Children's Nursing
Children's nursing is a distinctive branch of nursing practice that focuses on the health and wellbeing of infants, children and young people from birth through to adulthood, in settings ranging from neonatal units and paediatric wards to children's community health services and schools. It requires not only the clinical knowledge and practical skills shared with all nursing, but also a specialist understanding of child development, family-centred care and the communication approaches needed to engage effectively with children of different ages and their parents or carers in what can be frightening circumstances.
At City St George's, University of London this three-year programme prepares you to register as a children's nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, combining theoretical study with substantial clinical experience in London's leading NHS trusts. You will develop clinical assessment skills, learn to administer medicines safely, and build the ability to plan, deliver and evaluate care in collaboration with children, families and multidisciplinary teams. High-fidelity simulation facilities allow you to practise clinical skills in a safe environment before working with real patients, and the clinical placements that form a significant part of the programme give you experience across the range of settings and specialisms within children's nursing.
City St George's location in London means access to a diverse patient population and a wide variety of clinical environments.
Graduates register as children's nurses and work across the full range of paediatric settings, from neonatal intensive care and paediatric oncology through to community nursing and school nursing. With experience and further training, children's nurses develop into specialist and advanced practitioner roles, clinical management, education and research. Some go on to postgraduate study in areas such as advanced paediatric practice, neonatal care, safeguarding or public health, deepening their clinical expertise or moving into leadership and policy roles.