Don't Graduate Nursing School Without A Specialization In Mind

Most graduates of practical nursing school come away with a basic LPN degree, but few of them have plans to remain a standard LPN for the rest of their lives. Looking ahead and planning out your specialization while you're still in a nursing program can make it much easier to move into that role once you're in the institution of your choice. A hospital's practical nursing program will generally nudge you toward a specialty a bit harder than a nursing school will, but it's still all too easy to ignore the call for a specialty and end up a generalist.

Don't let that happen to you.

There are so many different subjects that an LPN can specialize in that it's almost impossible NOT to find one that's right for you:

-Ambulatory care nursing
-Burn nursing
-Cardiac nursing
-Community health nursing
-Correctional nursing
-Critical care nursing
-Environmental health nursing
-Faith community nursing
-Forensic nursing
-Geriatric nursing
-Holistic nursing
-Home health nursing
-Hospice nursing
-Hyperbaric nursing
-Infection control nursing
-Infectious disease nursing
-Legal nursing
-Maternal-child nursing
-Military and uniformed services nursing
-Neonatal nursing
-Obstetrical nursing
-Occupational health nursing
-Oncology nursing
-Palliative care nursing
-Pediatric nursing
-Perianesthesia nursing
-Perioperative nursing
-Psychiatric or mental health nursing
-Pulmonary nursing
-Radiology nursing
-Rehabilitation nursing
-Sub-acute nursing
-Substance abuse nursing
-Surgical nursing
-Trauma nursing
-Urology nursing
-Utilization management
-Wound care
-And there are dozens if not hundreds more specialties to choose from as well!

Depending on the specific specialty, you can find that your salary has gone up a few percent (for the 'easier' specialties like community health or rehabilitation) or by as much as double (for the more technically difficult or dangerous specialties like correctional nursing or perianesthesia.) Not only does the salary increase, but nurses that have valued specialties are often more able to negotiate for better schedules and other perks with their various institutions as well.

Some specialties are more valued than others, of course; every institution has their own needs and desires. It might be that your hometown has enough skilled trauma nurses, for example -- so don't hesitate to ask your practical nursing program's instructors which specialties are the most in need right now at your hospital or medical establishment.

The real tragedy about failing to find your specialization early is that there's no particular benefit to remaining a generalist nurse. Baseline nurses have less leverage with the administration, make less money, and are generally accorded less respect. Practical nursing school might seem like it's a bit too soon to look forward to getting a specialty, but the truth is just the opposite: nursing programs gear themselves toward specialization, and you should too. The sooner you get specialized, the sooner you can reap the rewards!

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CAN - Nursing School Jacksonville Fl, the location of choice for Nursing Education. Our Jacksonville FL Practical Nursing School prepares students for a wide variety of healthcare careers. Learn more at http://www.jacksonville-nursing-schools.com

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