HS student with question for nurses

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I am currently a junior in high school and interested in majoring in Nursing in college. My goal is to become a Pediatric Nurse, but I have a question that no one has been able to answer yet. In order to become a Pediatric Nurse, do you have to go to graduate school? If not, do you have to take special courses to specialize in pediatrics? I would imagine you need to take some sort of course at the minimum because children are different than adults, but I have a friend who said her daughter works at the childrens hospital as an RN- she said she did NOT have to take any further courses/education. Help!

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Specializes in Starting in Labor and Delivery!!.
I am currently a junior in high school and interested in majoring in Nursing in college. My goal is to become a Pediatric Nurse, but I have a question that no one has been able to answer yet. In order to become a Pediatric Nurse, do you have to go to graduate school? If not, do you have to take special courses to specialize in pediatrics? I would imagine you need to take some sort of course at the minimum because children are different than adults, but I have a friend who said her daughter works at the childrens hospital as an RN- she said she did NOT have to take any further courses/education. Help!

All you need is an RN licence to work with children......In MOST if not all nursing programs one of the semesters is OB/Peds. Once you graduate, pass the NCLEX and get a job the hospital will (hopefully) give you a through orientation to the Ped floor......

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All you need is an RN licence to work with children......In MOST if not all nursing programs one of the semesters is OB/Peds. Once you graduate, pass the NCLEX and get a job the hospital will (hopefully) give you a through orientation to the Ped floor......

:) Thanks for your help!

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hi,i have been a nurse-lpn- 21 years there isnt a special training to work as a peds nurs. however if going into specialty areas like special care nursery/peds icu there are guidelines and training to go thru.check with the hospital you would be interested in working at when you get your license. they will be able to better guide you to where you want to specialize in. good luck in your career.if have any other questions id be happy to answer or at least help point you in direction of what u are asking.if u want u can email me at [email protected]

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Wow, thanks a lot for your help. I'm in the middle of my college search and everything can be so confusing sometimes. Thanks for your email and the offer if I have any questions! :) ...Amanda

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Specializes in er, pediatric er.

I am a senior in nursing school. I work as an extern for a major children's hospital. My hospital has a nurse residency program where you have 22 weeks of preceptorship which includes skills/classroom training and on the floor clinical training. After you graduate from nursing school, you could look into this option. Also, if you could get a nursing assistant job at a children's hospital, this would be beneficial, as well because I have found that in my nursing schoo, as with most others, they focus on adult med-surg nursing. i had a semester of pediatrics, however in all my clinical experience was limited to just a few weeks. My job has given me a lot of valuable experience. I wish you a lot of luck in pursuing your nursing career.

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