Should I Become a Pediatric Nurse? How to Tell If this Job Might be Right for You
Sometimes the tiniest patients need the biggest hearts to lean on. As a pediatric nurse, you could be in a position to make a big difference in your patient's life. From taking temperatures to administering medication, it is up to the pediatric nurse to make sure infants and children leave the hospital or clinic in good health.
A Day in the Life of a Pediatric Nurse
As a pediatric nurse, you work closely with pediatricians to determine the infant's needs and determining the best methods for treating the child. This means providing treatment for illnesses and injuries, ensuring dietary needs are being met, and assessing the child's overall health.
Pediatric nurses can handle a wide variety of tasks on any given day. These tasks can include administration of medication, taking blood, administering vaccinations, and even preparing the child's medical history for the physician to review. Each of these tasks require a keen eye for detail and the ability to provide comfortable care to children who may not be too excited to be spending their morning in the doctor's office.
Nurses must also be excellent listeners and have the ability to "hear" what a child is saying through everything from body language and other non-verbal cues to indistinct and sometimes hard to decipher descriptions of symptoms and injuries. A lot of what a pediatric nurse does is translate children's language into actionable information that the nursing staff and pediatrician can use to determine treatment plans.
What Skills Does a Pediatric Nurse Need?
A well-honed understanding of child psychology is just as important as any other tool in the doctor's office. Knowing how to convey complex ideas in simple terms, being able to address basic fears of needles and noises, and having the ability to comfort a sick child are essential skills to master. Since pediatric nurses can be called upon to treat patients through their teen years, individuals must have the ability to assess the best way to address topics in an age appropriate manner.
Life as a pediatric nurse can be physically and emotionally demanding. It requires significant levels of empathy, the ability to lift and wrestle everything from wriggling children to heavy testing equipment. It is not a sedentary path and a pediatric nurse can expect to spend most of the day on their feet moving to and from examination rooms.
It is a job that also requires knowing how to handle the difficulties that are certain to come up. While working with and caring for children can be a great source of joy, not every day is a good day and learning how to emotionally process everything from daily stresses to the delivery of "bad news" are crucial skills to master.
Moreover, it is common for pediatric nurses to provide care to very sick, and sometimes dying children. There is no spoonful of sugar large enough that can help that medicine go down easy and it is these instances where all the skills of a pediatric nurse are needed the most.
Educational & Licensing Requirements
It can take between 2 to 4 years to earn the necessary degrees required to practice as a pediatric nurse. Accelerated programs make it possible for individuals to graduate with an ADN in as little as 18 months. Nursing students are required to pass courses in nutrition, pharmacology, acute medical care, anatomy, physiology, and microbiology.
Upon graduation, nurses are required to take and pass the National Council of State Boards of Nursing's National Licensure Exam. Moreover, each state has different requirements for nurses and it is important for graduates to carefully review these when applying for positions.
Upon entering the field, many pediatric nurses also choose to secure credentials as a Certified Pediatric Nurse. This requires nurses to have at least 1,800 hours under their belt.
Are you interested in becoming a nurse? If you want to earn an Associate of Science in Nursing Degree, ECPI University offers this degree in an accelerated pace. For more information, connect with a helpful admissions advisor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.