Ep. 1: Why This Podcast Exists

Welcome to My Nurse Specialty.

After more than 35 years in nursing and working across many different specialties, I’ve seen how easy it is for nurses to believe there are only a handful of career paths available. In nursing school, we are taught how to pass boards and practice safely, but we are not always shown the full range of opportunities this profession offers.

I created My Nurse Specialty because I want nurses to know there is so much more out there. Too often, we hear the same few specialties over and over again, not because those are the only good options, but because those are the ones we were exposed to. Many nurses never get the chance to explore the roles that may fit them better.

In this episode, I talk about my own journey through multiple nursing specialties and how finding the right fit can make all the difference. I believe nursing is not a one-path profession, and I want this podcast to help more nurses discover roles that match their strengths, interests, and goals.

Through this podcast, I’ll be having conversations with nurses from a wide variety of specialties so you can hear what their roles are really like, how they got there, what skills matter most, and what they wish they had known sooner.

Whether you are a student nurse, a new nurse, or an experienced nurse wondering what else is possible, this podcast is here to help you explore your options and think more intentionally about your career.

What you can expect from this podcast:
On My Nurse Specialty, you’ll hear real stories from nurses in many different specialties as they share:

•  How they found their specialty 
•  What their role really looks like 
•  What skills matter in their area 
•  What they wish they had known earlier 
•  How nurses can explore and grow into different roles over time 

Connect and share:
If this episode speaks to you, I’d love for you to subscribe, follow, and share it with another nurse or nursing student who may need to hear it.

And if you work in a unique nursing specialty and would like to share your story, I’d love to connect with you.

Stay Connected:

Learn how we can work together

Apply to be on the Podcast

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Get the FREE guide here on how to choose your specialty!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Minor Specialty, a podcast for nurses who want a clearer view of what's possible in this profession. I'm Rebecca, a registered nurse, nurse career strategist, and someone who has spent decades working across different nursing roles. Nursing School teaches us how to pass boards, but when it comes to careers, most of us are introduced to only a handful of specialties. It just depends on who you talk to after you get out of school or while you're in school. And then we're expected to figure out the rest on our own. That lack of awareness is where confusion and misalignment begin. This podcast exists to expand that awareness. Throughout this podcast, you'll explore nursing specialties, some you've likely heard of, and some you may not even know exist, along with the insight to help you understand what's best for your career at any stage. This is Minor Specialty. Real nursing, real stories, and real possibilities. Hi, welcome to Minor Specialty, the podcast that helps nurses discover the many different paths a nursing career can take. If you're a nurse who has ever wondered, is this the right role for me? Are there other specialties I don't even know about? And is there something in nursing that might fit me better? Then you're exactly in the right place. Because here's something most nurses don't realize. There are over 100 different specialties in nursing. And most of us are only exposed to a handful of them. I bet if I asked how many specialties you were exposed to, you could probably name them on one hand. Four, five, okay, the other hand, six. My name's Rebecca Emery, and I've been a nurse for over 35 years. Over the course of my career, I worked in many different specialties before I finally found the one that fit me. And then of course, I pivoted a couple more times. And what I noticed over the years is something very interesting. The nurses who seemed the most fulfilled in their careers were often the nurses who had found the specialty that aligned with them. Not the specialty they were told to choose, not one they felt stuck in, one they got their foot in the door and stayed, but one that truly fit their interests, strengths, and lifestyles. One of the things that inspired me to start this podcast is something I've seen again and again and again with nurses. We're exposed to the few specialties that we saw in school. Sometimes we get a job and we find some more in there. We'll see med surge, ICU, pediatrics, maternity, and you get community health in there too outside of the hospital. And while those are incredibly important areas and great for nurses who want to be there, there are other specialties that we can find and talk about, right? Education, rapid response teams, informatics, research, forensics, case management, flight nursing, school nursing, legal nurse consulting, telehealth, public health, aesthetics, policy, so many more. And if you weren't ever exposed to any of these roles, how do you really find out if they exist? Think about this for a moment. How are nurses supposed to design a career they can sustain for decades if they choose to? If they don't even know what their options are. Too often, the way nurses learn about different specialties is by accident. I can't tell you how many times I heard a nurse say, I stumbled upon it, which is actually one of my first posts that I did when I was starting out as a career coach. They'll hear it about it from their coworker. A friend tells them about a job. They stumble across a role while job searching, or they discover a specialty years later and think, I wish I had known about that sooner. That's not a very strategic way to build a career. What I've observed over the years is that career satisfaction in nursing often comes down to alignment. Some nurses thrive in high-intensity environments like the ICU or the ER. Others prefer slower-paced roles where they can build long-term relationships with patients. Some love procedures, some love education, some enjoy autonomy, while others prefer working in a team. None of these preferences are right or wrong. But when a nurse lands at a specialty that doesn't match how naturally it works with them, it just doesn't feel right. And sometimes when nurses start questioning whether they even belong in this profession at all, the problem really isn't nursing. It's simply trying to figure out where their best specialty is. And with more coming on all the time, we want to know what those are. We want to understand that. We want to be able to know how to get there. Early in my career, I moved through several different specialties before I found the area that fit me. And once I found the right fit, it changed everything. Work felt more sustainable. I felt more confident. And I could see myself staying as a nurse for a while. This podcast exists for all you nurses out there who are trying to find the right specialty. We're going to talk to nurses in all these specialties, find out how they found their specialty, what their role actually looks like day to day, what skills are important in that field, and what they wish I'd known earlier in their careers. We'll talk about growth from within the specialty, because sometimes when you find it, you don't want to not not stay there, but you still want to grow. So it's a really good thing to find out. It's going to help nurses see what's possible out there. Because when you understand the range of opportunities in nursing, you can make much more intentional decisions about your career. On this podcast, we're going to be exploring to start NICU nursing, emergency nursing, rehabilitation, rapid response teams, nurse educators, ICU specialties, school nursing, case management, and many more. Some of these roles you already know about, some you may have never heard about, some you may have heard about, but you don't know how to get into it. So if you're listening to this and feeling unsure about your current role, or maybe you're still in school and you're wondering what nurse specialty you want to get into. Many nurses pivot several times throughout their careers. Nursing isn't meant to be a one-path profession. It's a profession with many directions. And sometimes discovering the right one simply starts with exposure. So that's what we're going to do on my nurse specialty podcast. We're going to expose you to all kinds of nursing specialties that are out there. If you happen to be a nurse who is in this great specialty that is so unique and you want to share it, please apply to be on the show. And if you're a nurse that is that is curious and wants to see what's out there, give a listen. Because sometimes the first step towards finding the right specialty is simply realizing how many possibilities are out there. I'll see you in the next episode. Until then, keep exploring. Thank you for listening to my nurse specialty. I hope what you heard today gave you real insight into this specialty and helped you see what's possible for your nursing path. If you're watching this on YouTube, please subscribe. And if you're listening on audio, follow the show so you don't miss what's next. If you know a nurse or even a student nurse who's learning about their next steps, tell them about the show or send them this episode. And tell me, what specialty should we feature next? If you're a nurse in a unique specialty that you'd love to share, apply to be a guest on my website. I'm Coach Rebecca. Until next time, keep exploring.