- This post was updated 18th December 2023
Paediatric nurses are responsible for caring for children and young people with a range of care requirements. They can work in a variety of healthcare settings, delivering care and support to provide the best possible outcomes for those under their care.
What is a paediatric nurse?
A paediatric nurse, also known as a children’s nurse or neonatal nurse, is a qualified registered nurse that specialises in delivering care and support to babies, young children and teenagers. The role of a paediatric nurse differs from an adult nurse due to the complex requirements of paediatric clients and the fact they are still growing and developing.
Paediatric nurses have a range of responsibilities in their roles and will work collaboratively with their colleagues, involving the child’s family in the care decisions made to provide the best outcome for their child.
What does a paediatric nurse do?
A paediatric nurse delivers care to individuals under the age of 18. Paediatric nurses will support clients and patients with their care needs, providing them with the best possible treatments and medication to manage or recover from illnesses.
What are the responsibilities of a paediatric nurse?
Working as a paediatric nurse, your responsibilities will vary depending on the age, health condition and requirements of the children you care for and the care setting you work in.
For example, at Pulse Nursing at Home, our community paediatric nurse job responsibilities consist of the following:
- Regular communication with colleagues, the client, their family and clinical lead
- Managing infection prevention and control
- Supporting tissue viability
- Overseeing the client’s general health and wellbeing
- Regularly monitoring the client’s airways (tracheostomy management may be required)
- Regularly monitoring the client’s breathing (invasive or non-invasive ventilation management may be required)
- Administering medication
- Completing health and safety checks in the client’s home
- Physiotherapy
- Following a prescribed client plan
- Delivering personal care when required
- Moving and handling
- Completing and updating client records
Related: What are community nurses?
Key skills and qualities of a paediatric nurse
There are several key skills and qualities that paediatric nurses require to be successful in their careers including the 6C’s of nursing.
Receptive skills
Due to the requirements of a paediatric nursing role, flexibility skills are a must. The medical and emotional needs of individuals under your care are ever changing, and you need to be receptive and adaptable to meet their needs.
Excellent communication skills
When delivering care to paediatric clients, communication is required in order to ensure the care delivered meets the individual's exact needs. Communication can be both verbal and nonverbal, and it’s important to master both to excel in your nursing career.
Resilience
Resilience is a core skill in any nursing profession. Resilient paediatric nurses can manage difficult and challenging situations effectively and easily adapt to varying circumstances without letting their emotions get affected.
Related: 6 ways to build resilience as a nurse
Paediatric nursing career
A career as a paediatric nurse can provide many opportunities to develop your nursing skills, deliver care to a range of young people and work in a variety of care settings.
Paediatric care settings
As a paediatric nurse, you can work in a variety of settings, delivering care and support to children and young people.
Paediatric hospital care
Most hospitals have paediatric care departments with facilities for children, including intensive care units, play areas and specialist paediatric equipment for the nurses to use. Working as a paediatric nurse in a hospital, you can expect to deliver care to individuals with a range of care needs. You will assess and monitor your patients progress regularly to ensure they recover or are able to manage their condition.
Paediatric community care
Working a community based paediatric nursing job you will deliver care to a young person in their own home or local community. You will focus on building a strong professional relationship with the young client and their family. A community paediatric nursing career means you will operate with a high level of autonomy utilising your paediatric skills and planning and overseeing the young client’s care considering their medical needs and wellbeing.
GP Practice paediatric department
As a paediatric GP practice nurse, you will see a variety of young patients every day, assessing their medical state and health needs. You will work alongside a range of healthcare professionals in the general practice providing the best support and advice possible.
Professional development opportunities for paediatric nurses
There are many professional development opportunities for paediatric nurses, such as advancing to a clinical lead and managing a team of healthcare professionals, progressing to a specialist nurse role or upskilling so you can deliver care to more clients in the community.
We have numerous career progression and development opportunities available at Pulse Nursing at Home for paediatric nurses looking to advance in their nursing careers.
Clinical lead nurse managerial roles
If you’re looking to take the next step in your nursing career and oversee multiple clients' care and manage our community nurses and support workers, a career as a clinical lead is the perfect role for you. As a clinical lead, you will be responsible for ensuring our healthcare professionals deliver the highest level of bespoke care and support to our clients and their families at all times.
Continual professional development (CPD) courses
Continual professional development is an important part of any nurse’s career. At Pulse Nursing at Home, we support our nurses in maintaining their registration and revalidating every three years by providing a range of continual professional development (CPD) courses via our online information hub, which is accessible 24/7.
Nurse upskilling opportunities
To enable our nurses to deliver care to more clients in the community, we have numerous upskilling opportunities available. We have a dedicated Training Team of highly skilled trainers delivering the upskilling sessions through a mixture of practical and theory, ensuring our healthcare professionals remain competent, learn new skills or refresh current skills.
What to expect working as a paediatric nurse
Working as a paediatric nurse is an extremely rewarding and empowering career where you will build meaningful professional relationships and witness young children stabilise under your care.
As a paediatric nurse, you not only have to work with the client or clients but also their families as well, which brings about challenges with opportunities for personal and professional growth.
A career as a paediatric nurse at Pulse Nursing at Home can provide many personal and professional development opportunities along with the ability to make a real difference on a young person's persons life.
Paediatric nurse opportunities near you
Keep up to date with our latest paediatric nursing jobs in your area by applying with us today using the form below.
Our dedicated Resourcing Recruitment Team are also available to discuss our latest paediatric nursing jobs with you. If you’d like to speak with the team, get in touch with them using the details below.
Phone: 0333 323 3746
Email: joinus@pulsenursingathome.co.uk