child nursing or adult nursing?

When I was applying for nursing I had difficulty choosing a branch. I was interested in adult, child and mental health. I decided to weigh up the pros and cons for each and decided on adult. These are just my personal thoughts about how i'd manage the different branches of nursing, it will be different for everyone.

I'm very interested in mental health, but realised that there are only a few specific areas of MH nursing that I am interested in. As a student nurse you are unable to choose your placements (apart from an elective that most universities seem to offer) so it's important to choose a branch where you can see yourself working in a variety of areas. Being tiny, female and under 21, the thought of being sent to a prison or a high security unit is something that I don't think I'd feel comfortable with - although that is just me. I think i'd also miss the clinical environment that I was used to working in as a HCA at the hospital.

Children's nursing is something that I am still very interested in. I think I would like the atmosphere of a children's ward far more than an adult general ward. I like working with children, however a large part of being a children's nurse is looking after the parents too. I thought that at my young age I wasn't ready or confident enough to look after other peoples children and be able to support parents as I am still very young myself. I also thought that clinical skills may be more difficult to learn and practice on children. The thought of giving my first injection to an upset child felt a lot more of a challenge compared to training to nurse adults first.

So.. in the end I choose adult and am now in my 2nd year. I am enjoying it very much, and have found that I particularly enjoy looking after the elderly after a placement on a dementia unit. There is so much crossover of the branches in hospital and I have been regularly caring for people with mental health needs and learning disabilities. I like the variety that comes with adult nursing. There are a lot of specialist wards and departments in the hospital so plenty of learning opportunities.

The brilliant thing about nursing is that it is so flexible and there are many many different opportunities once you qualify. I really enjoy nursing adults and there are lots of different areas I would be happy to work in once I am qualified. I am still interested in nursing children and one of the options is to become a practice nurse, where I would be nursing patients of all ages, and then training to become a school nurse.
I think the important thing to remember which choosing branch is that it is personal to you. Get as much information as you can about the courses you would like to apply to, and if possible talk to some people already following that branch of nursing to find out what their experiences are. University open days are often helpful and most will have current students to talk to about their experiences on the course.

Hope that is in some way helpful xo

I think what u said is right it does have to be personal to you! I have decided on childrens nursing this is mainly becuse i trained as a nursery nurse and have worked with children in a variety of placements and positions and i feel that looking after children is the way forward for me xx

wow that helped a great deal thankyou for taking the time to write that
i think im set on adult nursing now as i know ill enjoy working with adults and with all the opportunities i can have once ive qualify is larger then child!
so are you really enjoying it all then ? what uni are you at? x x