Nursing
Children's nursing is a highly specialised and deeply rewarding field of nursing practice, concerned with the health, wellbeing and recovery of children from birth through to young adulthood. It is a discipline that requires a distinctive combination of clinical competence, developmental knowledge, and the exceptional communication skills needed to build trust with children and their families in situations that are often frightening and stressful. Children's nurses work in hospitals, community settings, schools, and specialist units, providing care that is always informed by an understanding of child development and family-centred practice.
At Edge Hill University this three-year full-time programme leads to eligibility to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council as a qualified Children's Nurse. You will study child development, paediatric physiology and pathology, clinical skills, medicines management, safeguarding, and the ethical and legal frameworks that govern the care of children and young people, alongside the communication and therapeutic relationship skills that are central to effective children's nursing. Clinical placements across a range of settings are embedded throughout the programme, giving you the supervised experience of caring for children and their families that is the foundation of professional competence.
Registered Children's Nurses work in NHS paediatric wards and departments, neonatal intensive care units, community children's nursing services, CAMHS, children's hospices, school nursing, and a range of specialist roles in oncology, cardiac care, neurological conditions, and other areas of paediatric medicine. The NMC registration you gain is portable across the UK. Many children's nurses go on to develop specialist clinical expertise through postgraduate training, moving into advanced practice, paediatric intensive care, neonatal nursing, or community roles.
Leadership, education and research are other directions for those who wish to develop their careers beyond direct clinical practice.