INTRODUCTION
A career in paediatric nursing can be emotional, stressful, physically demanding, and one of the most rewarding jobs. Becoming a nurse is really taking a job in caring, even more so as a paediatric. These nurses take care of infants through childhood until their adolescents. In addition to that there are multiple issues and conditions that are related to developing and growing people. A paediatric nurse must also be able to handle limitations and sensitivities of the patient.
Before looking into the career of a paediatric nurse, let’s look at the definition. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, by The United States Department of Labor, it describes a paediatric nurse career as: “Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.” This definition is straight forward but leaves out the major qualities and skills needed to be a good paediatric nurse.
This report will look into the complex field of paediatric nursing. This analysis is for students going after a career in paediatric nursing, it will go over the education, skills, responsibilities, and career of a paediatric nurse. All the information for this analysis will come from government sources, article database, and a personal interview from a retires paediatric nurse. The scope will include a look into the education and skills needed, along with qualities, responsibilities, salary, and pros & cons.
CAREER ANALYSIS
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
All nursing programs have a basic requirement of classes that need to be taken before getting into the program. The basic requirement of courses are biology, psychology, anatomy, nutrition, social & behaviour sciences, microbiology, chemistry, and physiology. There are three educational routes that can be taken to become a paediatric nurse. Including a diploma form, associates degree in nursing (AND), and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing (BSN).
Degrees
A Bachelor’s of Science degree roughly takes about 4 years to complete. The bachelor’s degree typically requires additional education in critical thinking, commutation, leadership, physical, and social sciences. The associates degree in nursing and diploma takes up to 2 to 3 years to complete. Some with ADN or diplomas go back to school, according to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Registered nurses with an ADN or diploma may go back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree through an RN-to-BSN program. There are also master’s degree programs in nursing, combined bachelor’s and master’s programs, and accelerated programs for those who wish to enter the nursing profession and already hold a bachelor’s degree in another field.” In addition to that all programs require supervised clinical experience.
Skills
The following skills are critical to have in order to be a successful career in paediatric nursing. A paediatric nurse needs these skills because it helps her understand their patients better. For instance, infants cannot talk they need to use their observation and critical thinking to help the patient. The other skills needed are compassion, communication, stamina, and adaptability.
Compassion: A nurse needs to be able to care for injured and sick. In addition to having empathy for the patient who is in pain and suffering. Also, to want the patients to experience as best as possible. Compassion usually makes nurses feel concern for the patient, which makes them want to help the patient even more.
Communication: Paediatric nurses typically are the patient’s advocate with family member and staff. The ability to listen and speak is very important to be successful. Paediatric nurses in education and research also need to be able to communicate to work efficiently. In addition to that, a nurse must be able to communicate with the doctor what is going on with the patient and what they think might help.
Critical thinking: On a daily basis nurses are faced with important choices and they need to be able to use critical thinking to help indecision making. Every nurse a decision they make impacts patient, for instance, their critical thinking skills steer the decision-making process effecting the quality of care provided.
Stamina: Paediatric nursing is a very demanding profession that it is essential to have emotional, physical, and mental strength. A healthy life style and high energy levels are needed to have an effective nurse. Especially working with kids, you need to have a lot of energy and can move quickly.
Adaptability: It’s important for nurses to be able to adapt and have flexibility. They are often required to work long hours and typically deal with fluctuating schedules. Also, the ability to cope becomes paramount in situations.
SALARIES
As a paediatric nurse the salary falls between $68,000 and $74,000 a year. Peds nursing is very completive, to the point salaries can vary in wide range. In addition to that, depending on where you work, the benefits are great. Such as partial expense compensation, a range of bonus opportunities, and free housing.
Median pay
The annual median pay is typically roughly $70,000 a year. Depending on who you work for the median annual pay can be different. For instance, government nurse make $75,900 and nurse that work in hospital make $72,070. Pay varies on number of hours and if you are a on call nurse or work business hours.
Registered Nurses
Median annual wages, May 2017
Health diagnosing and treating practitioners
$79,480
Registered nurses
$70,000
Total, all occupations
$37,690
(Typical wages: “Career One Stop”)
RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES
A paediatric nurse has quite a few responsibilities they need to do on their shifts. Administering medication and managing intravenous lines is a big part of their responsibilities, because it manages the patients pain. Paediatric nurses also give vaccines and draw blood from children (paediatric RN). All of the following responsibilities and duties are important for the patients care and function of the work place.
Administer medication
When a nurse is administering medication, they must do three things. First, the nurse needs to make sure they have the right medication before administering. Administering the wrong medication can cause harm or possibly kill the patient. Secondly, they need to make sure the administer the medication at the right time, otherwise the patient could over dose or not get the medication they need. Lastly, a nurse needs to make sure they administer the right amount of medication. If they give the wrong dosage it can lead to serious harm of the patient.
