of experiences to discuss a range of current issues in relation to health care.

With topics like patient safety, drug use, policy, and how social interest and political maneuverings all push and pull against the industry, there is no shortage of things to mull over while on or off the clock.

Nursing Note Live

The Nursing Notes Live podcast is unique among the growing list of nursing podcasts in that it is funded by a partnership with the company Johnson & Johnson that promotes an affiliate bi-monthly nursing journal. These offer a platform for innovative thinkers, workers, and policy makers alike to weigh in on what are some of the most important issues in nursing today.

Their mission is to help broaden the knowledgebase of nursing professionals and the understanding of how technological advancements are going to play into the new generation of healthcare.

The Daily Nurse

The Daily Nurse podcasts spends time trying to set itself apart from the mass of other podcasts by gathering and promoting real world stories from any and all departments from children’s hospitals to training centers. They also go into how current events in the news affect clinical practice for nursing professionals.

There is a wealth of information from educators, advanced practice nurses, and even administrators, and as such plenty of information about career advice, continuing education, and the latest trends are available to the listener.

Nurses on Fire

The Nurses on Fire podcast is refreshingly unique in that it seeks to provide financial advice for nurses who want to build wealth.  The hosts bring on a combination of guests including nurses and financial planners. With over 100 episodes, this podcast offers advice that covers a range of topics that tend to relate things like financial health, goal setting, investments, and good money habits. If you get bored listening to topics about money though, they do explore other subjects related to healthcare.

Nursing Today

The nursing today podcast is a bit different than many other traditional podcast formats in that it is a series of published lectures instead of the usual talk-radio feel. Gather and formalized from a range of speakers who have all presented at the University of Washington, the topics cover a wide range of information.

All of the lecturers are not only knowledgeable in their fields but are engaging public speakers that bring knowledge and humor into their speeches.

With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

How Can We Improve Healthcare Education?

The educational aspect of the healthcare industry doesn’t get as much attention as it should. The reason for this is pretty simple. The majority of people never interact with it. And yet schools are where doctors and nurses are taught everything they know. It’s how they form the opinions and attitudes that they carry with them into their professional lives.

In other words, it’s important. In this article, we take a look at how we can improve healthcare education to make the field more effective and inclusive while also improving patient outcomes.

A Quick Note

Improve is a profoundly subjective word. A case could be made that changing the font on medical textbooks improves healthcare education. “My goodness! So much bigger. You don’t have to squint at all.”

Obviously not the metric most people are looking at. But you get the point. What does it mean to improve healthcare education? Better patient outcomes? A better student learning culture?

In the nineties, med school residents routinely worked one-hundred-hour weeks. Those hours have now been capped at 80 a week — still twice the national average for what most people think a work week should be, but progress. An improvement.

To systematically review and evaluate healthcare in a way that would comprehensively establish what improvements can and should be made would take more than the thousand or so words that this article will contain.

Instead, we take a broad-stroke look at changes that could make healthcare education more accessible and effective.

Tech-Driven Education

Medical technology has changed significantly over the last several decades. Surgery can now be performed largely by robots. Much more than a mere novelty — another way for a hospital to spend seven figures on a machine — these robots produce significantly smaller cuts than human hands can manage.

This results in quicker recovery times, and better overall patient outcomes.

Software innovations have been equally impactful. Data in particular drives many healthcare-related decisions, determining both how hospitals serve their communities at the macro level, and how nurses and doctors take care of individual patients.

During the height of the pandemic, it was sophisticated data that helped healthcare systems anticipate surges and prepare themselves for what was to come.

Data is also used more routinely throughout the course of the year. When a general practitioner advises their patients to get the flu shot early because it’s going to be a rough season, that’s data they are acting on.

Then there is the digitalization of healthcare records. An innovative development that allows patients to access their information easily, and have it on hand at the drop of a hat.

All important innovations. All things that weren’t taught in a medical education curriculum twenty years ago.

Naturally, this has changed somewhat in recent years. People do leave medical or nursing school with some understanding of all the technologies described above. As time goes on, however, it will be increasingly more important to emphasize the importance of these skills.

Improved Candidate Outreach

Healthcare providers in the United States are primarily white. This is problematic for several reasons. For minorities, it means they are being excluded from a career path that is both highly lucrative and rewarding. For—

Hold on. Excluded? Is there a sign medical schools have been posting that reads, “No minorities allowed,”?

Well, no. But inclusion is about more than leaving the door open and saying, “enter if you’d like.” It’s important to keep in mind that opportunities for inclusion in medicine, and in fact, most professional careers is a relatively recent development. For most of American history were laws and social taboos that excluded everyone who wasn’t a white man from pursuing lucrative careers.

These laws and attitudes have changed, but it doesn’t mean that inclusion springs up overnight. Bright young minorities who could be excellent future doctors might not feel inclined to pursue a medical education if they don’t see themselves reflected in the candidate pool.

That’s a shame for everyone. Study after study indicates that diversity benefits everyone. Organizations get unique perspectives. The community at large sees itself represented in the people serving them.

Universities can improve diversity attendance by changing their outreach materials and efforts to be more inclusive and comprehensive.

Improve School Culture

The higher education system in general is coming to recognize the need for mental health awareness and nurturing. Those one hundred-hour work weeks described earlier in the article aren’t conducive to good physical or mental outcomes.

Does it make sense to train a person on how to take care of human health while simultaneously forcing them to wreck their own?

Medical schools can’t afford to relax their standards. The stakes are too high, and anyway, the educational challenges are there as a deliberate barrier to ensure that only the best and most qualified wind up assuming jobs in the medical field.

That said, medical and nursing schools can provide students with resources to help talk about and take care of their mental health. Changing school culture is an important way to cater to the neurologically diverse, while also helping the wider population thrive in their education.

With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.