Pediatric Nurse Practive Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Pediatric Nurse Practive - Assignment Example Key word: Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP), Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (PNPs) Nurse Practitioner (NP). Historical Background and Certification Requirements Pediatric Nurse Practice (PNP) refers, the practice of nursing concerned with infants, children and adolescents together with their families providing health promotion, illness management and health restoration across the entire healthcare spectrum (Tylor as cited in eHow, 2011). It requires knowledge of both child development and the physiological difference between children and adults. PNP is also family centered requiring the realization of the essential role that the family plays in children lives, growth and development which should be reflected in the children’s care whenever they are ill. It involves collaborative partnership between families and health care professionals built on respect and embedded in the families’ strengths, choices and values (Tylor, 2006). Pediatric nurses also attempts to provide a ttramautic care in order to eliminate or minimize the physiologic and physical distress experienced by children and their families in the health care system. Pediatric nurses may function in many roles that include direct caregiver, educator, counselor, consultant, advocate, care coordinator, or health systems manager (Tylor, 2006). They also work as researchers or pediatric clinical nurse specialists. Pediatric nurses may practice in many locations such as homes, clinics, hospitals, long term care facilities and schools (Schachtel, 2008). The opening of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (the first children’s hospital in the U.S) in Pennsylvania in 1855 formed the cornerstone upon which the specialty of pediatric nursing developed (Tylor, 2006). In colonial America, most children were delivered by the help of midwives and treated with folk medicine. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia goal was to provide excellent healthcare and reduce child mortality. Other children hospitals were later established in different regions but, none would admit children with communicable diseases because of high mortality. In 1895, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia began to admit children. It also started its own nursing school in the same year (Tylor, 2006). The approach enabled the hospital to amass knowledgeable staff that provided the level of care, education, observation and assessment that the children and their families needed. Some private duty nurses of the hospital specialized in care of children. With services for nurses increasingly needed, what followed was an awakening in the nursing practice. The directive on the 1917 standard curriculum for nursing schools to increase some detailed topics in regard to pediatrics and the Rockefeller Foundation publication in 1923 (Nursing and Nursing education in USA), generally impacted positively on the pediatric nursing specialty and the nursing profession as a whole (Tylor,2006). Late r, in the century pediatric nursing moved to advanced degrees and advanced practice. It is not unusual that, the first nurse practitioners were pediatric nurse practitioners. Those who aspire to become Pediatric Nurse Practitioners in the U.S have various options. In order to work as Pediatric nurses, students must first become Registered Nurses (RN)†¦An RN may be achieved through hospitals or educational institutions (PNERCI, 2011). The coursework may differ but graduates from these programs