Your six month old child has been screaming all night and you do not understand what is wrong with your child, so you take it to the doctor. You know you can not just ask your six month old child what is wrong. You need a specific doctor that has a degree specialized in caring for children to find out what is hurting your child. Pediatric Nursing is a specific field of nursing in which you care for infants and adolescents. An infant is a child typically up to the age of two. Adolescents are ages ten through nineteen. A pediatric nurse is a registered nurse with a minimum of associates degree in nursing.
Pediatric nurses can graduate from a traditional nursing school or they also have the option to take an accredited online program, but if you are not capable of passing the NCLEX, nursing credentialing exam, you can not become a pediatric nurse. Undergraduate programs do not typically offer a pediatric specialty program, therefore nurses earning a bachelor’s degree should seek experience in internships or training programs at a facility offering pediatric services (Bisk, 2017, villanovau. com). Pediatric nurses devote their knowledge and skills to care for someone else’s child. They train to share their dedicated to a child’s health.
They must earn a bachelor of Science in nursing at an accredited four-year college, or get an associates degree or a diploma (. org, 16 Dec. 2016, rntobsn. org). A pediatric nurse has the same level of care as a RN, who is capable of providing you the same care but with infants. Pediatric nurses can also go back to college to earn a masters degree in pediatric nurse practitioner. Prevention and health education is a big part of pediatric nursing. Pediatric nurses learn many skills. Pediatric nurses have dedication, patience with children, attention to detail, flexibility, and empathy.
They need dedication to work long nights, weekends, holidays, and work long hours. They need dedication to have a wide variety of responsibilities. Dedication is essential to this career. A pediatric nurse will need patience with children. It is hard to work with a child and they must be willing to work with even the most difficult children to provide the necessary care. It’s not easy providing treatment to a child and a pediatric nurse must have patience. Paying attention to details is a very important aspect of the job because even the slightest symptoms ones child experiences must be noted and brought to the attention of the doctor.
A pediatric nurse has to work with flexibility. Children react to treatments differently from adults and a pediatric nurse must be flexible with treatment options. It is very essential for a pediatric nurse to have empathy for both the children they treat and for the parents. It can be very stressful on the parents when one’s child is ill and a pediatric nurse needs to demonstrate kindness. A parent can also be frightened from their child’s illness and professionals need to demonstrate sympathy.
In order to work with newborns, children who have cancer, children with emotional or developmental disabilities, or children who are critically ill may need additional training in nursing skills, as well. The daily responsibilities of pediatric nurses include being capable of educate patients’ families and caregivers about procedures, treatments, and other types of medical care. They also need to provide support and guidance to young patients and communicate with pediatricians and other medical professionals. Pediatric nurses are capable of performing many things like other nurses.
They can perform physical examinations, measure vital statistics, take blood and urine samples and order diagnoses and develop treatment plans. Children have special health care needs and parents often prefer to have their children treated by nurses and other health care providers who are pediatric specialists. Another skill a pediatric nurse may need to have is being able to communicate with young children. Children tend to get scared and can not always clearly communicate about “what hurts”. In order for a pediatric nurse to find out what is wrong, they need to know how to dispel a child’s fear.
They need all these skills to be capable of gathering complete and accurate information to aid in diagnosis and treatment. Pediatric nurses work in variety of places. They work in doctor’s offices, clinics, hospitals, surgical centers, and other health care settings. Their skills bring particular comfort to parents and children being treating in acute care departments, such as neonatal unit, Pediatric critical care unit, and pediatric oncology ward. The neonatal unit provides expert, round-the-clock care for newborn babies who are ill or prematurely born.
The neonatal intensive care is for the most seriously ill babies. High-dependency care is for babies that do not need to be in the NICU but still require complex care. There is also special care for babies catching up on growth and development after a premature birth. Pediatric oncology ward provides comprehensive care for a child with any format of cancer. Pediatric nurses also work in schools. They also work in private practice and for community groups. They work in these organizations to provide outpatient and preventive health care services for children, including children who have limited access to health care.
Certification is not required to work in pediatric settings. However pediatric nurses are required and annual recertification which requires continued education. I measured in contact hours. CPNs who want to maintain certification must complete 15 contact hours or related activities each year. Approved continued education options include a range of practice and learning experiences. These might include conference attendance, work related training, online continuing education, and academic credit and direct patient care. Pediatric Nursing job growth is much faster than any other occupation in the nation.
There has been a strong job market in pediatric nursing since there is a need for care for so many children. The projected job growth through 2014 is up to sixteen percent. Depending on where you work as a pediatric nurse there can be a salary of up to seventy-one thousand a year. As of May 2015, the median annual salary of a registered nurse is $67,490, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Salaries range from approximately $46,360 to more than $101,630. The factors pay may include level of education, years of experience, geographic area and the type of facility employing the pediatric nurse(Bisk, 2017, villanovau. om).
Pediatric nurses earning $48. 000 to $68. 000 a year. Experienced pediatric nurses can earn $100,000 a year or more(. org, 16 Dec. 2016, rntobsn. org). As of 2013, there were 2,661,890 registered nurses in the United States working in a wide range of medical environments and facilities, some with specialties such as neonatal care(association of colleges of nursing, 2017, explorehealthcareer. org). Projected job growth for RNs in general is between 2012 and 2022 is nineteen percent, which is faster than the eleven percent average for all positions. A pediatric nurse is a very special vocation.
A pediatric nurse provides the opportunity to play a key role in a child’s life when that child needs you the most. A pediatric Nursing job industry has increased dramatically. Pediatric nursing requires some many skills, and a big skill needed is to have dedication. A pediatric nurse needs to be able to tolerate children and needs to learn how to understand them. They should be able to handle children in a responsible manner. They will have to learn to be considerate of the families. Pediatric nurses play a major role in a child’s life because they need to understand them and be able to treat them to the best of their ability.