Children's nursing: can it justify a separate existence in the UK?

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Pediatric Nursing

Background:

• Debate exists regarding the organization of the UK's professional nursing register.
• Children's nurses, alongside mental health and learning disability nurses, face potential loss of separate registration.
• There is a recognized need for children's nurses to articulate their unique knowledge base.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the development of children's nursing knowledge using Fawcett's framework.
• To determine if children's nursing constitutes a separate discipline.
• To assess the presence of a unique metaparadigm, philosophy, conceptual model, nursing theories, and empirical indicators in children's nursing.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of children's nursing knowledge development.
• Application of Fawcett's framework for the hierarchy of contemporary nursing knowledge.
• Evaluation of specific knowledge components: metaparadigm, philosophy, conceptual model, theories, and empirical indicators.

Main Results:

• Some levels of knowledge development in children's nursing were identified.
• Gaps and deficiencies in specific knowledge levels within children's nursing were observed.
• Children's nursing currently lacks a fully developed, distinct body of knowledge across all hierarchical levels.

Conclusions:

• Children's nursing has made progress in developing its knowledge base.
• Further development is necessary for children's nursing to be fully established as a distinct discipline.
• The findings suggest ongoing efforts are required to solidify the unique knowledge domain of pediatric nursing.