Specialist nurses can gain certification or experience in a particular field, commanding higher salaries. Nursing specialties include midwifery, neonatal care, critical care, emergency care, and specialized care for specific illnesses.
Nurses play an important role in the medical community and there are many different nursing specialties. A registered nurse who specializes in a particular field may do so through professional certification or through gaining experience in that area of medicine while working. Generally, a specialist nurse can command a higher salary, although this is not always the case.
There are several types of nursing specialties around the delivery and care of babies. For example, a nurse midwife works with pregnant women to deliver a baby. Most of the time, nurse midwives must become professional nurses and obtain special training and education to fulfill this role. A nurse midwife can work independently of a doctor, delivering babies on her own unless medical complications arise.
Neonatal nurses are also a type of specialist nurse. Neonatal nurses work in nurseries and care for babies. Generally, nurses in this specialty are certified for various levels of care, with those less experienced or with less education in the specialty working with “level one” or normal, healthy babies and nurses with more experience working with “level four” or high-risk infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Other nursing specialties exist in the critical care fields. An intensive care nurse, for example, usually works in the ICU (intensive care unit) and provides specialized care to individuals who need constant medical attention and surveillance due to serious illnesses. An ICU nurse may be responsible for monitoring a patient’s vital signs and, conversely, reporting any changes in condition to an on-call physician.
Emergency (first-aid) nurses are also specialist nurses. In this field, nurses have to deal with high-risk, high-pressure situations. Generally, they must be prepared to perform triage, which is the process of determining which patients have higher priority illnesses or medical conditions and which should be seen first by physicians. These nurses work inside hospitals.
Yet another nursing specialty is nurses who work with people with specific illnesses and conditions. Nurses with diabetes must provide specialized care and education for diabetic patients. In the United States, there are specialized educational programs that certify diabetes nurse practitioners to provide care and counseling to patients with diabetes or at risk of developing the disease. Other illnesses and ailments also create a need for skilled nurses; for example, a registered nurse may specialize in oncology and work primarily with cancer patients.
Asset Smart.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
