Pediatric nursing

Pediatric nursing is a branch of nursing. It is exercised by health and children's nurses. In this profession, it is a stand-alone training profession.

Vocational

Staff from the pediatric nursing work primarily on the infant and children's wards in hospitals or outside of hospitals in home nursing. They are also employed in pediatric practices, as well as in special facilities for children, for example in children's homes, day care centers, facilities for disabled people, health spas, children's hospices or facilities for short-term care. A use in the context of development aid or the step into self-employment are possible.

The role of the health and children nurse is the care and support of sick and dependent neonates, children and adolescents. This includes the awareness and support of needs depending on the particular stage of development, and supporting patients and their families in crisis situations. Dealing with sick children, as patients often can express only limited, but in particular the treatment of severely ill and dying children requires emotional stability and very high psychological resilience. High physical stress resulting from shift and night services.

The proportion of women ( the nursing staff in total ) is around 86% ( as of 2011). Efforts to enable young men equality in career orientation and to increase the proportion of men in this profession are, inter alia, supported in the context of the Boys' Day.

Training

The training for health and pediatric nurses lasts 3 years ( 4600 hours in theory and practice). The simultaneous acquisition of financial statements as children nurse and as a health and nursing or geriatric nurse takes, depending on the state of up to 3.5 years. Requirement is medium education ( eg high school ) or an equivalent education. Even students with secondary school may be accepted if they also have a completed vocational training of at least 2 years' duration. In Germany, the training is regulated by the Act on professions of nursing ( KrPflG ).

Furthermore - in particular because of the stresses associated with this profession - sometimes recommended to complete an internship before training.

Job titles

In Austria is the Occupation pediatric nurse / pediatric nurses. Also in Germany wore this profession until 2003 that name. Since then is the legal name health and Kinderkrankenpfleger/Gesundheits- and children nurse. In Switzerland, is the official name of the comparable professional nurses male / female.