Bringing Pediatric Nursing to Life in a Baccalaureate Curriculum

Nurse educators are challenged to prepare nursing students to practice in a changing environment. Pediatrics is a particularly challenging and important area to prepare nursing students for future nursing practice. Several factors emerged that suggested the current approach to teaching pediatrics was not adequate. This article describes the revision of the baccalaureate curriculum to address concerns related to pediatric nursing concepts. These revisions include the integration of pediatric concepts into three major theory and clinical courses and the implementation of an elective designed for those students with a special interest in pediatrics. A popular preceptorship program for nursing students who want to complete their cumulative final clinical experience in pediatrics was also developed.AUTHORSReceived: November 15, 2006Accepted: August 8, 2007Dr. Smith is Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia; and Dr. Hamner is Assistant Dean and Associate Professor, Auburn University School of Nursing, Auburn, Alabama.Address correspondence to Cheryl M. Smith, EdD, RN, FNP, Associate Professor, Department of Nursing, Columbus State University, 209 Illges Building, Columbus, GA 31907-5645; e-mail: Smith_cheryl6@colstate.edu.