Children’s Nurse

For nurses at the Royal Children's Hospital, working with children can be heartbreaking, but it can also be a rewarding experience.

As pediatric nurses they have to keep their balance as they walk an emotional tightrope.

They have to try to remain clinical when they make a decision, but they also have to give the children the love and compassion they need to get through what can be a confronting, scary time.

"Some people find children's nursing emotionally uncomfortable," nursing executive director Jeni Jarvis says.

"And no matter how effective a nurse is in a pediatric environment, there are days and occasions when their guard drops. It's a challenging environment."

But Jarvis says those moments of sadness are balanced by happiness when a child goes home after a long stay, and by the joy and relief on the faces of parents when they are told their child will be OK.

"It's incredibly rewarding. Even managing the sickest of sick children is a very rewarding experience," Jarvis says.

"The one thing that sets the nurses here apart from a lot of other environments is they all want to be here because they want to work with children and their families.

"That is a very strong message that we hear constantly."

Paul Griffiths is the associate unit manager on the RCH's trauma/surgical ward.
A nurse for eight years, he says working with children and their families has kept him in the job.

"I do enjoy working at the RCH. I don't think I'd still be a nurse if I wasn't working here," he says.

"It was working with children that attracted me to the RCH."

He acknowledges that the job can be emotionally challenging.

"The doctors tend to come in and do their rounds in the morning and then they may not see the patient for the rest of the day.

"But you are there for the next eight hours, and you definitely provide a lot of support for the families and the kids," he says.

"You learn on the job. Patience is a big key, as is having fun, trying to turn it around to make it a fun experience.

"On average it's a four-day stay, but we've also had kids who have been here since the end of last year.

"You definitely become part of the family, and there are kids who have been coming back for eight years, since I started, and you get to watch them grow up, which is nice."

It is impossible for nurses not to become attached when they are confronted with ill and vulnerable children who somehow still manage to laugh and smile.

"You do get attached. You can not look after them and say you are not concerned about their welfare," Griffiths says.