Pediatric Nursing Specialty (Critical Care Option)

An introduction to the nursing specialty of pediatric nursing, this course focuses on characteristics of children and families which influence how they interpret and respond to life events and to their environments, and shapes how nurses respond to and interact with them. The overall intent of this course is to provide opportunity for you to increase your understanding of pediatric nursing practice as you consider some critical issues related to children and childhood, factors that influence children’s health, pediatric assessment and delivery of health care to children. Along with a focus on developmental assessment we will also look at medication safety, nutrition, prevention of infectious diseases within the context of these developmental stages. This course introduces you to the concept of oxygen supply and demand and the significance of this knowledge for the provision on optimal care. Finally this course also introduces the process of comprehensive pediatric assessment as a means of understanding the patients experience and the meaning they attach to these experiences.
Prerequisite(s):

• No prerequisites are required for this course.

This course introduces the unique and highly specialized area of pediatric critical care nursing. Building on the concepts presented in Pediatric Nursing Theory 1, students work through advanced, complex chronic and acute pediatric critical care patient presentations, while considering children’s growth and development stages and the unique physiology of the different pediatric age groups. Students will continue to develop a deeper level of understanding of pediatric pathophysiology, assessment, and decision making related to a variety of health challenges experienced by the critically ill child or adolescent. In addition, students will explore further comprehensive assessment strategies (e.g., hemodynamic monitoring, arterial blood gas analysis, stress response and neurologic assessment) and strategies employed to optimize oxygen supply and demand balance in the critically ill pediatric patient (e.g., CPAP/BiPAP, haemodynamic monitoring, pain and sedation assessment, and fluid management).Finally students will be challenged to make clinical decisions and plan care for selected critically ill individuals. Family-centred care, relational practice and inter-professional practice, professionalism, communication, collaboration and partnership are core concepts threaded throughout this and all subsequent pediatric critical care courses.
Prerequisite(s):

• 75% in NSPE 7100
• BSN completion.

Pediatric Critical Care Theory 2 continues to build on the concepts introduced in Pediatric Critical Care Nursing Theory 1. In the previous course students worked through advanced, complex chronic and acute pediatric critical care patient presentations, while considering children’s growth and development stages and the unique physiology of the different pediatric age groups. In this course students will continue to develop a deeper level of understanding of pediatric pathophysiology, assessment, critical thinking and decision making related to a variety of health challenges experienced by the critically ill child or adolescent. In addition, students will build on the comprehensive assessment strategies and approaches to optimize oxygen supply and demand balance learned in NSPE 7260 to care for the increasingly critically ill child facing serious a health crisis (e.g., acute kidney injury, respiratory failure, cardiac assessment and introduction to ECG interpretation, cardiac arrest and acute gastrointestinal illness). Students will continue to be challenged to make clinical decisions and plan care for selected critically ill individuals. The core concepts of family-centred care, relational practice and inter-professional practice, professionalism, communication, collaboration and partnership are threaded throughout this pediatric critical care course.
Prerequisite(s):

• 75% in NSPE 7260

Pediatric Critical Care Nursing Theory 3 continues to build on the concepts introduced in the first two theory courses and introduces students to more complex health concerns. Students will continue to advance their understanding of pediatric pathophysiology, assessment, critical thinking and decision making related to a variety of health challenges experienced by the critically ill child or adolescent. In addition, students will build on the comprehensive assessment strategies and strategies to optimize oxygen supply and demand balance to care for the critically ill child facing serious a health crisis (e.g., trauma, neurological injury, burns, septic shock, congenital cardiac defects, cancer and end of life care). Students will continue to be challenged to make clinical decisions and plan care for selected critically ill individuals. As in all the pediatric critical care courses the concepts of family-centred care, relational practice and inter-professional practice, professionalism, communication, collaboration and partnership are threaded throughout.
Prerequisite(s):

• S in NSPE 7310
• 6 months clinical experience in a PICU.

Pediatric Critical Care Nursing Theory 4 is the final course in the pediatric critical care option. This course continues to build on the concepts introduced in the first three theory courses and challenges students to use their knowledge and experience to focus on more advanced health concerns. Students will have the opportunity to build on the comprehensive assessment strategies they learned in the previous 3 theory courses to care for the critically ill child facing serious a health crisis (e.g., acute kidney injury, continuous renal replacement therapy, advanced hemodynamic monitoring, cardiac surgery and open heart admission, pacemaker therapy, cardiogenic shock and advanced ECG interpretation). Students will be challenged to make clinical decisions and plan care for critically ill individuals experiencing health challenges effecting multiple systems. As in all the pediatric critical care courses the concepts of family-centred care, relational practice and inter-professional practice, professionalism, communication, collaboration and partnership are threaded throughout.
Prerequisite(s):

• S in NSPE 7410
• 1 year clinical experience in a PICU.

In this preceptorship course, students develop and begin to enact their role in pediatric critical care nursing by exploring the pediatric critical care environment and assessing influences pertaining to pediatric patient and family health. Students will focus on applying and integrating theory and frameworks from the preceding courses, developing comprehensive assessment skills and applying this knowledge in the care of pediatric patients and their families. Students will use this knowledge to provide nursing care for critically ill pediatric patients experiencing selected health problems such as respiratory distress, cardiac failure, acute gastrointestinal illness and hemodynamic instability. In this experience students focus on applying theory related to oxygen supply and demand, comprehensive assessment, monitoring skills and clinical decision making. Working in partnership with patients, students have an opportunity to develop an understanding of patients' experiences of critical illness. Students will work with preceptors to promote safe, competent, and ethical nursing care. In addition, students will develop and foster collaborative relationships with patients, families, colleagues, instructors, and other health care providers. The core concepts of family-centred care, relational practice and inter-professional practice, professionalism, communication, collaboration and partnership are threaded throughout pediatric critical care course.
Prerequisite(s):

• 75% in NSPE 7270
• Registration with the Provincial Nursing Regulatory College and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Level C or Level Health Care Provider (HCP).

In the second preceptorship course, students focus on applying and integrating nursing knowledge to provide care for critically ill pediatric patients and their families. In this experience the student focuses on providing care for patients' experiencing trauma, acute respiratory failure and hemodynamic challenges. Students have opportunities to further develop their comprehensive assessment skills by providing safe, competent, and ethical nursing care for patients requiring mechanical ventilation and advanced hemodynamic monitoring in collaboration with their preceptors. Working in partnership with patients and families, students will develop an understanding of unique patient and family situations. Students will have opportunities to think critically, selecting and evaluating therapeutic interventions as they focus on developing interventions, clinical decision making. Participating and reflecting on ethical issues and collaboratively providing family-centred care are concepts that nurses continue to develop. Through the use of learning activities (case studies, application of a clinical decision making framework, journaling and personal reflection) students are provided with opportunities to build on the communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and systematic inquiry skills necessary to provide child and family-centered care in the pediatric critical care setting.
Prerequisite(s):

• 75% in NSPE 7280
• Registration with the Provincial Nursing Regulatory College and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Level C or Level Health Care Provider (HCP).