51 Trending Nursing Specialties

Nursing has dozens of specialties, and the right one depends on where you want to work, who you want to care for, and how far you want to take your education. This guide groups the main specialties by setting and population so you can narrow your search. Most can be pursued at the advanced practice level, and many overlap in duties and setting. They also stretch well beyond the hospital, into courtrooms, schools, corporations, and the community.

Administrative, Legal, and Workplace Nursing

Plenty of nursing happens outside the hospital or clinic, in the courtroom, at a crime scene, in victim advocacy, in the classroom, and in the corporate world.

• Advanced Practice Nurse. Performs tasks once reserved for physicians.
• Charge Nurse. Leads shifts through strong communication and leadership.
• Clinical Nurse Leader. Improves patient outcomes through high-level leadership.
• Forensic Nurse. Works crime scenes, assault cases, and correctional facilities.
• Infection Control Nurse. Prevents the spread of drug-resistant infections through policy and research.
• Legal Nurse Consultant. Applies clinical experience to medical issues in legal cases.
• Nurse Case Manager. Coordinates all aspects of a patient's care.
• Nurse Leadership Administrator. Drives change and improves outcomes as an administrator.
• Occupational Health Nurse. Brings clinical and business knowledge to the workplace.
• Telehealth Nurse. Provides care virtually across a range of settings.
• Utilization Review Nurse. Serves as a liaison between patient and insurer.

Community Nursing

If you do your best work in day-to-day care across rural, home health, parish, and neighborhood settings, these roles make a difference at the personal and community level.

• Community Health Nurse. Identifies community health problems and builds intervention plans.
• Family Nurse Practitioner. Handles physician-level duties across a family's life cycle.
• Home Health Nurse. Works with independence and autonomy in patients' homes.
• Parish or Faith Community Nurse. Supports physical and spiritual health in faith communities.
• Public Health Nurse. Focuses on the health of populations and communities.
• Rural Nurse. Treats and educates rural communities on health and wellness.
• School Nurse. Cares for students and staff in public or private schools.

Emergency Nursing

For the front lines of patient care, helping people through trauma and time-critical injuries and illnesses.

• ER Nurse. Delivers critical care in a fast-paced environment for acute, urgent needs.
• Flight Nurse. Provides medical care during air transport to emergency facilities.
• Trauma Nurse. Treats serious injuries from accidents and emergencies.

Geriatric and Palliative Care Nursing

For nurses who bring comfort to elderly patients and to those facing end-of-life conditions.

• Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner. Addresses senior health and wellness, including food and housing insecurity.
• Acute Care Nurse. Provides advanced care for brief but severe illnesses.
• Critical Care Nurse. Treats patients with life-threatening illness and trauma.
• Geriatric Nurse. Develops treatment plans for chronic illness in the elderly.
• Hospice Nurse. Cares for patients, and often families, facing a terminal diagnosis.
• Oncology Nurse. Provides and supervises care for cancer patients.

Specialized Areas of Nursing

For nurses who thrive in a particular setting, like the OR or med-surg, or with a specific patient group.

• Adult Nurse Practitioner. Promotes healthy practices and disease prevention across adulthood.
• Aesthetic Nurse. Supports physicians with cosmetic procedures.
• Cardiovascular Nurse. Cares for people with heart disease and works with their families.
• Dermatology Nurse. Performs procedures, treats wounds, and educates patients alongside dermatologists.
• Dialysis Nurse. Administers dialysis and treats kidney disease and kidney failure.
• Endoscopy Nurse. Monitors patients before, during, and after endoscopy procedures.
• Med-Surg Nurse. Cares for patients recovering from surgery, illness, and emergency stays.
• Military Nurse. Provides care to military personnel, veterans, and their families.
• Nurse Navigator. Advocates for patients to ensure appropriate care.
• OR Nurse. Cares for patients before, during, and after surgery.
• Orthopedic Nurse. Treats musculoskeletal disorders, often after invasive surgery.
• Parent Child Nurse. Educates and supports families through child-rearing transitions.
• Pediatric Nurse. Provides preventive and acute care to children and adolescents.
• Plastic Surgery Nurse. Assists with elective and nonelective plastic and cosmetic surgery.
• Psychiatric Nurse. Oversees patients with a range of mental health conditions.
• Rehabilitation Nurse. Helps patients recover from severe injury or chronic illness.
• Research Nurse. Connects researchers and patient volunteers in clinical trials.
• Respiratory Nurse. Treats acute and chronic respiratory illness across the lifespan.
• Telemetry Nurse. Monitors stable cardiovascular patients using current technology.

Women's Health and Birth-Related Nursing

From pregnancy planning through birth and beyond, caring for women's routine, reproductive, and pre- and postpregnancy health.

• Labor and Delivery Nurse. Monitors expectant mothers and babies during childbirth.
• Neonatal Nurse. Focuses on the care of newborn infants.
• Obstetrics Nurse. Works with new parents and women trying to conceive.
• Perinatal Nurse. Provides care through pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
• Women's Health Nurse. Cares for women of all ages, often as their main provider.

In-Demand Specialties by State

Every state needs nurses with particular skills and credentials to serve its populations and industries. Demand varies by location, geography, and other factors. For example, North Carolina has its own set of in-demand specialties worth researching if you plan to practice there.

Where to Start

Under the broad umbrella of nursing, most careers begin as a registered nurse (RN) or as a licensed practical or vocational nurse (LPN/LVN). RNs can specialize by patient type or condition, or move into administrative and leadership roles after earning an MSN. Many of the fastest growing specialties take nurses out of the hospital and into the community, the courtroom, or the corporate world, and a growing number of RNs are opening their own businesses to care for patients directly.