Pediatric Nurse Practitioner: Well, there aren’t many professions that are as noble as that of a pediatric nurse program. Everyone related to the profession must undergo some specific qualification criteria before they are termed eligible to practice the profession. So, you see, all your ambitions can be fulfilled in just a click. Continue reading below to know more about the online medical school
That doesn’t mean that getting a certification should be an intimidating pediatric nurse practitioner jobs.
We are here to assist you with everything we can regarding the entire educational process as well as the various other criteria you must pay attention to. We shall also investigate the average pediatric nurse practitioner salary. This will help you get a glimpse of the promises that this particular career offers.
So, let’s not wait anymore. Let us jump into the topic right away and figure out how to become a pediatric nurse. But before that, you may want to look into history and tall the related information about this profession. Let’s get started.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner– Definition
Pediatric nursing practitioners (PNPs) have been serving families and communities around the world for more than 40 years now. According to the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP), they meet millions of patients every year and spend one-on-one time with patients, treating specific diseases and listening to symptom reports, just as pediatric doctors would do.
Nonetheless, during a standard visit, the NAPNAP estimates that 51 percent of its members spend 16 to 20 minutes with a patient anywhere. In fact, according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), just 8.3 percent of all NPs want a specialist emphasis on pediatrics (primary care), suggesting that there may be many openings for nurses involved in this advanced profession. You can also checkout for best nursing schools in the usa
What Do Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Do?
According to the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University, PNPs offer compassionate, high-quality care to children of all ages, from birth to 21 years of age.
They operate in a number of environments, including community care clinics and doctor’s offices, and help prevent infection, improve wellness, and inform family members on treatment plans. Specific services which they can provide include:
- Childhood immunization programs
- Developmental screenings
- Offering medication prescriptions in certain states, where the law allows them to do so.
- Physical testing
- Common illness treatments
- Children’s health exams
They often collaborate with pediatricians and other healthcare providers in close collaboration. In fact, the pediatric nurse practitioner effectively “fills” the position that falls between that of a nurse and the pediatrician and can see and treat children by themselves in a pediatrician’s office, without supervision, or, if necessary, turn to a pediatrician for more support.
PNPs may also perform home visits and be interested in research or take on leadership positions to influence public policy because of their graduate education. You may also search medical coding courses online
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Profession : Characteristics
Like with other NPs, pediatric nurses should be compassionate, detail-oriented, and resourceful. These and other characteristics, such as possessing good communication and critical-thinking skills, are identified as important to all nurse practitioners by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What is maybe perhaps more important for a PNP is the ability to establish a relationship with children. Pediatric nurses can also have experience in the “craft of diversion.” It’s not impossible to think they can easily talk to a kid about the new Pixar movie or have a wide range of coloring sheets, from cars to fairies and dinosaurs, to keep their patients occupied or to ease their minds.
Education and Experience Requirements for a Pediatric Nurse
Students need to complete a Master’s degree in nursing science (MSN) to become a PNP. If they already have an MSN, in some cases they can simply complete a post-master of pediatric nurse practitioner certification, or decide to obtain a DPN with a PNP specialization.
In Advanced Health Assessment, Advanced Pharmacology, and Advanced Pathophysiology, both MSN specialization areas now usually allow students to complete core instruction. After this, PNP students can take classes such as:
- Care of children with special needs for health care
- Baby, Adolescent and Child Health: Wellness
- Primary treatment Newborn from Puberty
Children’s special welfare conditions in the education environment
Students often learn real-life skills through clinical research, practices, and/or preceptorship. In reality, if they choose this path they would need a minimum of 600 clinical hours to obtain board certification. Lets have a look at other details of accelerated nursing programs houston
Usually, these MSN services are available full-time, but some schools can also provide part-time learning to accommodate students looking for more flexible choices. Once students have completed their pediatric NP course, they will be qualified through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to sit for pediatric primary care board certification.
Pediatric practitioner individuals can also apply for certification via the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCP). There are two levels of pediatric nurse practitioner certification available which include urgent pediatric care and primary pediatric care. In the end, PNPs may choose to join the NAPNAP.
Yearly subscription fees apply, but members gain access to online continuing education classes, receive discounts on the annual registration of the conference, and get a free subscription to the Pediatric Health Care Journal.
Why Are Pediatric Nurses So Important?
Pediatric nurse practitioners are important for the healthcare team as they maximize patient outcomes by using nursing methods to assess, interpret, prepare, execute, and assess various aspects of treatment. We provide parents and children with important patient awareness, comfort, and reassurance in different care aspects.
Pediatric nurse practitioners will diagnose patients and treat them as well as perform procedures. They ‘re different from physicians in that their approach to patient care is more holistic. Being nurses, they collect information about a patient to include not only clinical symptoms but also psychology social and environmental information.
We are trained in education and can also spend time educating patients and carers about the mechanisms of illness, therapies, and prevention of health care as well as diagnosing acute health conditions. And get a offer for pediatric nurse practitioner jobs. Nurse practitioners may also help lower the cost of health care according to the American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
In turn, they help fill the void with the lack of primary care doctors in the US. We seem to be very happy with the patient too.
Getting a Pediatric Practitioner license
Those interested in working in the pediatrics specialty should first complete an approved nursing program and take a nursing degree.
Students may either receive a nursing associate (ADN) or a nursing baccalaureate (BSN) degree. Licensure requires satisfactory completion of the NCLEX-RN. Pediatric nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who complete a master’s or doctoral degree program in nursing ( MSN). This can take 2-4 years to receive, depending on the starting point of the RN
MSN / DNP programs are available online, as are traditional classroom programs. In order to decide which program is best for them, nurses are encouraged to weigh the pros and cons.
