How to make good children's nurses: children's view

A consultation was held to seek children's views on how to make better children's nurses to influence a new curriculum. In one-to-one sessions, ten hospitalised children were asked to complete body outlines of 'good' and 'not so good' nurses. Based on this the children were asked about how good children's nurses could be made. They agreed that although children's nurses are special people with some innate characteristics, they also needed education to make them good at nursing children. The children were able to identify three areas of learning that could help to make a good children's nurse. The researchers categorised these as: attitudinal and professional persona; Cognitive and psychomotor learning; experiential learning. The consultation highlighted methodological issues in consulting children about curriculum development, as well as drawing our attention to how children are represented in the children's nursing curriculum. Child nurse lecturers should work in collaboration with clinical colleagues and, more importantly, children to develop teaching and learning in children's nursing.