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Nursing Branches: Children’s Nursing

What is Children’s Nursing?

Children’s, or Paediatric, Nursing involves everything from nursing a sick newborn to looking after an adolescent who has been injured in an accident.

This branch of nursing offers many and varied challenges, caring for, and supporting the child’s family is a key element of the job.

Nursing a child is not just caring for a miniature adult, it requires an understanding of how a healthy child develops and the knowledge of how to minimise the impact of illness and hospital admission, by working in partnership with the child’s family or carer.

Children, particularly babies and toddlers, are not able to express their feelings and needs as effectively as an adult.

What skills do a children’s nurse need?

The children’s nurse will need to be very intuitive and immensely reassuring and to possess good non-verbal communication skills, they need to be able recognise and interpret changes in behaviour and reactions and act accordingly.

Health problems can have an effect on the child’s development and it is necessary to work with the child’s family or carers to ensure that he or she does not suffer additionally due to the stress of being ill or in hospital.

Paediatric nurses will have to be confident at handling the distress of parents and carers and to teach them what may need to be done to carry on with treatment once the child is discharged.

Children’s nursing is tougher than some imagine but there is no greater satisfaction in nursing than helping a critically ill child.

Where can I work as a Children’s Nurse?

Children’s nursing takes place in hospitals, day care centres, child health clinics and in the child’s home. Like other branches of nursing, care is becoming more community-based.

Children’s nurses will work as part of a team, which includes doctors, hospital plat staff, radiographers, psychologists, social workers and HCAs.

What qualifications do I need to become a Children’s Nurse?

The Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) in Nursing – Child Branch programme is three years in length, beginning with a 12 or 18-month common foundation programme (CFP) followed by an 18 or 24-month branch programme in children’s nursing. Entry requirements for this course are the same as any (DipHE) in nursing.

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