Nursing Studies
Children's nursing is a specialist branch of the nursing profession dedicated to the care of babies, children and young people across a wide range of health conditions and circumstances. Children are not simply small adults: they have different physiological characteristics at different developmental stages, they communicate and experience illness in ways that require specialist understanding, and their care almost always involves close partnership with parents and families. A children's nurse needs clinical competence, a thorough knowledge of child development, exceptional communication skills for working with children of all ages, and the compassion and professional resilience to provide outstanding care in situations that can be both joyful and deeply difficult.
At Glasgow Caledonian University, this four-year full-time programme prepares you to register as a children's nurse with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. You will develop your knowledge of paediatric anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and pathology alongside the clinical skills, assessment capabilities and professional values that nursing demands. The programme emphasises safe, compassionate and family-centred care throughout, developing your ability to work with children of all ages and backgrounds and to build effective partnerships with families as central participants in care decisions.
Practice placements are integrated throughout the four years, giving you direct experience in a range of clinical settings from neonatal units and paediatric wards to community children's nursing and specialist services.
You will develop the clinical competence and professional confidence that nursing requires, alongside the communication skills, critical thinking and reflective capacity that define excellent children's nursing practice.
Graduates register with the NMC and move into children's nursing roles across NHS paediatric services, community nursing, CAMHS, neonatal care, specialist paediatric units, school nursing, and private healthcare. Career development pathways include specialist practice, advanced clinical roles, leadership, and postgraduate study in nursing or a related clinical field.