Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
There’s nothing worse than seeing a sick infant or child.
As caregivers, it takes a very special set of clinical and bedside skills to deal with challenges faced by pediatric patients and their immediate families. Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
Pediatric nurses are RNs who care for children of all ages in a variety of healthcare settings. All nursing students learn about pediatrics through formal classes and guided clinical experiences, but to specialize, a nurse typically applies to work in a site that serves pediatric patients. These facilities offer training and clinical experience directed to the unique characteristics of children.
Pediatric nurses are very knowledgeable about growth and development as they adapt their interactions and care to the individual child’s developmental level. In addition, pediatric RNs must acknowledge the experience of the family and collaborate with them to provide care for the child. Diseases, equipment, and treatments for pediatric patients are either different or vary in presentation from those of adults for children are unique, not miniature adults.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
Having a Way With Kids
A natural rapport with children may be the most important reason to pursue a career as a pediatric nurse. Many pediatric nursing professionals have clever techniques for winning over their young patients. The ability to distract a child is perhaps as important as earning their trust, especially when you are administering immunizations or inserting IV lines. Often pediatric patients don’t understand why they are undergoing certain treatments, and having good rapport can help make unpleasant experiences a little easier for child patients.
Pediatric nurses also spend much of their time with concerned adults, the parents and relatives of young patients. Supporting these worried adults can be one of the most challenging aspects of the job, and also one of the most rewarding. Children often mimic an adult’s reaction or response to news. Therefore, keeping all parties calm and positive is important for the overall care of the child.
It takes a pediatric nurse with a great bedside manner to be there to provide care, support, guidance, and information to patients and families.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
Getting Certified
Pediatric nurses continually add to their knowledge base by reading professional journals, participating in continuing education classes, and attending conferences such as those offered annually by the Society of Pediatric Nurses. After gaining experience, the pediatric nurse can take an exam to become a Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN).
There are two organizations, Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, and American Nurses Credentialing Center, that support certification programs. Each one has an initial exam and subsequent requirements for continued certification. Maintaining certification is based on demonstration of continued knowledge acquisition.
Those who wish to continue their education and professional practice even further may pursue a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) or Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) in Pediatrics. Masters in nursing (MSN) programs usually are two years in length for full time study or longer for part time study. After completion of the master’s degree, PNPs and CNSs apply to the state board of nursing for recognition as an advanced practice nurse and take their respective national exam for certification. Certification is required in many states and recommended in the others.
Pediatric advanced practice nurses serve as pediatric healthcare providers in primary or acute care settings for well and ill children from birth to 21 years of age. Examples of primary care sites include physician offices, school health, ambulatory, or outpatient clinics, surgical centers, and health departments. The acute care environment encompasses the pediatric inpatient, intensive care, and intermediate care units, the pediatric emergency room, same day surgery center, and pediatric rehabilitation facility.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
Primary care PNPs have the additional knowledge and skill to diagnose and treat episodic illnesses; manage ongoing care of children with chronic conditions; and provide for a child’s health maintenance needs including well child examinations and developmental assessment. Acute care PNPs manage the medical, surgical, and nursing care for children during hospitalization in acute or intensive care settings. All PNPs practice in collaboration with physicians who provide protocols and are available for consultation or referral as needed.
CNSs function in a variety of settings in both the direct and indirect role. They model expert direct family-centered patient care. In addition, they influence care outcomes by providing education, expert consultation, and leadership in defining and implementing evidence-based practice for the staff. The Pediatric CNS may be identified in terms of a setting, a subspecialty, a type of care, or a type of patient ailment. They also work cooperatively with other disciplines to implement improvements in health care delivery systems.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
There are various definitions of nursing as a profession: first of all this is a kind of assistance for persons, their families, aimed at reaching and maintaining the best state of health. Nowadays, some researchers define nursing as �a science and an art that focuses on promoting quality of life as defined by persons and families, throughout their life experiences from birth to care at the end of life (Barnsteiner, 2).
The main goal of nursing community is unified in the whole world: this is to train and to provide the specialists, corresponding to norms and standards of ethics and competence. In different countries of the world the education for nurses varies a lot, but as the basis, it always includes perfect study of nursing theory and practice and development of the needed clinical skills. Most of the countries issue special laws for controlling the nursing practice and a person is able to enter this profession only according to national or state regulations.
When comparing nursing to medicine, it is not enough to consider only practical sides; there is also an emotional side of each of the two fields. It is hard to imagine a surgeon, who shows his emotions, like sympathy for example towards his patient when he is performing a serious operation, he should remain calm and emotionless. At the same time, it is evident, that emotional bond, more confidential relations usually build between a patient and a nurse. That is why it is so important, that a nurse is able to not only provide assistance in taking pills or changing the bed-clothes for the patient, but also do her best and be a kind of moral support for him.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
The basis of pediatric nursing is the same, but still there is a number of factors and peculiarities that differentiate it from other types of nursing. First of all pediatric nursing includes for example looking after a newborn baby and taking care of a teenager, who was injured. The main circle of duties of a pediatric nurse includes comprehensive care to children, adolescents, and their families in various settings. Responds to the physical and psychosocial aspects of health and illness, concern for health promotion and disease prevention, management of physical and mental disabilities, and response to acute and chronic illness. (Cone, 13).
It is not possible to consider children the same kind of patients as adults, as the bodies and minds of children can operate differently from those of grown ups. It is vitally important always to take into consideration the influence of the illness or injury upon the development process of the child, as they are still growing and experiencing changes in their bodies and systems. Speaking about moral side, it is necessary to mention, that children and adolescents can be more afraid of what is going on and of the unknown surrounding and misunderstandings or indifference, they could encounter with nurses, would only worsen the situation. Children might have a lot of simple questions, might need thorough explanations about the procedures they have to come through, and certainly constant support from the side of the nurses in order to avoid depressions and restraint. Nurses will usually have to do not only with children, but with their parents or other older members of the family as well, as they are also in a way involved into the process of caring of the patient. One of the most striking features of pediatric nursing is how often they share their nursing skills with others: the child’s parents or whoever would normally look after them at home (Barnsteiner, 25).Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example
Pediatric nurses should be able to support the ability of the family child carers to provide the best care later. Illness of injury of a child is for sure connected to a lot of emotions from the side of his parents, often they feel guilty, helpless, powerless of even in panic. In this situation one of the major roles for renewal of the normal calm atmosphere falls on nurses’ shoulders. Thus, it can be concluded, that pediatric nurses should possess deep knowledge about children development, physiological differences between adults and children, realize the importance of family intervention, be able to develop partnership relations with older family members, at the same providing a traumatic care for small patients and minimizing their psychological and physical affliction (Holt, 111).
It is evident, that the work of pediatric nurse is challenging and beneficial at the same time. One of the major disadvantages is the possibility of stressful situations, created by the family members and the realization, that the patient is not even an adult and already has to suffer from pain or illness.
Providing love, care and sustaining the child’s hopes for better are integral parts of the job, as children need it much more than adult patients, this is vitally important for them. On the other side, nurses can be proud and satisfied if they see, that they were able to give out care and support to such a little person and they receive the positive and grateful feedback from children this will for sure stand for the main benefit of the profession.Advanced Pediatric Nursing Example