Children's nurse education--what is important to the service user?

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Pediatric Palliative Care
• Service User Involvement

Background:

• The Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards (2010) mandate service user involvement in pre-registration nurse education.
• Children's hospices offer unique insights into the needs of young people requiring palliative care.
• Integrating service user perspectives is crucial for developing relevant and high-quality nursing curricula.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the co-design process of a BSc (Hons) Children's Nursing program.
• To highlight the involvement of children and young people with palliative care needs in curriculum development.
• To illustrate service user participation in student selection and assessment.

Main Methods:

• Collaborative design workshops with children and young people.
• Incorporation of identified key themes into the nursing curriculum.
• Service user participation in student recruitment and evaluation processes.

Main Results:

• Key themes identified: communication, accessing mainstream education, and transitioning.
• These themes were integrated into the BSc (Hons) Children's Nursing program.
• The program was enhanced to reflect the lived experiences of children and young people.

Conclusions:

• Service user involvement is vital for creating contemporary and responsive children's nursing programs.
• Co-design ensures nursing education aligns with the needs of children and young people in palliative care.
• This model demonstrates effective collaboration between academia and service users in nursing education.