Q: ok hi. Im a college freshman and my current major is nutrition and dietetics, I like it, but i think it may not be for me. I am thinking about switching to major in nursing, with the hopes of being a pediatric nurse. can anyone out there tell me about pediatric nursing? like tell me everything there is to know- benefits, salary, typical hours, responsibilities, etc, etc. thank you! thanks again! any information and/or links is greatly appreciated!
A: Before you can be a pediatric nurse, you go through exposure to all aspects of nursing. Once you get out of school, you would be oriented to the unit in pediatrics that you get hired to work in; the specifics of your job will be explained to you. However, the primary job will be caring for children. Children's medications and treatments are very different than adult treatment; the dosages are done by patient weight and age. THAT is a huge responsibility. The other part of your job is that not only are you taking care of the child, but you are taking care of the family, as well. The same is true of adults, but it is much harder with children's families. The salary depends on where you live. I think that entry level salary for an RN is about 36-40K a year. Shifts can vary. I think the norm on floor nursing as well as ICU nursing is 12 hours, 7 A-7P and 7P to 7A, three day a week. Most positions require rotation from days to nights. Benefits depend on your hospital. Usually, health, life, disability, Health Care SAving Accounts, etc are offered;you pick what you want. 401-k's are offered as well. It's important to stay at least 5 years to get vested in the retirement accounts, otherwise the hospital gets to keep whatever you have invested in the retirement plan(if there is one). As with anything in nursing, depending on the size of your hospital, there are a variety of units you can work on; NICU(neonatal ICU), PICU(pediatric ICU), a "regular" pediatric floor, as well as different areas in the hospital that does testing/procedures with children(Radiology, Various procedure suites). The most important part of any nurse's career is to decrease as much anxiety as possible in the patient and family;educating patient and family as much as possible(depends on patient age as well as family's ability to understand the teaching); maintain patient safety, help get your patients as healthy as they can be(some patients never are 100% and you have to be sensible about that). If you can also take Spanish along the way, that would increase your value to prospective employers; many hospitals are in dire need of bilingual people- period. If you have a large number of Hispanics in your area, or the area you hope to be, it helps the families to be more comfortable with you as a care giver if you can help them understand what's going on better.