How to Become a Pediatric Nurse: A Simple Step by Step Guide

Childcare can be such a wonderful privilege, and for those who ask how to become a pediatric nurse, which, in uncertain terms, comprises both childcare and nursing, here is one post you will want to stay glued to the end.

Before we get into how to become a pediatrician, it’s important to understand what a pediatric nurse is, what their roles and responsibilities are in any healthcare system, and, of course, how to become a pediatric nurse.

Who is a pediatric nurse?


Pediatric nurses are specially trained professionals who are adept at handling the medical needs of young children from their infancy in such a compassionate way. Children have peculiar growth patterns which reflect in their health needs and being just any nurse can’t suffice. Pediatric nurses incorporate their understanding of child psychology to their medical training.

Read Also: Why Nursing: Top 10 Reason to study Nursing in Nigeria


This in a way makes their training a lot more rigorous. In fact, any specialization in the field of nursing is tasking because patients have different medical needs.

Roles and Responsibilities of Pediatric Nurses in the Healthcare System


Knowing who pediatric nurses are can inform what their responsibilities are in the big medical tree. However, it is still worth discussing certain responsibilities, some of them whether they are popular or unpopular.

Therefore, in this paragraph, we would consider some of the roles pediatric nurses play which turns out to be extremely crucial in the grand picture of a patient’s health.


Pediatric nurses liaise with doctors to take care of the different levels of primary health care ranging from taking notes of a patient’s medical history to administration of immunization and even child health related examinations that inform the treatment plan of the child.


They also form an important link between the doctor and the patient in the aspect of educating the parent about their child’s health and how parents can maintain a perfect bill of health for their children. This education includes sharing helpful information such as what children should eat that would aid their growth and development and also acute signs of certain diseases to forestall the risk of children slipping into precarious conditions when they fall sick.


In fact, as children grow and record milestones such as teething, talking or even walking, and pediatric nurses assist in ensuring that the parents understand these processes of child development and how they could boost the child’s capabilities.

check This: How to become a Registered Nurse A Simple Step by Step Guide

How To Become A Pediatric Nurse


So, we have arrived to the point where we may learn the procedures to follow in order to become a pediatric nurse.

Understand the peculiar role of a pediatric nurse


Pediatric nurses as we earlier said are trained in a way different from the other nurses and this is to make them adept at providing quality healthcare to the children. You should also know that if you have an affinity for children, you should consider taking the path of pediatric nurse if you are in the field of nursing.

Read Also: How to Prepare For Council Exam


As pediatric nurses, you won’t just give children intravenous injections or immunizations. Instead, you may need to distract them a little or be understanding enough to put up with the antics of young children while you treat them. This is because you must have learned about child psychology in school.


It gets even better when you realize that most employers seek nurses who have speciality in a particular area and since pediatric nursing is a specialized profession, the chances of landing a job is much higher.

Earn Your Nursing Degree


Doing your research is excellent but is it enough? Certainly not. You have to complete a bachelor’s or associate degree in nursing if you wish to become a pediatric nurse. Remember that a pediatric nurse is first and foremost a nurse. That said, completing a bachelor’s degree in Nigeria can take as long as five years.

Pass Your Council Examinations


For you to become a pediatric nurse, you would need to pass council examinations to become a registered nurse. These council examinations are a test on certain specific areas in nursing, like health maintenance, safe environments, physiological integrity, and many more.

How to Become A Registered Nurse


Passing the council examinations is a giant stride made in your journey to become a pediatric nurse. What passing these council examinations do for you is, make you eligible to practice as a registered nurse in any healthcare facility that employs you.

Download: Nursing Council Marking Scheme


Apparently, since you wish to become a pediatric nurse, you should be on the lookout for clinics that have leanings towards younger patients, especially children. However, if this doesn’t happen, what is available can become ideal, after all, the experience is what is most important if you are just starting out.

Earn Clinical Experience


“What other clinical experiences have you had?” you’d ask yourself. For two major reasons, you need to seek opportunities where you can practice your specialty which is providing the best children healthcare. It can be an herculean task in the beginning, but you would need to keep your ears to the ground for places that affords you the chance to work with younger patients.
This is because in a place like the United States, the clinical requirement to take the exam that fully certifies you as a pediatric nurse is 1800 hours of clinical experience.

Pass the Certification Examination

The Pediatric Certification Nursing Board is the organization that is thought to be most significant in the certification of pediatric nurses in the United States. They were founded in 1975 with the intention of advancing and bettering the common health habits among kids.

Kickoff your career as a pediatric nurse


After passing these certification tests, you are now ready to work in the field of pediatric health. You would gain knowledge about children’s psychology, which includes their behavioural patterns and emotions, along the way to becoming a pediatric nurse, from your research into what pediatric nurses do to finally passing your certification exams.

Conclusion


The journey to become a pediatric nurse is such a long and of course an exciting one if it is something that tugs at your heart so strongly. Even in the specialization of pediatric nursing, you can still specialize in oncology or intensive care, and as you might have guessed, you would need to write some examinations too and also might have to get a graduate nursing degree.

Similar Posts

One Comment

Comments are closed.