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This article traces the development of paediatric nursing and looks at the reasons why paediatric nurses have traditionally needed a dual qualification in adult nursing. The author argues that it is time paediatric nursing was regarded as separate from adult nursing and qualifications in both adult and children's nursing as unnecessary.

The issue of pain assessment has attracted great interest in recent years, but there are as yet precious few studies which concentrate on paediatric nurses' assessment skills. Sue Price describes a study of how first-level (general) student nurses assessed children's pain. Despite a small sample size, she found wide variation in understanding of the intensity of pain being suffered by children. She recommends the inclusion of a session on the assessment and management of pain in the paediatric module of general nursing syllabuses.