My Experience with Specialty Higher Education in Nursing

Healthful Vitality | 04/12/2019 | By Sarah Schulze, BSN, MSN | My Experience with Specialty Higher Education in Nursing

My parents have pictures of me using a stethoscope on stuffed animals at age two and supervising a hospital ward of baby dolls in my bedroom at age five. Besides, my mother is a nurse and I can remember her coming home from her night shifts while I got ready for school in the mornings, smelling like antiseptic and looking vaguely tired, though at that age I had no idea how exhausting it is to stay up all night meeting the needs of others.

She would sometimes share stories with me about the things she did and saw and it always seemed like such a strange and magical thing, to cross paths with so many people at such pivotal moments in their lives and to have it be a routine part of her job. I did not completely understand what she did at work, but I knew that she helped people and got to be there during important moments, and I knew early on that I wanted to be a part of that too. After years of graduating and years of working, let me share my experience with specialty higher education in nursing.

My nursing school after high school

When I started nursing school after high school, I immediately loved it. It is the type of education that immerses you so completely that you will know right away if it is something you can do for the rest of your life or not. As soon as that first clinical rotation starts, you are right there with the long hours, bodily fluids, and up-close-and-personal moments in the lives of very real people. It is rigorous, exhausting, humbling, awe-inspiring, frustrating, and transformative to take on the role of a nurse. I saw births, deaths, surgeries, autopsies, failures, and triumphs, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing any other job.

The flexibility and variety of nursing

I loved the flexibility and variety of nursing. You can be a nurse in any traditional area of healthcare, wearing scrubs, donning gloves, and being right on the frontlines of patient care. But there are also so many other surprising places you will find nurses, advocating at community centers and homeless shelters, behind desks and in legal offices, teaching in classrooms, and making administrative decisions, among many others. Once you become a nurse, you can completely change your career trajectory at any point without ever returning to school. Regardless of what role you take on, we all have that core training that helps us see patients as people, not illnesses or numbers, and an attitude of compassion for others that drives everything we do.

How I enrolled in nurse practitioner school

I started in the traditional capacity and worked in intensive care and outpatient surgery for my first few years, but there was always a nagging feeling of wanting more. True, I knew I didn’t want out of nursing, therefore, I treasured my relationships with patients and the ability to have a positive impact on so many people during stressful points in their lives; but I wanted more knowledge, wanted a challenge, wanted a part in putting together the pieces of the puzzle instead of just following written orders.

I considered medical school for a long time, but eventually decided I didn’t want to trade in the nursing model for the medical model, I wanted to expand on my role within the nursing model and have those core values continue to guide the way I cared for patients. So, I enrolled in nurse practitioner school, specifically Pediatric NP school.

The decision to specialize the Family NP route

The decision to specialize was another tough one, as this is still a somewhat uncommon choice for prospective nurse practitioners and many schools do not offer specialty programs. The Family NP route would offer unlimited flexibility and I could still treat children, which is where my passion is. But I didn’t have a lot of interest in sitting through classes about adult and geriatric issues or even managing those patients as an NP, and I wanted to have more depth to my pediatric knowledge when I did get to care for those patients.

If I had gone to medical school, I would have eventually chosen a specialty, so why not do the same for NP school? As soon as I began my graduate program, I knew this choice was the right one. Rather than a limitation on who I could care for (as some saw it), I was given an expansion of the depth and quality of care I could provide for a specific population.

The dedication and the patient as a whole at the center of my education

I had classes devoted specifically to the care of newborns, well children, adolescents, chronic pediatric conditions, pediatric pharmacology, and on and on. I was taught by other pediatric nurse practitioners and pediatricians, enviably intelligent people who had dedicated their lives to children’s health. Honestly, I loved the new role I was molding into and I learned that it was equally as flexible as being a registered nurse had been, with plenty of room to grow and change within my scope of practice. Through all of it, the patient as a whole was kept at the center of my education.

Yet, there are unlimited opportunities to explore

I have wanted to work in healthcare for as long as I can remember. I have been a Pediatric NP for four years now, and I continue to grow and learn daily. While I sometimes miss the pace and acuity of hospital nursing, I have settled into outpatient care as my preferred setting and I love the longevity of my relationships with patients. It is so rewarding to talk with a preschooler and do their annual physical when I can vividly remember the day they came into the office as a 7 lb newborn.

I truly enjoy watching my patients (and their parents!) grow. There are still unlimited opportunities for education and I enjoy learning more about some niche areas of children’s health. Two years ago, I obtained my certification as a lactation counselor and expanded on my passion for helping breastfeeding mothers. And recently I have been increasing my knowledge and comfort level with managing mental health needs, as there is a crippling shortage of pediatric mental health services and much of the burden falls on primary care providers.

Final Thoughts

There are many paths I could take with this education and I look forward to seeing where it takes me over the course of my career. For anyone considering nursing, or current nurses thinking about further their education, I say absolutely do it and do not look back. Pick what you are passionate about and learn as much as you can, you will not regret it!

Author:

Sarah Schulze is a board-certified pediatric Nurse Practitioner. She earned a B.S. in Nursing from Indiana State University and an M.S. in Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

(Related Article: Reflections on Being a Respiratory Therapist)