Manage intravenous line (IV’s)
As a nurse manages IV’s they check for a few major issues that could happen. They need to make sure the needle has come out. Nurses will check every hour on the IV, even throughout the night. Also, they check if the IV line is not working properly and the symptoms the child may be experiencing.
Communicate to patient
Paediatric nurses not only support the patient and family emotionally and physically, but they educate them on what they should do when they leave. For instance, they advise special diet plans and provide how to self-administer medication. Along with that educate the patient and family on disease management.
Communicate with doctors
paediatric nurse also must be able to communicate with the doctors. They explain the patient’s symptoms and concern the family or patient may have. Nurses also update the doctors on the patient’s condition, if they are healing or getting worse. Doctors and the nurses might discuss the plan for the patient.
QUALITIES
paediatric nurses need possess most of the following qualities. These qualities not only make a nurse a better nurse, but it helps the patients and doctors. Having emotional stability and empathy typically makes it easier for a nurse to help and makes patients and their families more comfortable. Then attention to detail, physical endurance, and problem solving can really effect life or death in a patient. Each of these qualities make the job easier and the nurse better.
Emotional stability
paediatric nursing can be a stressful job where traumatic situations are very common. It is crucial to have the ability to accept death and suffering without letting it get personal. Some days can feel like non-stop gloom and doom. It’s not to say there aren’t heartwarming moments in paediatric nurse, but it is important manage the stress of sad situations.
Empathy
Some of the greatest nurse possess empathy for the suffering and pain of patients. Being able to provide comfort and feel compassion is important to patients. Patients look at nurse as their advocates, being sympathetic to the patient’s experience can go a long way in improving the patients care. At times a patient only has a empathetic nurse to look forward to.
Attention to detail
Every step a nurse makes is one that may have a far-reaching consequence. Most paediatric nurse pay excellent attention to detail and make sure they are careful to not skip steps or make errors. It is important for them to read a patient’s chart correctly and remembering nuances of a delicate case. A simple mistake can cause a tragedy for someone’s life. Attention to detail can be the difference between life and death.
Physical endurance
A paediatric nurse has frequent physical tasks, such as standing for long periods of time, performing several taxing manoeuvres, and lifting heavy objects (or people) are a part of a nurse’s daily routine. It is important of a nurse to maintain their energy throughout their shift. Being able to eat right, having a healthy lifestyle, and staying strong is an important nursing tool.
Problem solving
A great paediatric can quickly think and address problems. Nurse always need to be on hand to solve any situation. Especially with trauma cases, emergencies, and sick patients. Weather it is dealing with the doctor, managing staff, soothing a patient, or handling the family; having good problem solving skills is one of the top qualities in being a great paediatric nurse.
PROS AND CONS
One of the most rewarding part of paediatric nursing is providing care for children. Children typically show the appreciation and make the workplace more enjoyable. Kathy Smith, a 3-year retired paediatric nurse, said that seeing the children get better and always be happy was the best part of the job (Personal Interview). With a positive outlook, most children smile at healthcare workers. Typically, with younger children they can be playful, joyous, and silly when receiving medical care. Making it more enjoyable to do. When seeing real changes, in a child’s life based on the nursing care provide can bring job satisfaction.
One of the most common difficulties faced with paediatric nursing is the emotional challenge. Some nurses work repeated with the same child for year, causing them to become familiar with the child and their families. That familiarity can reveal the difficulties the child is going through and how they might not be receiving the care needed. As a nurse tries to improve the child’s condition, it can be very disheartening to see the parents not as committed. Also, it can be distressing to see a child’s health deteriorate, paediatric nursing is not for the faint hearted. Kathy notes that watching children sick and in pain was the hardest part of the job, because after a certain point there was nothing else she could do to help the children (Personal interview).
CONCLUSION
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
Becoming a paediatric nurse takes time and drive. In addition to that it can be a very emotional and stressful job. If you cannot handle being or dealing with very sick children the job isn’t for you. Although, if you have true passion for caring for children, this career with be highly rewarding and will experience often appreciation.
INTERPETATION OF FINDINGS
In order to for a student be successful in a paediatric nursing career they will need to be determined and persistence in education. Compassion, empathy, and physical endurance is an important part of getting where you need to be. The real difficult comes after school, dealing with sick and injured children takes serious emotional stability.
RECOMMONDATIONS
A student considering a career in paediatric nursing should consider the following:
1. Take the time to study, and study as much as you can.
2. Take a CNA course to get a head start.
3. While in school, volunteer at the hospital in the paediatric centre. Get exposure.