Pediatric Nurse Essay

Nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses who have received special courses and training. They usually work closely with doctors and can perform many high-level primary care tasks. They often specialize in specific types of practice such as pediatrics, psychiatry, or obstetrics. Some establish private practices; however, most work in doctors' offices, hospitals, or neighborhood health centers. Their duties often include taking detailed medical histories and performing complete physical exams, providing diagnoses and recommending treatment plans, treating common medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries, prescribing limited medications, and counseling patients and families. They also care

Ever since I was little, I always knew I wanted to be a nurse but I never really knew what department in nursing I wanted to work in. As I grew up, I discovered my passion for kids and how well I worked with them. After some thinking, I decided I would major in Pediatric Registered Nurse. The main focus on Pediatric Nursing is obviously working specifically with kids, infants, toddlers, and teens. Pediatric Nurses deal with children’s illness and injuries. They also give parents information on nutrition, diet and health plans. Pediatric Nurses mainly work in hospitals, doctor’s office, outpatient care centers, clinics, or immunization centers. The main job of a Pediatric Registered Nurse is to record patient symptoms as well as medical history, draw blood, administer medication and give vaccinations. They also help pediatricians with examinations, oncology, dermatology, or cardiology.

Ever since I was a little girl, I was always telling my parents I wanted to be a doctor to help people. As I got older my sisters had babies and I always wanted to hold them and take care of them furthermore, just recently I had come across a defined profession caring for infants in a great deal of need. I have been interested in helping people in need, performing surgeries and caring for infants since I was approximately eight years old. I have recently been doing some research on a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP), and believe that the job description fits me well. I would find a colossal amount of joy in being a NNP because I love being around babies and would enjoy being able to make a difference in their early life, as well as in their family’s lives.

Since I have been a young girl, I have dreamed of dedicating my life to aid others in health and wellness. Nursing, however has not always been my leading career choice. Career options such as a pediatrician, oncologist, anesthesiologist, etc. have been considered in my pursuit of finding the proper career path, but through all the consideration I have never lost my true passion of helping others. Through careful examination of these various careers, I discovered that I wanted to pursue a career that was more personal and hands-on. I have chosen to pursue a career as a pediatric oncology nurse. Although this career with be both physically and emotionally demanding, I feel that I have made the best choice to become a nurse and devote my life in the pursuit of restoring health and wellness in children battling detrimental diseases.

The role of a family nurse practitioner is a fundamental portion of the future of healthcare. The role is clearly not as understood by other healthcare professionals as needed which results in the disagreement if the role of a family nurse practitioner is even required for primary care. As people are getting older, the need for medical professionals that can provide patient care to our ever growing population increases. The need for the role of family nurse practitioners will grow too. The role of the family nurse practitioner, the ability of the FNP to be able to transition into their role.

Pediatric nursing is an important profession to us today. They devote their knowledge and skills to caring for children from infancy through the late teen years. Pediatric nursing does not just give you the opportunity to work with children, but with their families as well. I was inspired to become a pediatric nurse when I was younger. I remember when my little sister had to go to Kids First Pediatric to get a flu shot, my sister was so terrified of the needle she began to cry and try to move away from the nurse. In order for the nurse to calm my sister down she started making my sister laugh by playing peek-a-boo with her so that my sister could get her mind off of the needle. Once my sister was no longer thinking about the needle the nurse told my sister to count with her and on the count of three the nurse gave my sister the flu shot without my sister even noticing it. I found it so unique how a nurse could be playful with kids when they’re scared. I like working with kids so I know that this particular field is perfect for me.

Pediatric nurses do a lot of the same tasks as a regular nurse. They draw blood, check vital signs, can perform physical examinations, and order diagnostic tests. However, the job of a pediatric nurse goes beyond regular nurses. They must have a caring relationship

“The overall goal for the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) project is to meet the challenge of preparing future nurses who will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSAs) necessary to continuously improve the quality and safety of the healthcare systems within which they work”("Graduate KSAs," 2014 para.1) In looking through the competencies that this statement embodies, I have chosen the competency of safety. This competency is defined as minimizing the risk of harm to patients and providers through both system effectiveness and individual performance (2014). The topic I have chosen to discuss in regards to safety is the role that the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) plays in the recognition and the treatment of teen suicide. According to the National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey (2013) suicide among teens and adolescents is a major health problem. It is the 3rd leading cause of death in 10-24 year olds in the United States. In the survey, 17% of students reported seriously considering suicide in the 12 months prior to the survey (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2013). With these reported numbers in the pediatric population, it is of vital importance that the PNP as the primary care provider (PCP) knows how to appropriately screen for, refer and treat this patient. This paper discusses the suicidal teen and the role of the PNP to promote the

As I begin my fifth year of working as a nurse practitioner in a leading children’s hospital, I am certain the pediatric acute care setting is where I will continue my career of service to children and their families. Although I hold a masters degree in nursing and have been a primary care certified pediatric nurse practitioner for many years, I wish to expand my knowledge of pediatric nursing to encompass the unique and challenging aspects of pediatric acute care.

In addition to nursing knowledge and practical skills, pediatric nurses must also have the ability to form rapid connections with their juvenile patients. Most children are often scared to go to the doctor, so the pediatric nurse needs to be able to gain the child’s trust and to be able to dispel the fear that the child might have. You must also be able to remain calm under pressure and be a quick thinker, and also be able to smile through the most stressing situations because children can tell when an adult seems worried.

Some other generalized duties of a pediatric nurse would be: educating patients on possible ways to help heal the injury or how much of a certain medication to take for an illness. Specific duties of this field are not that much different from the generalized duties of a pediatric nurse, but some differences are: “recording medical history and backgrounds, monitoring progress or setbacks during the patient's stay at the place of treatment, and helping perform tests and analyze the results for the patient” (“Pediatric Nurse”). For the most part, pediatric nurses only work 8 to 12 hour shifts, sometimes having to cover for a co-worker by taking a double-shift. Other quirks about this type of work environment would be that you would be “on-call at all times, you would work on holidays, and having to figure out who would be working which shift if key people were not at work that specific day” (“Summary”). Most people would not be able, or wouldn’t want to, work this way as to having to be on-call at all times of the day, and sometimes not having adequate amounts of sleep from emergency calls into

During many years the role of school nurse was traditionally viewed as one where the nurse cared for students that were injured, applied bandages and gave out ice bags. Throughout the years the role of the school nurse has evolved into one of leadership and management along with many other duties including traditional roles as mentioned above. The services provided by a school nurse range from assessment and screening to coordinating care for regular students as well as students with special needs. School nursing requires experience and knowledge in school, public, community and emergency health to meet the many needs of school aged children and youth. The school nurse provides many services but the basic services provided include

As the school nurse role evolves, there are increasingly more health concerns for the school

Some people have many kinds of goals. It is hard to give exact number people who are majored in nursing, but one thing that I know is that the demography is very wide and large. This is because people have different reasons for majoring in this career. I believe the best reason for majoring in nursing is because it has wide varieties of a career that one can major in. I find myself to be a pediatric nurse as my career. Pediatric nurses have great benefits, good salary, and I love spending my time with children.

The good things about having a Nursing degree is that you can choose a specialized area after you graduate. Pediatric nursing is one area that a registered nurse might want to specialize in. A pediatric nurse is one who cares for younger people from infant age up to the teen