Deciding you are interested in a career in nursing is just the first step in your career planning process. There are lots of other things to consider to “fine-tune” your nursing career. Nursing offers a tremendous variety of specialization opportunities allowing you to customize your career. Here are a few things to ask yourself:

• What health care setting do you want to work in?
• What areas of nursing interest you?
• Is working with high-tech equipment appealing to you?
• Is high-touch patient interaction what you like most about nursing?

Your answers to these questions can help direct you to the area of nursing specialization that most closely matches your individual interests. When choosing a specialization, it is important to remember that where you intend to work; hospitals or nursing homes, for example, can greatly affect which career paths are available to you within the profession.