Help Please i must do a project for school and i need to now a few things

bergren · Mar 28, 2004

Pediatrics: I have done neonatal ICU, ambulance transport, pediatric surgical 0 - 12 years, home visiting & community early intervention, school nursing and now, university faculty. A typical day in any of these areas are completely different. And different each day - I suggest you ask to shadow for a day.

You can do a 2 year, 4 year and advanced preparation and the costs vary just as they do for any college major. Call a 2, 4, and PNP program in your area to get these costs. Private schools are more than state schools. Some pedatric hospitals prefer 4 years college graduates. For community work, a 4 year degree is pretty standard as you usually need to be certified as a Public Health Nurse or School Nurse. Some schools make it easy to move from a 2 - 4 year degree - in other programs you can end up going for 5 years total and retaking courses.

Salary - again - very variable regionally. More in cities, and more in hospitals than in schools, community or faculty.

Intangible - I would not do anything else. Really feel my life's work makes a difference.

Hello, My name is Stephanie and I'm 15 years old! I have been considering on majoring in pediatric nursing when I go to college and as an assigments i must learn about the different fields of nursing and the one that i most likly see my self in I would do my best in is Pediatric nursing. My teacher assigned us the project to do and if anyone would please answer a few questions about Pediatric Nursing i would more than greatful.

first: could you please give me a detailed describtion of Pediatrics.
like what you specialize in doing, what a typical day may be like what ever information you think may help with that

second : education and training necessary to pursue this field. and the approimate cost that is associated with it( not how much you get paid just like the cost of college and all)

thirds" salary and intangile rewards from Pediatrics

Anyone who could answer those three questions it would nice of you
thanks you

godsangel718 · Mar 28, 2004

thanks so much that'll help and anyone else who could say anything it would really help the more the better

PedsNurse1981 · Mar 29, 2004

I work on a pediatric oncology floor, that is, most of the kids I take care of have cancer. I have taken care of newborn babies all the way up to kids 21 years old. I guess that wouldn't make them a kid anymore now would it? :-) I also work with kids with blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.

The typical day, well I work night shift mostly, so here's my typical night:

I get to work around 6:45pm, but we don't have to be here till 7pm. I like extra time to settle in and get ready, not have to rush. At 7pm we go into report. There is usually about 4-5 nurses who go into a room to listen to the previous shift tell about the patients. We do this by tape recording so the shift coming on can listen. It supposedly speeds things up. Report generally takes about 30 minutes depending on how many kids we have. I'm on a 16 bed unit. Right now, we have 16 kids so we're full. After report, I come out and get my med sheets to write down what medications my patients are on. Most of the time, I take care of 3 to 4 kids, usually 4. The remainder of the night is pretty much spent giving medicine (a lot of IV antibiotics), sometimes I have to give a patient a blood transfusion, or a platelet transfustion. Occasionally I'll have to give chemotherapy. I find many times it's been done on dayshift, but sometimes I have to do it. I had to become certified to give chemo, go through a course and have another nurse watch me several times when I gave it. It's a pretty serious ordeal, if it spills it could burn your skin and pregnant women can't give it due to the possibility that it could harm the baby. There's a lot of paperwork to do, notes to write on the patients as to how they're doing. That's the not so fun part. Then from 2-5am, we concentrate on drinking coffee to stay awake! In all, I love night shift. It's so much better than day shift. Not as busy, less people here. At 6am I go to tape report on my patients. Dayshift nurses get here by about 6:45. They listen to report for 30-45 minutes, when they come out I answer any questions they might have and then go home. In case you're wondering, I work 12 hour shifts. I usually either work all 3 of them in a row, or I work 2, off one, and then work the last one.

I started nursing school right out of high school. It took me 2 years to get my associate degree in nursing (ADN). I applied for a lot of scholarships and federal aid and was really blessed because my entire nursing education was paid for, books and everything. It depends on what your parents financial situation is as to how much federal aid you can get. The price of the school depends on where you go. I went to a private school, I believe the cost was about $2000 a semester. I lived at home during school also because there were no dorms.

Salary: I started out in August of 2002 making $17.05/hr. The hospital I am at pays an extra $10/hr on weekends, so that's nice. It's not bad starting pay.

Intangible rewards: You'd really have to work it to see. Having kids draw pictures for you, having them hug you and tell you that they love you, it's great. Despite the fact that most of my patients have terminal illnesses, they are so much more positive than adults it's incredible. Sometimes on slow nights the kids and their parents will stay up and we can talk for hours in their room. (That's a really slow night!) The rewards definitely make the job worth it!

