[janfrn]

Originally Posted by marilynmom

So to answer your questions, I think for the most part, most nursing students are pretty incompetent when it comes to peds...but I don't think it's the students fault. Schools just focus on adult care far more than ped care.

I think we need to place some heavy emphasis on the part about it not being the nursing student's fault that they don't have any clinical skills related to caring for children when they graduate. Yes, the population is aging. Yes, the baby boomer demands health care in excess of any other generation. Yes, people come into hospital sicker than ever before, stay longer and have more complications. But that doesn't mean that children deserve less. Children recover from even critical illness with far fewer sequelae than adults and go on to be productive, TAX-PAYING citizens... and the new wave of caregivers, too! I commend hospitals that are willing to provide a lengthy internship for nurses wishing to enter pediatrics. They obviously value excellent, skilled, appropriate care for children over other "goods". At the same time I condemn nursing schools and their partners for taking the view that the only valuable nurse today is the med-surg nurse. We can't all be cookie-cutter nurses. After all, when the decision was made to eliminate all levels of nursing education save the degree, wasn't it to promote critical thinking, advanced skill, technological savvy and that elusive quality, professionalism? (Spoken like a true diploma nurse with no critical thiking skills or professionalism... <smirk>) So why push everyone into the med-surg mold?

[marilynmom]

Originally Posted by janfrn

I think we need to place some heavy emphasis on the part about it not being the nursing student's fault that they don't have any clinical skills related to caring for children when they graduate. Yes, the population is aging. Yes, the baby boomer demands health care in excess of any other generation.

That reminded me of something my Gero instructor said in class a couple of weeks ago. She made some snide comment about how "none of you want to work with the elderly, your more interested in the baby birthin and being baby/kids nurses" as if children's medical needs are somehow less important than adults or we are choose to work with ped population because it will be easier?! It REALLY ****** me off when she said that! Apparently she has never stepped foot in the PICU where I work. And I'm not even sure why she said that because there are only a handful of us even planning on working in peds!