Another class in nursing school is coming to an end, it is hard to believe! This class has literally flew by! It has been faster than any other class I have had so far. I don’t know that I ever see myself working in Peds, but I enjoyed the class and clinical and found it to be a lot of fun. Here is a quick wrap up of my experience in Pediatric Nursing.
Class
While Pediatrics is considered a “specialty,” I found it to be much more like a Med-Surg class for little people. We went through all the systems (one system a day) and the base you gained in Med/Surg will help make learning the material easier. We concentrated on congenital problems and disease processes commonly seen in children.
Like in your other med/surg class, if you can get a good understanding of the pathophysiology of the diseases, it makes it much easier to understand what the clinical manifestations will be, and also easier to remember what tests, medications, nursing interventions, and patient education you would do for that disease or condition. If you understand what is happening in the body, then you can understand all the other things I have listened. Understanding is much easier than memorizing! I especially found this to be true for cardiac, GI, GU, respiratory, and hematology/oncology.
Clinicals
My clinical in this class was a community nursing type of clinical. All my clinical so far have been in acute care in the hospital, which I enjoy, but it was nice to have a change of pace and experience a new type of nursing. The first four clinical days we went to local Head Start programs and performed vision and hearing screenings on 2, 3 and 4 year old. This was a lot of fun, but proved to be quite the challenge! Children this age do not have a long attention span, so by the end of reading one line of the vision chart, they had lost interest. The problem was we still had to do both their eyes individually after that! My class learned that in Peds, getting creative is a must and stickers are your best friend! 😉
The clinical site I am currently going to is a Pediatric Clinic. This is a change of pace but I am enjoying it! I have been able to practice my newborn assessments as we have seen a lot of 2 week babies for their first visit. I also am becoming quite the pro at giving IM injections to screaming, squirming, children! The first one I gave was to an 18 month old child, and I was so nervous! The child was screaming, the mother was upset, and I was shaking inside! However, I have to remind myself that any pain from the vaccine is MUCH better than the pain and effects of getting the illness. Most children once we were done perked right back up when we brought out the magic stickers after the vaccine. 😉
I think the best advice I have for anyone going to any type of Peds clinical, whether it been in acute care or community nursing, is to get on the child’s level and talk to them! Building a rapport with the child will really make everyone’s experience better. I was intimidated at first, but if you just make yourself get in there and start working, you will be surprised what you can do!
ATI
We took our ATI today, and it was a tough one! I honestly think it was the toughest one we have had so far. I made a level 3 and was happy with my score, but I didn’t feel confident during the test and was honestly surprised at my score (in a good way). If you are going to be taking the Peds ATI, definitely practice as many questions as you can! I utilized the practice assessments on the website, the quizzes at the end of the chapters in the ATI book, and also the RN Mentor ATI app on my phone. For this test though, based on review by my classmates and my experience, I think it would be helpful to actually review the chapters in the book before taking the test too. Some of the things ATI tests on were kind of obscure from what you would expect. However, it is TOTALLY manageable, and you can do well on it! Being strong in Med/Surg will definitely help you to be successful on the Peds ATI also.
I have two clinical and a final exam before I will officially be done Peds! This class has been busy and full of information, but compared to previous classes, it has been a much needed breath of fresh air. Critical Care is next on the list and I know it will be anything but easy, but I am ready for the challenge!
Any tips on success in Peds? Any questions for me? Thanks for reading!
If you missed them, check out my other class reviews and wrap ups:
Mental Health Clinical Wrap-Up
Mental Health Nursing: Why It’s Important