UK2USA · Apr 13, 2004

I don't know whether this will help, but I would like to give you a view from the UK. I am a nurse in a pediatric intensive care unit. Most of the children I see are unconcsious (whether as a result of their condition or because we sedate them). It is a fast-paced environment and as a nurse you are continually thinking 2 steps ahead. The training is a 3 year program to register you as a peds nurse, followed by 2 years general experience. At this point you can take further training (9 months) during which time you work on the PICU. By the time you are established on PICU you may have taken 4 - 5 years!!! The rewards are not the same as with general ward work... patients don't make you pictures or play with you and the parents are usually in the throes of the most horrific time of their lives. But you get satisfaction from knowing that what you do can make it easier for them and the rest of the family. Seeing a child leave PICU fully recovered is a wonderful thing. Oddly enough, when things don't work out and a child dies you can also get a lot of satisfaction from knowing that you mde the last of their days a loving, comfortable existence.

momof38160 · Apr 30, 2004

I work on a pediatric oncology floor, that is, most of the kids I take care of have cancer. I have taken care of newborn babies all the way up to kids 21 years old. I guess that wouldn't make them a kid anymore now would it? :-) I also work with kids with blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.
The typical day, well I work night shift mostly, so here's my typical night:
I get to work around 6:45pm, but we don't have to be here till 7pm. I like extra time to settle in and get ready, not have to rush. At 7pm we go into report. There is usually about 4-5 nurses who go into a room to listen to the previous shift tell about the patients. We do this by tape recording so the shift coming on can listen. It supposedly speeds things up. Report generally takes about 30 minutes depending on how many kids we have. I'm on a 16 bed unit. Right now, we have 16 kids so we're full. After report, I come out and get my med sheets to write down what medications my patients are on. Most of the time, I take care of 3 to 4 kids, usually 4. The remainder of the night is pretty much spent giving medicine (a lot of IV antibiotics), sometimes I have to give a patient a blood transfusion, or a platelet transfustion. Occasionally I'll have to give chemotherapy. I find many times it's been done on dayshift, but sometimes I have to do it. I had to become certified to give chemo, go through a course and have another nurse watch me several times when I gave it. It's a pretty serious ordeal, if it spills it could burn your skin and pregnant women can't give it due to the possibility that it could harm the baby. There's a lot of paperwork to do, notes to write on the patients as to how they're doing. That's the not so fun part. Then from 2-5am, we concentrate on drinking coffee to stay awake! In all, I love night shift. It's so much better than day shift. Not as busy, less people here. At 6am I go to tape report on my patients. Dayshift nurses get here by about 6:45. They listen to report for 30-45 minutes, when they come out I answer any questions they might have and then go home. In case you're wondering, I work 12 hour shifts. I usually either work all 3 of them in a row, or I work 2, off one, and then work the last one.
I started nursing school right out of high school. It took me 2 years to get my associate degree in nursing (ADN). I applied for a lot of scholarships and federal aid and was really blessed because my entire nursing education was paid for, books and everything. It depends on what your parents financial situation is as to how much federal aid you can get. The price of the school depends on where you go. I went to a private school, I believe the cost was about $2000 a semester. I lived at home during school also because there were no dorms.
Salary: I started out in August of 2002 making $17.05/hr. The hospital I am at pays an extra $10/hr on weekends, so that's nice. It's not bad starting pay.
Intangible rewards: You'd really have to work it to see. Having kids draw pictures for you, having them hug you and tell you that they love you, it's great. Despite the fact that most of my patients have terminal illnesses, they are so much more positive than adults it's incredible. Sometimes on slow nights the kids and their parents will stay up and we can talk for hours in their room. (That's a really slow night!) The rewards definitely make the job worth it!

I start Nursing School in January 2005. I had tears in my eyes when I read what you wrote. I feel that my heart is pulling me in the direction of pediatric nursing. When people ask me what area I would be interested in and I tell them, they just keep telling me how hard it would be. But my point is, I love children and feel that I could make a difference, just even to have them smile. I would love to know more! Did you go into pediatric nursing as a new grad? I am also in NC.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Apr 30, 2004

A typical shift (ours are 12 hrs) is anything but typical. We are responsible for everything going on with out 4-5 patients (meals, medicine, visitors, dressings, blood draws, EVERYTHING).There is a lot of paperwork. The Pedi nurse must know how to deal with families, as they get pretty anxious when children are sick. We have to calculate medication doses according to the child's weight, so we need to do algebra. In the USA we do not train nurses to work in a specialty. All nursing school graduates have similar education and all take the same test to become an RN. After the graduate finds a job they begin learning about specialties. Many get further education and become "certified" in a specialty, such as pediatric nursing, or trauma nursing, or some such. Education costs vary with schools (you might look up a local college online to get tuition costs). Starting pay here is $18.50/hr but the average pay is $25/hr (2080 hrs. normal for one year). The reward is doing a good job well. The kids make it worthwhile. Also, nurses in maternal-child areas are nurturing people and make great friends. Good luck on your project.

HididiScribbler · Jun 3, 2004

A typical shift (ours are 12 hrs) is anything but typical. We are responsible for everything going on with out 4-5 patients (meals, medicine, visitors, dressings, blood draws, EVERYTHING).There is a lot of paperwork. The Pedi nurse must know how to deal with families, as they get pretty anxious when children are sick. We have to calculate medication doses according to the child's weight, so we need to do algebra. In the USA we do not train nurses to work in a specialty. All nursing school graduates have similar education and all take the same test to become an RN. After the graduate finds a job they begin learning about specialties. Many get further education and become "certified" in a specialty, such as pediatric nursing, or trauma nursing, or some such. Education costs vary with schools (you might look up a local college online to get tuition costs). Starting pay here is $18.50/hr but the average pay is $25/hr (2080 hrs. normal for one year). The reward is doing a good job well. The kids make it worthwhile. Also, nurses in maternal-child areas are nurturing people and make great friends. Good luck on your project.

I'm also thinking of going into pediatric nursing. I was wondering, how exactly would I get certified in that? Is that a degree program, or simply a test I have to take after working in the field?