RN-MSN – Chief Nursing Officer
Pediatric Nurses Week is October 3-7th 2022. During this week, let’s reflect on the pediatric nursing specialty, give recognition and praise for those making a difference in the lives of our younger population.
Pediatric nursing involves nurses who are fully dedicated to promoting optimal health of patients from birth through adolescence by providing excellent nursing and medical care to children and their families.
Pediatric nursing involves a passion to focus on the needs of infants and children and to improve the delivery of healthcare to each child that is cared for daily.
The nurses caring for these children not only impact the children’s lives but also affect the lives of families and communities.
It is important to understand the following when considering a career as a pediatric nurse:
As a pediatric nurse, each day can be busy, challenging, emotional, and difficult but yet very rewarding.
There are five important key factors to be aware of concerning the roles of a pediatric nurse:
Listen and observe – working with young patients can bring many challenges such as obtaining medical information about what is ailing the patient, financial resources, and additional life stressors and often the pediatric nurse needs to obtain this information from the family. Pediatric nurses also need to observe for nonverbal cues as these are often present among children and their families, especially based on the age of the child. Listening and observing both the child and parent will only assist the pediatric nurse in giving the best possible care.
Kids are resilient – kids are extremely resilient and typically heal more quickly than adults which can lead to more positive health outcomes. Kids can ultimately go from crying to laughing in a minute and being involved in this aspect of care and interactions can bring such joy to a normal but stressful day.
Working with families as much as the children – a child’s family is an integral part of his/her recovery, and the pediatric nurse will be communicating with the family just as much as the child. A family-centered approach needs to be used that includes engaging and educating all members of the family including the patient and any siblings.
Specialize with pediatrics – there are many specialty areas, and it is important to keep in mind that although the ways the nurse communicates and interacts with the patient may be different. It’s essential to look for developmental markers and rely on information provided by the patient’s family. It is also important to be observant of behavioral and visual cues since many times younger patients have a difficult time articulating exactly how they are feeling.
Take care of yourself too – depending upon where one works as a pediatric nurse, the nurse may be caring for children with terminal illnesses or other very serious health issues. This requires the nurse to handle tough situations as far as prognosis, informing the family of tough facts and/or decisions, and unfortunately at times losing a child to a certain disease and/or injury. All these events can be emotionally taxing. It is extremely important to engage in self-care and have a professional relationship with families but also find the time to invest in one’s own hobbies and interests in order to prevent quick burnout.
There are many different types of pediatric nurses but a pediatric registered nurse is one of the most common types.
A pediatric registered nurse performs many of the same functions as registered nurses but the way in which they are performed varies due to the patients (infants and children) being more vulnerable and a greater amount of family and guardian support is needed.
Following are some of the duties that a pediatric registered nurse performs:
Pediatric nurses have differing options as they can choose to work in various subspecialties throughout their careers. The work that pediatric nurses complete involves substantial time and patient contact and many times close relationships are created among the patients and their families.
Pediatric nurses often form strong relationships in different ways such as playing games, joke telling, acting silly, or holding the child’s hand during a tough procedure. It is important to be mindful that pediatric nurses have a greater influence on their patient’s future from growth and development to health promotion and practices.
Pediatric nursing offers nurses various opportunities and some of the most popular pediatric specialties are as follows:
Neonatal Nurse – works to help treat newborn babies, monitor healthy babies, and treat babies born with health conditions. These can also include babies who are premature or have infections. Typically, these nurses work in a hospital setting and have very strong attention to detail in order to capture any changes quickly.
Developmental Disability Nurse – works with children with intellectual, learning, and developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome and autism. The nurses also help to educate the families and communities on how to best support these children with special needs.
Palliative Pediatric Nurse – when the worst in life happens and a child reaches the end of his/her life, a palliative pediatric nurse works to help the child be as comfortable as possible during this end-of-life time period and helps to maintain pain control. The nurse also offers support to the families and needs strong listening and communication skills to help manage all the many difficult emotions being felt by both the family members and the nurse caring for the child.
Direct Care Nurse – provides long-term care to those unable to care for themselves and typically work in patients’ homes or long-term care facilities. The nurses must provide support to these individuals and grow to best understand their needs over a long period of time.
Labor and Delivery Nurse – work with pregnant mothers and help them to give birth and deliver babies. They closely monitor the status of the fetus birth by evaluating heart tones and movement and assisting doctors to perform surgical deliveries. The nurses work in a hospital setting and may occasionally go to patients’ homes to assist with childbirth deliveries. Great communication skills and a sense of urgency to adapt to sudden changes is a must as a labor and delivery nurse.
It is obvious that a pediatric nurse constitutes a special area of nursing that takes knowledge, skills, patience, humbleness, great communication skills, and positive interactions with both children and their families.
October is a special month to focus on the dedicated and committed pediatric nurses by recognizing their endless days and hours of hard work. Recognizing nurses for their dedication often renews a nurse’s commitment to their profession and offers inspiration and motivation for the nurses to keep giving back to their patients.
The following are just a few ways to recognize this specialty area of nursing and to allow the nurses to understand how important their commitment is to this population.
Pediatric nursing takes patience, dedication, skills, humbleness, caring, and emotional stability as it can be very taxing and stressful at times. However, the position of a pediatric nurse offers so many rewards and each one deserves recognition and praise for a job well done each and every day.
Love what you read?
Share our insider knowledge and tips!
Read More
Holidays Ostomy Care: How to Honor National Ostomy Awareness Day An ostomy is a surgically created opening that reroutes stool or urine from the abdomen to the outside of the body. National Ostomy Awareness Day is on Oct. 5, 2024. Open and honest communication about...
Holidays | Inside Scoop 7 Tips to Survive Your First Working Holiday in Nursing Many new nurses struggle to balance a working holiday with their other, more festive plans. Here are some tips to navigate this situation for the first time. Most facilities have a...
Advancing Your Career | Specialties 5 Pieces of Advice from a Surgical Nurse A surgical nurse (also known as a scrub nurse) plays a crucial role in patient care, from acting as the surgeon’s assistant to monitoring sterility and safety. It is essential to advocate...