Training for becoming a pediatric nurse
Pediatrics focuses on family-centered care, meaning the presence of parents, grandparents, and siblings in the treatment of a child. As parenting styles and family values can vary from their own, PNPs should also be impartial and welcoming. Patience is also a key attribute of pediatric nurse practitioners, as children with various aspects of care are often less than cooperative.
Nurses who love practicing individually and plan to treat and prescribe while also using nursing skills will progress into the area of advanced nursing practice. Nurses obtaining their nurse practitioner license should respect autonomy, honesty, and leadership.
PNPs will enjoy observing children’s growth and development, and get more pediatric nurse practitioner jobs offers, and also understanding the value of family-centered care.
Educational Preconditions
Many undergraduate nursing programs have semesters devoted to the treatment of pediatric patients that involve clinical training, and many nursing students are immediately graduating and are working in the profession.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Jobs
Nursing programs also can allow enough time for an externship in the specialization of your choice, so nursing students interested in the field of pediatrics can choose that area before joining the workforce to gain additional clinical skills. Some graduate programs require, for nurse practitioners, one to two years of clinical experience before enrollment.
While certain programs allow nurses to work simultaneously through the Graduate Program. It is to help the nurse improve clinical and critical thinking skills specific to the pediatric nursing profession which will better prepare them for specialized nursing positions in practice.
Nurses trying to advance from RN to NP are also required to have a nursing bachelor’s (BSN) degree first. Nurses with a nursing associate’s degree (ADN) would need to get a BSN. BSN programs have many RN’s available. Several healthcare agencies often support staff in pursuing degrees, assisting with tuition expenses, book prices, and granting nurses time off.
Examination, Registration, and Licensing
For a pediatric nurse, a pediatric nurse practitioner certification might be completed simultaneously through the MSN / DNP program or in certain scenarios, might be obtained through independent study through the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or other institutes of learning. The ANCC provides a Licensed Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner-Board (PPCNP-BC) certification.
Approval for this pediatric nurse practitioner certification includes:
- Current RN License active
- Keep an MSN / DNP from an approved primary care nurse practitioner scheme, with a minimum of 500 clinical hours supervised by the faculty
- Have undergone courses in advance physiology/pathophysiology, advance health assessment, and advance pharmacology with health promotion material, differential diagnosis, and disease management (including prescribing pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments);
- The certification shall be received by test and shall be valid for five years.
This also provides recognition from the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB). Eligibility is similar to that of the ANCC. Recertification is mandatory, and as part of the recertification process applicants will have to complete four pediatric upgrade training courses and 15 hours of pediatric pharmacology over 7 years.
For pediatric intensive care, the PNCB also provides certification for NPs. Certification eligibility includes:
- An active present registered nurse license
- Keep an MSN / DNP from an approved NP or dual primary care/acute care system to provide at least 500 faculty-supervised clinical hours in PNPs acute care
- Have completed advanced physiology/pathophysiology classes, advanced health assessment, and advanced pharmacology
Annually, recertification might as well be required to be completed too. Depending on the healthcare environment, additional certification may also be required in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Neonatal Advanced Life Support (NALS) or Pediatric Emergency Assessment, Recognition and Stabilization (PEARS).
Where do they work mainly?
Pediatric nurse practitioners are important Medical Group leaders. As parents, clinicians, teachers, educators, and advocates for children, PNPs encourage family-centered treatment to ensure that the needs of the child are addressed at any touchpoint in the healthcare continuum, from outpatient to acute care.
Pediatric nurses may work in different health care environments, including:
- Health Pediatric Offices
- Health care hospitals
- Nursing services
- Intensive Pediatric treatment
- Intensive Neonatal Care
- Peri-operational
- Clinics for Collective services
- Surgical centers
There are both positive and negative aspects of PNP working conditions. Pediatric nurse practitioners can be overwhelmed because they can bear a full load of patients and have many important decisions and treatments to make. There’s no space for error, as with physicians, that can put a heavy load on the PNP.
Some pediatric nurses also have to work swing or graveyard shifts and some may need to be on call. One can also collect info about how to become a certified medical assistant
Pros and Cons of the profession
Caring for pediatric patients can be emotionally exhausting. While caring for sick adults is difficult, caring for ill children can be especially heart-wrenching. It can be difficult to cope with a terminal disease and the loss of young patients; nurses have to offer support to families when facing their own sense of loss.
The pediatric area, however, can be rewarding. Providing support for sick children, keeping their hospital stay as pleasant as possible, informing patients and family members in preventive treatment and maintenance, and seeing children grow to make the pediatric nursing specialty an outstanding choice in healthcare.
Nurses and NPs can work in high-risk areas that could expose them to violence in the workplace, blood-borne pathogens, and chemicals. Some companies are therefore expected to have occupational safety training to protect their employees’ health and safety.
Not all fields of study are dangerous, for instance, science and education. This is an equally important area in healthcare, as it helps develop evidence-based policies and procedures that lead to patients having the best outcomes.
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Salary
As per the latest reports published by the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics), the average pediatric nurse practitioner salary is $110,030. Here are the cities in the country where the PNPs are paid the most.
- California
- Washington
- Hawaii
- New Jersey
- Minnesota
We believe that all your doubts regarding this particular profession are cleared by now. In case, there are certainly other questions that you wish that we had answered in this article for the pediatric nurse practitioner profile, feel free to reach out to us online schools near me in our website.
