Graduate Certificate in Paediatric Nursing Studies

The Graduate Certificate in Paediatric Nursing Studies is designed to meet the educational needs of nurses working within the diverse contexts of contemporary paediatric health care.

The course aims to cultivate excellence in the provision of nursing care to sick infants, children and young adults, within a family-focussed framework. Through the exploration and integration of theoretical knowledge and clinical nursing, graduates are prepared for practice as specialist paediatric nurses within multidisciplinary health care teams.

The course is designed to foster a purposeful and child-centred approach that makes a real difference to children's services and student career satisfaction. This course is aimed at those with an interest in pursuing paediatric studies from a variety of perspectives.

There are three specialist streams to meet the individual needs of students, allowing nurses within these areas to share a common body of knowledge, while also advancing their specialty knowledge and expertise. These streams are: General Paediatrics, Paediatric Emergency and Paediatric Intensive Care.

Completion of this course will enable the student to:

• demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of the paediatric nurse within their specialty context, and benchmark against appropriate professional standards
• analyse complex clinical problems using critical thinking/clinical reasoning skills, multiple modes of inquiry and a collaborative approach
• critically evaluate nursing practice against research and current literature, to identify potential areas of practice development, and support the provision of contemporary evidence based paediatric nursing care
• develop and utilise a variety of communication skills in order to establish effective interpersonal relationships with children, their families and the interdisciplinary health care team
• model the skills and abilities that provide a foundation for future leadership roles, including reflective practice, knowledge sharing and a commitment to lifelong learning
• identify and discuss the legal, ethical and cultural issues affecting paediatric patients and their families, thereby providing safe, holistic and family centred health care.

A Graduate Certificate in Paediatric Nursing Studies is an investment in your future and will provide you with the knowledge and skills needed to ensure better outcomes for your patients and progress your career, leading to opportunities in clinical education, management and specialist nursing roles.

The aim of the general paediatric stream is to challenge and extend the knowledge base, skills and attitudes of those working as generalist paediatric nurses in a variety of contexts. The focus of this stream is the holistic and family focused assessment of infants, children and adolescents using growth and development and normal anatomy and physiology as a foundation for learning. Nursing interventions that are linked with positive evidence- based clinical outcomes will be explored. The units of study in this stream offer flexibility to meet the needs of paediatric nurses working in several contexts. Students select the two core units of study and two elective units of study.

Course codes
10 012 2133 (January 2021 intake)
10 012 2134 (July 2021 intake)

• Family and Child Health (040)*, Tier 3
• Paediatric Pain - Assessment and Management (197), Tier 1

• Infant and Child Nutrition and Feeding (201), Tier 1
• Paediatric Pain - Assessment and Management (197), Tier 1
• Principles of Palliative Care Nursing (314), Tier 1
• Therapeutic Communication (317), Tier 1
• Understanding Data in Health Care (321), Tier 2