My Goal to Become a Child Nurse

Child nursing is a serious career that is underestimated and under-appreciated. Nursing is something that I have been contemplating since I was young, and through my life experiences and education, I obtained more passion and devotion to pursuing this career. Child nursing is not just having that commitment and dedication in the workplace, but carrying it with you everywhere you go; it is a way of living and requires empathy and authenticity. Child nursing requires more than knowledge, it is more of how you live your life and the attitude. Having compassion and humanity is what makes you a perfect nurse, genuinely wanting to help others to make them happy and feel better is what drives me to be a better person and that is something I have to offer.

Having gained work experience in a primary school as a teaching assistant, I have learned the importance of dealing with children gently, showing understanding, sympathy and consideration. It is important to build a trusting relationship when you are supporting them. During this placement, I progressed from reception to nursery to primary. This work helped me to develop a variety of communication skills, because I learned how to liaise effectively with children, parents, guardians and other professionals. This is very important since nurses continuously communicate with a range of different people who have different beliefs and backgrounds. Flexibility is another vital characteristic of a nurse, since working with children requires the ability to work under pressure as you can never predict what to expect.

Over the three years of studying BTEC Applied Science, I have gained a variety of skills, as well as developing my scientific knowledge, that will benefit me and help me cope with this course and later on as an employee. Studying this course provided me with a lot of employability skills including teamwork, planning and organising. In addition to this, I have developed the ability to record data, analyse, evaluate information, manage my time efficiently and learn independently. Taking responsibility and being self-reliant are also vital qualities for a child nurse. Nurses face a lot of emergencies so being reliable and maintaining integrity with what you are doing reduces stress and keeps those under your care calm. I have had the opportunity to study a unit in genetics and genetic engineering, which allowed me to explore the principles of inheritance and the role of genes in determining personality traits and physical characteristics. I gained knowledge and understanding of how genetic factors play a major role in biological make up of individuals; having a good understanding of genetics means you can provide effective care to your patients. Learning the physiology of human body systems has informed me of how each system functions and what occurs during dysfunction.

As English is my second language, I enjoy reading books in my spare time to improve my fluency. Not only does reading improve my communication skills but it also enhances empathetic skills. I am trilingual, I can read and speak english,swedish and somali and being multilingual could not only open opportunities for me such as job offers but it could also make me communicate with patients with different backgrounds and help me connect with them and built a strong trusting relationship.

I work best as part of a team, which is one of the reasons for choosing child nursing; working together for patients is also one of the six values of the NHS. I am a receptive, passionate and ambitious person and I am most passionate about having a great positive impact on people's lives. I hope I get the chance to apply my gained skills in this course to fulfill my goals as a child nurse.