A Day in the Life of a Children's Nurse

If you're thinking about a career in child nursing, find out from one of our alumni what a day in the life of a children's nurse is like.

My shift was a day shift, 7am - 7:30pm, on a busy general paediatric ward, where we admit children from the ages 0-15 years. I go to handover where the nurse in charge from the night shift tells us all about the patients on the ward. As a sister, I am in charge, so I allocate each nurse their caseload of patients. When allocating I have to think about the skills of each nurse – can they do intravenous medications, how long have they been qualified, and whether they experienced enough to care for a high dependency patient.

My shift was a day shift, 7am - 7:30pm, on a busy general paediatric ward, where we admit children from the ages 0-15 years.

We leave handover and go on to the ward so the night shift can go home. Generally, when I am in charge I don’t have patients, but occasionally due to staffing or the dependency of the patients, the nurse in charge takes patients too. Today I have two – a child admitted with a wheeze, and a teenage girl with abdominal pain waiting for an appendicectomy.

I check the nursing folders and drug charts for both my patients - this helps me plan my day. I see when they last had observations recorded, if they are on intravenous fluids, when they are due medications, and if there is anything else documented that I need to know. When I am up to speed with everything, I go to the patients and introduce myself and see if they need anything. I also check the oxygen and suction by the bed space and ensure my patients have name bands on.

I check the nursing folders and drug charts for both my patients - this helps me plan my day.

The child with a wheeze is due a nebuliser at 8am so I record his observations – this includes temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturations and respiratory effort. I ask the doctors to review him – our aim is to gradually decrease the frequency of the nebulisers until the child is well enough to go on to inhalers and then they can continue these at home. The doctors review and decide this child can wait for a nebuliser until the ward round starts and the consultant can see him.

Next I see the teenager with abdominal pain. She is nil by mouth awaiting an appendicectomy. I check her pain score – she is fairly comfortable at the moment. She knows she can’t eat or drink now so I leave her to rest. She is on intravenous fluids so I check the volume infused and record this. I also check her cannula site to make sure it is still working well. Her mum is resident and she knows the plan – we are just waiting for a phone call from theatres to say they are ready. I tell mum where she can make a cup of tea if she wants one.

Next I quickly have my breakfast (otherwise it will be a long time before I can eat!) before going to doctors’ handover at 8:40am. As the nurse in charge, it is my job to know what is going on with all the patients on the ward, as throughout handover the doctors ask me questions about them. When this is finished we start the ward round – this is a consultant led review of all the patients on the ward, and happens every single day. We start with the sickest patients in our high dependency rooms, then see the rest of the children. During ward round I pop out every now and then to check on my patients. The wheezy child has been changed to inhalers so I record his observations and teach the mum inhaler technique, and get her to do the inhaler so she is confident to do this at home. My colleague has taken my other patient to theatre for me, so she is having her surgery now.

As the nurse in charge, it is my job to know what is going on with all the patients on the ward, as throughout handover the doctors ask me questions about them.

Ward round finishes at 12.30pm. The consultant, other doctors and I sit down and quickly go through all the patients so we are all aware of the plans in place for each of them. The consultant then leaves the ward (though is always around if needed!) and the other doctors start their jobs such as writing discharge letters, doing bloods, and making phone calls. I make sure all the nurses know what the plans are for their patients, and then we start allocating lunch breaks.

At 1pm I check the staffing is safe for tonight and tomorrow. We are one nurse down for tonight so I phone the staff bank and they say they have got a nurse for us. I help a colleague set up a blood transfusion on an oncology patient, and then check on the high dependency patients. Next I go to our assessment unit next door - this accepts A&E and GP referrals, has booked reviews, infusions and day cases, and also is where children can come for blood tests. I check they are ok and if they have any patients yet that need to be admitted to the ward. They have two patients for us so I take the details and go back to the ward to allocate them a bed and a nurse. 

At 2pm theatres call to say my patient is ready to be collected. I find her mum and we go down to recovery together. She has had her inflamed appendix removed, and she will need to stay another night for intravenous antibiotics. We return to the ward, and I make sure she is comfortable. I record her observations every 15 minutes for the first hour post-op, then gradually decrease the frequency. The doctors have written the discharge letter for my wheezy patient, and the medications have come up from pharmacy, so I go through all the information and medicines with mum and send them home.

At 2pm theatres call to say my patient is ready to be collected. I find her mum and we go down to recovery together.

At 4:15pm my post-op patient is now on hourly observations and has managed a few sips of water so I take the opportunity to go for my lunch. The assessment unit has started to get busy and we have got two more patients that need to be admitted to the ward. I leave my colleague to get them over to the ward and settled while I eat.

I return to the ward just after 5pm. All the staff have had their breaks and the patients that were fit for discharge have nearly all been sent home. I check on my post-op patient, record her observations and give her some pain relief. I also give her the intravenous antibiotics prescribed. At 6pm I write all my notes for the day, and start to prepare for handover. I also make sure all the nurses are still ok and are on track to finish for 7:30pm.

At 7pm I handover to the night shift. I leave at 19.45 after making sure everything has been done and the night shift staff are ok. I am exhausted but I love my job and cannot imagine doing anything else.

I am exhausted but I love my job and cannot imagine doing anything else.