The
Nursing profession has an infinite number of choices to offer its’
practitioners. A nurse can specialize in any area of nursing that he/she
chooses. It may include working closely with the doctor as a Nurse
Anesthetist. The nurse can also choose to be immersed in an adrenaline
pumped Emergency Room. And if the nurse loves kids, he/she can choose to
specialize as Pediatric Nurse.
What is Pediatrics and Pediatric Nursing?
Pediatrics
is a branch of medicine that deals with infants, toddlers and
adolescents. It is a specialized field that aims to maintain a child’s
overall wellness as well as treat any underlying conditions be it acute
or chronic. Pediatric Nursing is a special Nursing field where the nurse
has constant contact with patients below a certain age. The diseases
and disease processes that a nurse encounters may be the same as with
adult patients, but the fact that he/she is working with children makes
it an entirely different ball game.
To
the layman, Children may seem like mini-adults. They may come to the
conclusion that kids need the same care as adults do. But, the fact is
that children have a different set of needs compared to adults. They may
find it more difficult to understand the different procedures done to
them. This means that pediatric nurses and doctors have to learn to
understand kids better. They may also be called to use several methods
that help children feel more at ease with their surroundings.
An
effective pediatric nurse is important to a child’s confinement because
he/she can help decrease the child’s stress levels. A pediatric nurse
also helps in decreasing the trauma and negative long term effect that
the hospital confinement may have on the child.
Tips on Dealing with Children:
Pediatric
Nurses deal with children all the time. These kids may find it hard to
understand that the different medical procedures they done to them are
for their own good. More often than not, the nurse is met with an
uncooperative child riddled with fear. The child may present with a
certain degree of anxiety that affects him/herself, the parents as well
as the people surrounding them. Below are a few tips and tricks that
Pediatric nurses have been using for a long time. These tips held
him/her deal with children better an as a result dramatically reduce the
anxiety experienced by the child and his parents.
· Child Friendly Terminologies:
There are a lot of medical terminologies that a child may find
difficult to understand. This often results in the child being afraid
and uncooperative. The best solution for this situation is to explain
the procedure in terms that the child understands. Teaching aides like
puppets and fun diagrams may also be utilized.
· Never lie to the Child:
Often, parents and nurses tend to lie to children in order to get them
to cooperate. They may say that a vaccine injection won’t hurt, when in
fact it does. This results in the child being distrustful and fearful of
the procedure more than he/she should. What parents and nurses should
do is to tell the child the truth, they can say that: “The procedure may
hurt a little, but it will just be like being bit by an ant”. That is a
more effective way of dealing with the child because he/she will
anticipate a little bit of pain instead of none at all.
· Getting an adult in the game:
Sometimes a child is afraid of routine procedures such as Blood
Pressure measurement and Temperature taking. This fear can often be
alleviated by allowing a parent or another adult undergo the procedure
themselves. This way a child sees that there is nothing to be afraid of
and he/she will cooperate better.
Other Individuals Involved in the Care of a Child
It
is a well known fact that the Pediatric Nurse not only deals with the
upset child. He/she also has to deal with the parents and other
individuals involved in the child’s care. Often, parents and guardians
can make a Pediatric Nurse’s task easier by helping to calm the child.
But, sometimes their anxiety levels may be greater than that of the
patient. In these kinds of situations the Pediatric Nurse also has to
deal with the parents and adults involved in the child’s care.
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