Being a paediatric nurse isn’t easy. You need to be extra patient and compassionate if you want to be effective in your work. Kids need specialised attention and care as they have varied healthcare needs that depend on their age and condition.
It takes a lot of effort to provide nursing care to children. To help you get started, here are some nursing life hacks that will be helpful in providing nursing care to paediatric patients.
- Establish Rapport Through Their Comfort Toys
When providing care to a paediatric patient for the first time, introduce yourself well and gain trust through the patient’s toys. Play with the patient and his toys for a little while and show that there is nothing to fear about you.
A child’s first impression about his nurse lasts long so it is important to establish a good rapport during your first meeting.
- Let Them Sip on a Cold and Sweet Drink Before Giving Unpleasant-Tasting Medicine
Although the taste of medication syrups and suspensions for paediatric patients has already improved over the years, it is still hard to give oral medicines to them. Make this task easier for your wee patients by letting them sip on a cold and sweet drink before giving their due oral medications.
Cold drinks help in numbing the child’s taste buds while the drink’s sweetness helps in toning down the unpleasant taste of bitter medicines.
If not contraindicated, try giving popsicles as well. Right after taking the medicine, the child can wash down the unpleasant taste by sucking on a sweet popsicle.
- Create a Comfortable Environment
Kids usually get scared when they’re in the hospital. Seeing sterile rooms with people wearing nursing uniforms is traumatic for them.
Make them feel comfortable by adding books and toys to your examination room. It’s also a good idea to place boxes of crayons and paper in the waiting room. Making these changes can help put them at ease.
- Allow Them to Help
Kids like to help and you can take advantage of this by letting them help before you do any assessment.
For example, you can let them hold your stethoscope and penlight first as you get ready for the assessment. You can even let them listen to your heartbeat to reassure them that there’s nothing uncomfortable about it.
Shifting to paediatric care may be hard at first but as long as you are passionate about this field, you can definitely excel. Asking guidance from older colleagues in this field will also be helpful as you can get valuable nursing care tips that sometimes can’t be found in textbooks.