How to Become a Pediatric Nurse

A career as a pediatric nurse often comes with lots of giggles, excitement, and heartbreak. When you become a peds nurse, your career will expand as you take on the challenges of caring for acute or critically ill children in your community.

Discover what it takes to become a pediatric nurse. Learn which skills, education, and nursing qualities you need to be successful in the role.

What is a Pediatric Nurse?

A pediatric nurse cares for babies and kids up to age 18. Many pediatric primary care providers treat pediatric patients until they’re 21. Peds nurses are skilled at customizing their approach to care based on a child’s developmental needs.

They can work anywhere a kid gets care, such as:

• Pediatrician’s offices
• Specialty clinics
• Pediatric urgent care or after-hours clinics
• Adult hospitals with pediatric wards
• Freestanding children’s hospitals

Pediatric nurses’ responsibilities vary by setting. For example, a nurse in a pediatric neurology clinic might be responsible for helping a child prepare for brain surgery. This can involve collecting blood work, getting vital signs, and providing patient and family education before surgery.

A pediatric registered nurse working in a children’s hospital might care for the same child after brain surgery. In this setting, their responsibilities are more focused on ensuring a child is stable after the procedure. Their nursing tasks might include:

• Monitoring vital signs
• Assessing for neuro changes
• Providing adequate pain management
• Managing drains

No matter which setting a pediatric nurse chooses, the role requires taking a patient-and-family-centered approach to care. Peds nurses are responsible for including the child’s parents in clinical decisions. This often means involving parents in interdisciplinary rounds and providing individualized teaching.

Steps to Becoming a Pediatric Nurse

To become a pediatric nurse, you need to earn an associate degree in nursing (ADN) or a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree and pass the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) to receive RN licensure.

Then, you must gain experience in pediatric nursing. You can also consider becoming a certified pediatric nurse.

• Earn an ADN or a BSN degree from an accredited program.

  You must earn at least a two-year associate degree in nursing to become a pediatric nurse. Some employers may prefer you graduate from a four-year bachelor of science in nursing program. BSN programs provide more well-rounded education about how nursing practice fits into the larger healthcare space. BSN degrees allow you more career options in the future.

• Pass the NCLEX exam to receive RN licensure.

  Nursing graduates take the NCLEX for RNs about a month after graduation. Employers usually require a passing score before they hire you, but some allow you to take it by a certain date after hire. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing uses the NCLEX-RN to test your skills and competency in nursing.

• Gain experience in pediatric nursing.

  As a newly licensed nurse, you can apply for entry-level pediatric nursing positions or pediatric nurse residency positions. Both types of experience count toward the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board’s (PNCB) Certified Pediatric Nurse Exam.

• Consider becoming a certified pediatric nurse.

  You can apply for your pediatric nurse certification from either the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the PNCB. Certification shows employers that you have more expertise in pediatric nursing than other nurses with only their RN license. You must have at least two years of nursing experience and an unrestricted license before you apply to take the certification exam.

Pediatric Nurse Education

You need at least an ADN degree to take the NCLEX-RN and get your RN license. However, a BSN degree may open up more opportunities for leadership positions, continuing education, promotions, and higher salaries.

Pediatric Nurse Licensure and Certification

To become a pediatric nurse, you must first become licensed in the state where you plan to practice. After completing your nursing education, you’ll need to pass the NCLEX-RN exam to become a licensed registered nurse.

To maintain RN licensure, you’ll renew your nursing license every two years. The requirements vary by state, but license renewals generally require a combination of working hours and continuing education.

After you have your RN license, you can apply for pediatric nursing jobs in the area you’re interested in. Depending on the nursing specialty you chose, you may need to get certifications before working on a unit. Some examples of mandatory certifications for peds nurses are:

• Basic Life Support (BLS). All registered nurses must be CPR-certified to work in a hospital or other healthcare facility.
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). Pediatric nurses in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) or transitional care unit need advanced certification to respond to pediatric emergencies.
• Chemo certification. A pediatric heme-onc unit nurse needs chemo certification to administer chemotherapy. You need at least two years of practice as an oncology nurse to qualify for this certification.

Pediatric nurses can get certified in their specialty area after working for a few years. Certifications can supplement your nursing practice but aren’t typically mandatory to work in a unit. Examples of optional pediatric nurse certifications include:

• Certified pediatric nurse (CPN). To take the CPN exam, a pediatric nurse must have a minimum of 1800 working hours in the past two years.
• Pediatric critical care registered nurse (CCRN). A pediatric critical care nurse may take the pediatric CCRN exam to deepen their knowledge of the conditions they see in the practice setting. To take the CCRN, you need at least two years of experience caring for acute or critically ill pediatric patients.

Working as a Pediatric Nurse

If you’re in nursing school, it’s never too early to start networking for a future career as a pediatric nurse. During your peds clinical rotation, make a point to meet as many nurses — and the nurse manager — on the unit as you can. Doing so can give you an advantage when the unit opens a capstone placement, nurse externship, or new graduate position.

When you become a pediatric nurse, you can work in an inpatient or outpatient setting. You might consider working in a children’s hospital to gain a highly specialized skill set caring for the sickest kids in your region.

A career as a pediatric nurse can be fulfilling but challenging. You’ll work with children and their families at some of their most vulnerable times, which require empathy, patience, and strength. Seeing kids overcome serious illness is often one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

It can be financially rewarding, too — pediatric nurses make an average of $31.38 per hour, according to Payscale data from February 2024. The projected job growth rate for registered nurses is 6% from 2022-2032, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming a Pediatric Nurse

Where do pediatric nurses make the most money?

The average pediatric nurse salary is $66,450, according to Payscale data from Feb. 2024.. According to ZipRecruiter, the states where pediatric nurses make the most money are Oregon, Alaska, North Dakota, and Massachusetts.

Is it hard to be a pediatric nurse?

Being a pediatric nurse can be emotionally taxing and clinically challenging. Pediatric nursing requires exceptional attention to detail as compared to adult nursing.

Sick babies can’t tell you what’s wrong with them — which means pediatric nurses must pay close attention to assessment changes and use their clinical judgment to make decisions throughout a shift.

Medication dosing and drip calculations are much more weight-based in pediatrics than in adult nursing. For this reason, pediatric nurses should be good at math and have a high attention to detail.

What is a typical day for a pediatric nurse?

A typical shift for a pediatric nurse working in a hospital involves providing compassionate care to patients and their families. A nurse collaborates with the medical team throughout a shift to carry out a treatment plan. They teach the family and patient and adjust their care based on the child’s developmental age.

Peds nurses also provide anticipatory guidance to parents and families about normal and abnormal development as their child grows and changes, giving their child medicine, and helping their child cope with tests and procedures.

A peds nurse administers medications, monitors vital signs, and performs other duties in the patient’s care plan. Some procedures take significantly longer because they’re more stressful for kids than adults — like placing an IV, which often requires the help of extra nursing staff!

How long does it take to be a pediatric nurse?

Most pediatric nurses can go into the specialty as new graduates. It can take anywhere from two to four years to start working as a pediatric nurse, depending on the type of degree you earn.

If you’re interested in working in a specific facility, find out the job requirements before applying. Some units require a year or two of nursing experience before entering a highly specialized area, like the PICU. Many hospitals offer a new graduate nurse residency program to prepare you with the training and education needed to thrive as a pediatric nurse.

Page last reviewed on March 5, 2024