Is Pediatrics the Right Position for a Young Nurse?

Pediatric nursing is not right for every nurse. Before you select pediatric nursing as a career, it is really important to understand both the drawbacks and benefits of the position. This article will help you weigh the pros and minuses, and determine if pediatrics is the right nursing specialty for you.

Do I Really Want the Stress of Pediatric Nursing?

While there is certainly a lot of training involved in becoming a pediatric nurse, the real quandary is whether or not a nurse can handle the mental stress of being a pediatric nurse. Because pediatric nurses work exclusively with patients under eighteen, it can be a difficult job. Working with minors that are seriously ill can be extremely difficult. You have to deal with both the patient as well as their parents, which can be heartbreaking. It is a specialty that can be really draining, but also rewarding as well.

Some pediatric nursing jobs are less stressful than others. Working in a pediatric hospital's ER emergency department provides a lot of variety to your job, and most kids only suffer from bruises, cuts, broken bones among other injuries that, while scary, are usually pretty treatable. Conversely, a job as a pediatric nurse in the oncology unit is a really stressful job. The continuous exposure to terminally ill kids and their frantic parents requires a unique person to fill this role. Another challenge that many nurses face when working with pediatric patients is that they become emotionally attached to their patients that are spending so much time in the hospital. An oncology unit patient may be in the hospital for several weeks at a time, or even need to come in a few times per week. This creates a strong bond between the nurse and patient, which is very painful when the patients sometimes do not make it.

For those that can handle the work as a pediatric nurse with terminally sick children, the job can be really rewarding. It is amazing to watch a child rebuild her strength and then go back to school with her friends. It is difficult to match these feelings in any other specialty, and the closeness that you develop with your patients is precious.

In order to figure out if you have the right make-up to be a pediatric nurse, take a thorough inventory of your personality. Do you get upset easily? If so, then pediatric nursing may not the right option for you. If you really want to work with kids, but are worried that you may not able to handle the terminally ill children, consider being a pediatric nurse in the ER, operating room, or in a pediatric physician's office. In those settings you are exposed to less serious illness and you do not have prolonged exposure to the same children over time.

How Can I Become a Pediatric Nurse?

Pediatric nursing is typically not offered as a specialty during nursing school, so your education will come on the job. Some employers will provide a special orientation program for nurses interested in working with children. This training may include clinical plus classroom education. Other hospitals do all training right on the pediatric floor, joining a new pediatric nurse with a more experienced nurse that serves as her mentor. It doesn't matter which method is used at your hospital, no one will expect that you graduate from nursing school prepared for work in pediatrics without more training.

Beyond the education that you receive from your hospital, there is additional coursework for nurses that want to become pediatric nurses. The Emergency Nurses Association offers a course in Emergency Nurse Pediatrics and the American Heart Association offers a course in Pediatric Advanced Life Support. You can also join the Society of Pediatric Nurses, a professional organization for nurses in the pediatric field. After you have completed training in pediatric nursing, you can take a test to earn your Certified Pediatric Nurse certificate.

How Can Pediatric Nursing Work for Me?

If you actually become a pediatric nurse, there are several steps to reduce the stress of your job. Eating healthy and following an exercise routine will both contribute to your sense of well being. Also, it is important to form a support group of family members or friends that you can share the stress of your day with. An additional way to reduce the pressure of pediatric nursing is to rotate to other units from time to time to avoid burnout. Spend some time in the pediatric emergency department, and then move to the non-critical unit. Not only will this give you the mental break you require, but it will also provide you with a more well-rounded skill set, which will be good for your overall career development.

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