Nursing and Primary Health Care

Types of Nursing Specialties

One of the greatest aspects of nursing as a profession is the ability to work in many types of environments and in many different roles. It is a field which is constantly evolving.

Registered Nurses (RNs) can work bedside with the sickest patients or opt to care for those who are mostly well. They can work directly with patients or indirectly by collaborating with the interdisciplinary team or others involved in healthcare to help patients.

For every individual temperament and personality exists a nursing specialty. The pace of a working environment can be fast and full of adrenaline, or a slower pace with lots of time to spend bonding with patients and families, or somewhere in between. RNs can have a great amount of pressure to do everything perfectly and quickly with extremely high stakes or may work in an environment that is more relaxed with basically "well" patients who want to chit-chat while they wait for their physician's appointment. RNs can work with every age and population from very sick premature newborns to the elderly at the end of life from school children to adults who are undergoing elective plastic surgery. The options are nearly endless.

RNs have the option of working in hospitals, long-term care facilities, clinics, physician's offices, prisons, from home, as a traveling nurse in hospitals across the country, and in many other specialty roles. And, as the political healthcare environment continues to grow and evolve, RNs are finding that the options are growing quickly. There are specialties and niches for nurses of all education levels, from ADN and BSN educated RNs, to graduate degree-level nurses and nurse practitioners, and beyond. The nursing specialty options for RNs are many and they just keep growing! See our glossary of nursing abbreviations and terms and entry level nursing careers.