Undergraduate Pediatric Nursing Education: Issues, Challenges and Recommendations

The future of pediatric nursing science

“…Much variability exists in how undergraduate pediatric content and clinical experiences are provided. Findings from a survey of colleges of nursing demonstrated that about half (49%) have stand-alone pediatric coursework while the remaining programs either have pediatric content totally integrated into the adult curriculum or have a combination of content integration and stand-alone coursework with pediatric clinical hours ranging from 0 to 225 hr (McCarthy & Wyatt, 2014). An analysis of rules and regulations of all state-level Boards of Nursing demonstrated that specific hours for direct pediatric clinical experience are not required in any state (Bowling et al, 2018).…”

“…One area identified as a barrier to exposure to the care of children is the difficulty finding undergraduate pediatric clinical sites (McCarthy & Wyatt, 2014). To address this issue, nursing faculty need to expand their vision of the best opportunities for clinical education in providing care for children.…”

“…To address this issue, nursing faculty need to expand their vision of the best opportunities for clinical education in providing care for children. Most children do not receive healthcare in acute care settings, yet this is where the majority of undergraduate clinical experiences are located (McCarthy & Wyatt, 2014). Settings in the community, such as outpatient clinics, public health departments, home health care agencies, and schools provide rich experiences for students to work with children of all ages and their families and may be underdeveloped as clinical sites in many communities.…”

Is the future of the pediatric nursing specialty at risk?

“…A recent study of 344 nursing education programs in the United States illustrates this problem (McCarthy & Wyatt, ). For example, the majority of nursing education programs reported that only one to two classroom hours were provided for the following content: Child/adolescent nutrition: 56.5%. Child/adolescent behavioral/mental health: 41%. Pediatric genetics: 67.3%. Pediatric environmental health: 57.8%. Community and school health: 38.1%. Pediatric critical care/emergency care: 32.4%. …”

“…In addition, the number of clinical hours in pediatric sites ranged from 0 to 225 hr (mean = 83, median = 116, mode = 90). Many programs reported a lack of access to quality direct‐care pediatric clinical sites for undergraduate students (McCarthy & Wyatt, ).…”