Specialization

 So I have had a few shifts in the hospital under my belt, now, with a week's worth of twelve hour shifts spread out over the course of the term.  As I've worked with different nurses, techs, and other team members on different floors, I like to ask how that individual landed on this particular area of nursing.  I've gotten some great stories.  Most notably, I spoke with a woman who had worked in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit; very sick, very tiny babies) for thirty-some-odd years and could not imagine working anywhere else, for the highest high and the lowest lows.  There are others that landed where they did as a fluke, others that have moved from area to area, and some that came back.  

Sometimes, the conversation came back to me, the "well, do you know where you want to work?"  And I answer, "yes, I want to go into wound and ostomy care."  

The reactions that I get into this have fallen into a few groups:

• An air of gentle confusion, along the lines of "Oh, okay," or "Huh."  
• Outspoken confusion and/or surprise, along the lines of "Why would you want to do that?" or "I guess it takes all sorts!"
• Generally encouraging, focusing on the ability to find a position, "Oh, you'll always have something to do."  

Whether or not someone asks why, I usually follow up with some variant of "I have a permanent colostomy myself, and I want to be with people who are making that transition, to have compassion by identification."  At this point, then, the response is almost always something much warmer, along the lines of "Oh, that makes so much sense."  Then there's support, that having someone with first-hand experience will be invaluable to these future patients.  Occasionally, there is an additional acknowledgement of "yeah, no, I could never do that, but I know there are people who don't want to do this."  

I don't think I had quite realized how much specialization was available in this career.  I knew logically that there were many, many ways where I could take a nursing license, but to work with midwife nurses, for example, and see how their skillset plays in to their role, the specialization of the knowledge that they have to their area is fascinating.  What was "normal" to the NICU nurse compared to the the main floor that I had been working with, there were many different approaches to their patients, their situations, and their resources.  The range of approaches has been vastly fascinating.  I know that in time persons will look to me for different kinds of knowledge, and there will be places where I will only have the exposure that I've had in clinicals and others where I work with it on a daily basis, where I can inform and educate more fully.  I'm aiming to absorb as much as I can to help as many as I can, which puts an interesting pressure on each experience time.  

Many more people to meet; many more experiences to take in.