Tell the World Pediatric Nursing Anastasia Shulgan James Madison University

Why I came to Pediatrics When finishing nursing school, I had a desire to work with babies or children, but was not able to get a position on any of those units, so I started working on med-surge It was always kind of hard for me to work with adults because I am so young and as a new nurse, I felt like they could probably see better through me than I knew how to help them On the adult unit I also felt that all I did was task oriented- meds, transfusions, dressings, and more meds… Working with children made me more comfortable since I am older than they are, and by the time I transferred to the Peds unit I had a child myself, so I also felt that I could relate a little more from a parent’s standpoint Working on a pediatric unit with children has been a different type of nursing, there is a lot more teaching, and interventions that you see actually helping the patients ( even just suctioning RSV babies) I like pediatric nursing because we have the power to teach and have a positive influence on the childrens’ health while they are young so that they can get on the right path and hopefully avoid a lot of health problems in their adult years

My Unit Sentara RMH Medical Center, Pediatrics Floor 10 beds 2 RN per shift, regardless if we have 1 pt or 10 (however when we go above 7, they try to get us some help) 1 of the two nurses is a charge nurse and has patients as well We have a NCP (nursing care partner) during day shift and some evenings if we are above 7 pts Our nurses have to be PALS certified (Pediatric Advance Life Support) so we really can never float nurses from other units if we need help and have to rely on our staff in times of shortage Most common nursing shifts on our unit 7a-3p, 7a-7p, 3p-11p, 3p-3a 7p-3a, 7p-7a, 11p-7a, 3a-3p; we are more flexible in our hours since we are self staffed I work part time 3p-11p and some 3p-3as Sentara.com

Pediatric Patient Population Pediatric is birth-18 years old We put a security bracelet on kids under 12 But we also see patients birt-90 years old  Common Problems We See Hyperbilirubinemia (High bilirubin after birth) Respiratory problems- asthma, RSV, bronchiolitis, pneumonia Post surgery tonsillectomies Pediatric orthopedic surgeries Pediatric diabetes

Services We Provide In addition to the common problems we see… The hospital has 4 pediatric hospitalists and Valley Children’s Clinic is the only clinic whose doctors have “hospital privileges” and can come and write orders on their patient’s if they are admitted Put baby under the bili-lights for hyperbilirubinemia “Peds Special Care” when the baby or child is higher risk and on “close observation”. They have continuous oxygen monitoring and are also connected to a heart monitor and we monitor they’re heart rhythm on our floor. Oxygen and high-flow oxygen for the more sick respiratory patients Obtain labs (blood and body fluids) IV fluid therapy We also act as a “treatment center” where doctors can send their patients to get lab work done and get IV fluid ( instead of having to go to the ED or if outpatient is closed) For more complex problems we ship our patients out to UVA and the go to the NICU or PICU

A Day With a Nurse… There is a lot more we see and provide as care for our patients… Typical shift: Come in and look up patient information in the computer Get bedside report from previous nurse Go greet patients, get vitals signs and do assessment Then throughout the day administer medications and carry out other doctors orders Do teaching, talk with pt and families, answer questions, provide pain managemt In that time we will also discharge patients and admit new patients, and or transfer patients Also get treatment centers in that time  And lots of charting 