What Type of Nurse Should I Be – 45 Nursing Specialties

How it works

In nursing school or thinking about it? Press the button for one of 45 nursing specialties, from the emergency room to a summer camp, each with what the work involves.

Read the full guide

Start with the pace you want

After your first press, the list beside the button narrows the draw. Fast-paced hospital care holds the emergency room and intensive care; Outside the hospital holds home visits, schools and travel jobs; Away from the bedside holds research, records and law.

Try it on a shift

Set the count to 3 and pick the one that makes you curious. During clinical placements, ask to shadow a nurse in that specialty for a day, and ask what a hard shift looks like, not only a good one.

Tips

Rules and titles differ by state and country, so check your nursing board before choosing a course.

Questions and answers

How do I know what kind of nurse I should be?

Ask what age of patient you want, how fast you like to work and whether you want a hospital at all. A calm planner may like home health or research; someone who thrives on adrenaline may like the emergency room.

What are the types of nurses?

Nurses specialize by patient (pediatric, neonatal, geriatric), by illness (oncology, cardiac, psychiatric), by setting (emergency, school, home health, military) and by role (research, informatics, management). This picker holds 45.

Which nursing specialties are not at the bedside?

Nurse researchers, informatics specialists, legal nurse consultants, nurse managers, telephone triage nurses and infection control nurses spend much of their time away from direct patient care.

All 45 specialties

Fast-paced hospital care 12

Cardiac nurse Cares for patients with heart conditions, before and after procedures.
Critical care nurse Cares for the sickest patients, in the intensive care unit.
Emergency nurse Sees patients as they come through the door and sorts who needs care first.
Flight nurse Cares for patients in helicopters and planes on the way to hospital.
Hyperbaric nurse Cares for patients treated with oxygen in a pressurized chamber.
Labor and delivery nurse Works with patients in labor and during the birth.
Medical-surgical nurse Cares for adults on a general hospital ward with many kinds of illness.
Neonatal nurse Cares for newborns, including babies born early or sick.
Nurse anesthetist An advanced practice nurse who gives anesthesia for surgery and procedures.
Operating room nurse Works with the surgical team before, during and after an operation.
Perianesthesia nurse Looks after patients going under and waking up from anesthesia.
Transplant coordinator Often a nurse: organizes organ donations and the transplants that follow.

Show all 45 specialties (33 more)

Babies, children and old age 8

Geriatric nurse Cares for older adults, at home, in hospital or in a care home.
Health visitor Visits family homes in the UK with health advice, especially for young children.
Hospice nurse Keeps patients comfortable near the end of life and supports their families.
Lactation consultant Helps new parents with breastfeeding.
Maternal-child nurse Cares for mothers and their babies, before and after birth.
Nurse midwife Cares for women through pregnancy, birth and the weeks after.
Pediatric nurse Cares for babies, children and teenagers and talks with their families.
School nurse Looks after students’ health during the school day.

One illness or body system 8

Clinical nurse specialist An advanced practice nurse who is the expert in one area and guides other nurses.
Genetics nurse Helps patients and families understand conditions that run in families.
Infection control nurse Tracks infections and stops them spreading through a hospital.
Neuroscience nurse Cares for patients with brain, spine and nerve conditions.
Oncology nurse Cares for people with cancer through treatment and after.
Orthopedic nurse Cares for patients with bone and joint problems, such as a new hip.
Psychiatric nurse Cares for people with mental illness, in hospital or the community.
Wound, ostomy and continence nurse Treats hard-to-heal wounds and helps patients live with an ostomy.

Outside the hospital 10

Correctional nurse Cares for people in jails and prisons.
Faith community nurse Cares for the health of a church or other faith community.
Forensic nurse Cares for victims of violence and collects evidence for court.
Holistic nurse Cares for the whole person: body, mind, feelings and spirit.
Home health nurse Visits patients in their own homes.
Military nurse Nurses service members, at home bases or on deployment.
Nurse practitioner An advanced practice nurse with graduate education who diagnoses and treats patients.
Occupational health nurse Looks after the health and safety of people at work.
Public health nurse Works on the health of a whole community, from vaccines to outreach.
Travel nurse Takes short-term jobs in different hospitals and cities.

Away from the bedside 7

Legal nurse consultant Helps lawyers understand the medical side of a case.
Nurse educator Teaches nursing students or trains the nurses on a hospital staff.
Nurse manager Runs a unit: staff, schedules, budgets and standards.
Nurse researcher Runs studies that find out which kinds of care work best.
Nursing informatics specialist Works on the computer systems and records nurses use.
Space nurse Works with astronauts to check they are medically fit for their missions.
Telephone triage nurse Answers calls and decides how soon a caller needs care.

How this list was compiled: 45 nursing specialties from the Wikipedia list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nursing_specialties, each checked against its own article on 2026-09-24 (URL in x.src). The one-line descriptions are ours. No licensing, pay, schooling-length or job-outlook claims: those differ by state and country. Licence: own work