Nursing Specialties with Huge Employment Opportunities
Career News July 9, 2013While it is somewhat uniform knowledge that the nursing profession is one that is almost always in demand, few people realize the vast number of specialties that are available to nurses. The specific area of the medical industry that a nurse chooses to specialize in can have a significant impact on the job openings found throughout his or her career. It may seem impossible to tell the demand for the nursing profession in the future, but there are still certain specialties within the industry that are generally more in demand than others. To better illustrate this point, here are a few of the most in demand nursing specialties that someone can specialize in.
Critical Care
Nurses that work in intensive care units are seemingly always in demand. This high stress job can be rewarding and challenging at the same time. It takes a nurse with a thick skin to tackle the ICU, but it also holds a certain amount of job security and pay that other specialties and professions may lack. Overall, a critical care nurse must be prepared to see and treat the worse of the worse patients on a daily basis with many tragedies and triumphs along the way.
Nurse Practitioner
A step down from a doctor, but step above an ordinary nurse, this specialty is an advanced degree of the profession that requires more schooling, but it generally offers a higher pay and more sought after by health care facilities. A nurse practitioner takes some stress off of doctors as they combine the duties of a nurse with the primary care services of a physician.
Rehabilitation
Nurses in rehabilitation centers are much needed primarily due to the delicate physical state that many rehab patients are in. Patients going through physical therapy need a lot of help from nurses, especially when they are performing their daily rehab assignments. This can certainly be a physical job helping patients regain their physicality, but like many of the other nursing specialties; it is just as rewarding to see patients get back their health.
Cardiovascular
Nurses that treat patients with heart disease, especially post-surgery, are also in high demand these days. While this is most likely because of the amount of care and constant monitoring that such patients require, it is also due to the fact that there have been significant breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine recently, which have resulted in a booming field of medicine.
Addiction
A nurse specializing with addiction patients is typically employed by a rehab clinic catering to those with drug, alcohol and other substance abuse issues. While it may be a tough job for a nurse to specialize in addiction, it is an area of medicine that is frequently in demand. Perhaps, the most difficult aspect of an addiction nurse’s job is dealing with patients that are going through one of the toughest times of their life. Patients can be violent and difficult to care for, but this specialty of nursing not only comes with a significant amount of job openings, it also features the gratification of seeing patients often recover and get healthy.
Conclusion
While there are many more specialties that nurses can occupy, the aforementioned are just a few of the most popular and in demand, as far as job placement goes. A specialty for a nurse does not have to be limited to a certain area of a health care facility, it can be aimed more at a certain disease, like Parkinson’s, or serve a specific function, such as a hospice nurse. The specialties for nurses come in a wide array of areas, each with challenges and inspirations. When picking a nursing specialty there are many things to consider, the previously mentioned focus primarily on jobs in demand for those in the nursing profession.
