Search for Schools and/or
 

Become a Pediatric Nurse

Get a pediatric nursing career overview with education, salary and career outlook information.
Find Nursing Schools | Nursing School Education Resource Center

The Basics: Pediatric Nurse

What you'll do: Pediatric nurses provide preventative and acute care in all settings to children and adolescents. Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (PNPs) perform physical exams, diagnose illness and injury, and provide education and support to patients' families. They often work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with pediatricians and other health care providers.

Minimum degree you'll need to practice: Pediatric nurses are registered nurses (RNs) and usually have four-year Bachelor's of Science in Nursing degrees (BSNs).

Certification: Certification for pediatric nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners is available from the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB).

Median annual salary: $62,527 for RNs; $83,293 for NPs

Cities where jobs are often found: Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles

 
find pediatric nurse schools

Career Overview

a little girl getting a pediatric nurse checkup

Pediatric nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners work in a wide range of settings from doctor's offices and community-based settings to hospitals and critical care facilities.

Primary care services may include:

  • Health maintenance care, including "well child" examinations
  • Routine developmental screenings
  • Diagnosis and treatment of common childhood illnesses
  • Anticipatory guidance regarding common child health concerns
  • Delivery of immunizations
  • Performance of school physicals

Acute care and specialty services may include:

  • Caring for children who are acutely, chronically or critically ill
  • Performing in-depth physical assessments
  • Interpreting results of laboratory and diagnostic tests
  • Ordering medications and performing therapeutic treatments

Some pediatric nurses and nurse practitioners focus on a pediatric specialty area, such as cardiology, dermatology, gastroenterology or oncology.

Education and Training

After gaining experience providing nursing care for children, a pediatric nurse can take an exam to become a Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN). To become a pediatric nurse practitioner, you will need to meet these requirements in addition to your RN:

Certified nurses earn significantly more than those without such credentials. Certification is required in many states and recommended in the others.

Career Outlook

As with all nursing careers, the demand for pediatric nurses is expected to increase significantly over the next ten years. In general, the more training, certifications and experience a nurse has, the more demand there will be for his or her skill set.

Sources:
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners; Society of Pediatric Nurses

 
find pediatric nurse schools

PNP Perks at a Glance

Helping to Shape a New Generation

Studies show that the first three years of a child's life are some of the most important developmental years because the brain is forming. Pediatric nurses play an important role in helping maintain children's health and in educating their parents during this crucial developmental time.

 

Rewarding Nature of the Job

Pediatric nurses often get to watch families as they grow. They develop relationships as they see children mature and grow from infancy through teen years. It can be a very rewarding profession, and the more training, certifications and experience a nurse has, the more demand there will be for his or her skill set.
 

Source:
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, 2009

Nursing Careers at a Glance

Access basic information on many nursing career specialties.

How to Pay for Nursing School

  • As nursing school tuition has increased, a rising number of nursing scholarships and grants have become available for qualifying candidates. Nursing school is expensive, but there are many grants, loans, scholarships, work-study and loan forgiveness programs available to hard-working students. Gain access to nursing school financial first aid.

How to Get Nursing Scholarships

  • Many scholarship and grant opportunities are available to nursing students to encourage people to enter the nursing field and help alleviate the increasing nursing shortages. With a little research, you can learn how to obtain this free money for your nursing school education. Learn how to uncover these nursing scholarship and grant sources to help free you from financial worries.