Measuring muscles with hugging machines

 

For the past five years, I’ve had the opportunity to have a profession in pediatric nursing.


People often say, “How can you work with sick little kids?” in response to me telling them I work in the pediatric and pediatric ICU settings as an rn.


I often think that people assume pediatric nursing is “just nursing” but on people of a smaller scale.


I’ll never forget the day a peds surgeon told us, a group of peds nurses, at an informational meeting, that “children are NOT just small adults.” They are not small adults, not anatomically, not physically, and most definitely not developmentally!


So, how do you know you’re a pediatric nurse beyond the typical “you know you’re a nurse when” lines. You know, 5 minute bathroom escapes being your morning break, excelling at getting and eating your lunch (often while on the phone) in only 15 minutes, wishing you could take just one sip of the ice water you’re bringing to your patient and considering yourself lucky if your shift stays under the 13 hour mark.


I mean beyond that, how do you know you’re a pediatric nurse? There are some very different and rewarding ways that you know you’re a pediatric nurse.