A pediatric nurse practitioner certification opens more profession doors than you may think

Pediatric nurse certification has opened doors for a lot of nurses.

Tara S. Jankouskas, PhD, RNC, has been practicing as a pediatric nurse practitioner since 1984. Throughout her thirty-plus years as a nurse, she has worked in many various roles, but she has never overpassed her desire to practice on the bedside. “Even though I earned advanced degrees in nursing, I always continued to practice at the bedside,” she said. “I had the opportunity to practice in different parts of the country.” Tara S. Jankouskas, RNC Jankouskas has worked in Northeast Texas, California and Pennsylvania throughout her profession. “I’ve worked in a variety of pediatric departments,” said Jankouskas, an associate professor of nursing at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and a speaker at our Pediatric Nurse Certification Review course. “I had the opportunity to work in outpatient pediatrics and even in home care. I also tried camp nursing.” She also worked as a clinical nursing educator. Pediatric nursing differs from adult nursing in some ways. “We always say that children are not little adults,” Jankouskas said. “The most unique and important aspect of being a pediatric nurse is layering growth and development into the practice of nursing. The basic skills are the same. Assessments, reassessments and implementation of interventions are very similar across age groups.” Jankouskas said nurses assessing children must consider differences as patients grow and age, which might impact health risks, questions of safety, complications and more. There can be a developmental part that features knowing what children understand and worry about, what they’ll and can’t do at different ages, and knowing tips on how to approach patients and families to make clear certain issues. Drug doses for adults and kids are different. For children, these are based on height and weight, and fluid volumes vary. Nurses must calculate every little thing in a different way.

“Even if you think about the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, it’s an intervention that varies depending on the age of the patient,” Jankouskas said.

To illustrate how different pediatric nursing may be, Jankouskas shared a standard problem which will arise: A toddler with sepsis involves the emergency room. “In the emergency department, you have to act quickly,” she said. “You will be administering antibiotics and fluids.” Nurses who have no idea or have no idea where to search for the several fluid volumes required for youngsters and tips on how to administer resuscitation medications to children could make serious mistakes. “I think that’s what makes pediatric nursing interesting, but also challenging because it’s a lot of work,” Jankouskas said. “It’s that layer that you have to know, and it’s not the same from toddlers to preschool kids to school age.”

Some recent nurses have the chance to practice in kid’s hospitals or pediatric clinics while still in nursing school. Access to pediatric clinical experience, nevertheless, is usually a challenge for some nursing schools. “I do a lot of simulations, even though we have access to a children’s hospital, to gain clinical experience with children,” Jankouskas said. “This can provide good opportunities to practice approaches to pediatric patients. Even access to childcare centers where students can experience normality is also important.”

Nurses working in pediatric settings can receive pediatric training during orientation, but nurses in adult wards and more general health care settings cannot. So the responsibility for recognizing and knowing one’s learning gaps in pediatrics and other care settings often falls on the scholar, Jankouskas said.

A pediatric nurse practitioner certification can fill this gap by offering extensive knowledge on this specialty. “I think the main reason many nurses pursue certification is that it provides them with career advancement,” she said. “Many agencies expect this as they move up the clinical ladder.” Jankouskas said the raise often comes with certification. “I feel personal growth and achievement is one more reason for certification. I’m a believer in learning and growing, so taking the preview course and reviewing the certification review book helps expand your personal knowledge, which is able to definitely only improve your patient education and patient care.”

According to Institute of Pediatric Nursingwhich, through its nonprofit organization, certifies more than 95% of America’s pediatric nurse practitioners Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, 30.3% of pediatric registered nurses work in free-standing children’s hospitals, and 28.3% work in children’s hospitals affiliated with major medical centers. Nearly 12% work in outpatient specialty care, 9.9% in community hospitals, 5.1% in outpatient primary care, 4.8% in major medical centers, and 2.4% in school settings. Other settings include home care, ambulatory surgery centers, psychiatric/mental health facilities, urgent care and rehabilitation, or extended care facilities. Of the estimated 250,527 advanced practice RNs in the U.S., 13% are in pediatrics. According to the Institute of Pediatric Nursing, certified pediatric primary care nurses work in many of the same settings as certified pediatric nurse practitioners, as well as in military and retail clinics.

Caren J. Bock, MSN, MBA, RN, MHA, is the speaker for our Pediatric Nurse Certification Review course. She says her more than 20 years as a pediatric nurse helped her achieve a leadership role in nursing.

“I’m now the deputy chief nursing officer at a community hospital where the pediatrics and neonatal units are located, and I actually oversee those areas,” Bock said. “I always wanted to become a driver. I was a little afraid that pediatrics might be a bottleneck for me. I actually realized it was a trait. It’s a specialized field. Many hospitals – I would say over 50% or 60% – have women’s and children’s care in their hospitals. As the leader of an entire hospital, you really need to know this niche. According to Bock, the roles of pediatric nurses have evolved. For example, pediatric nurses may work in specialized community programs and in partnerships with hospitals focusing on concussion management and child wellness to address obesity, as well as in programs focused on helping parents of children on the autism spectrum. “As nurses, we want to help the community,” she said. “The community is working with hospitals to do this. “It was a great evolution in pediatric nursing.” Nurses who have been working in pediatrics for a year or more and want to take their career to the next level should consider obtaining a nurse specialty certification, Bock said. Certification allows pediatric nurses to demonstrate to employers that they can perform developmental screening and focus on providing the latest evidence-based care to patients from infancy through young adulthood. Certification is also important for nurses because it allows them to build the trust and respect of patients’ families, who often play a large role in the dynamics of pediatric nursing.

“You’re not just taking care of the patient,” Bock said. “You take care of the entire family system. You have to be able to look these parents in the eye and assure them that their children are in good hands.”

For nurses who do not intend to become certified in pediatric care, it may be helpful to review the literature on pediatric nursing and pediatrics in general. “Always read,” Bock said. “Every leader should read at least once or twice a week.” Bock said some nurses think, “I’m only a staff nurse.” But she said, “you are a leader because you lead those around you. Everyone in this business strives to provide the best care. And the best way to provide the best care is to know what’s up to date.”

Check out our Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certification Review Course.