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CE Pediatric Nursing

The course teaches registered nurses the fundamentals of pediatric growth, developmental milestones, comprehensive assessment, weight‑based medication dosing, family‑centered care, and immunization protocols, enabling safe, evidence‑based practice across all care settings.

Who Should Take This

Registered nurses who provide direct care to children in hospitals, clinics, emergency departments, or community programs are ideal participants. They should have at least one year of pediatric experience and seek to update their knowledge of assessment techniques, dosing calculations, and family‑centered communication to improve patient outcomes.

What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI

Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
20 Activity Formats

Course Outline

63 learning goals
1 Growth and Developmental Stages
2 topics

Developmental milestones

  • Identify expected developmental milestones for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, and adolescents across motor, language, cognitive, and social domains.
  • Explain Piaget's cognitive development stages and Erikson's psychosocial stages and their application to age-appropriate pediatric nursing interventions.
  • Describe developmental screening tools including ASQ, Denver II, and MCHAT-R and explain their appropriate use in well-child visit assessments.
  • Analyze developmental assessment findings to identify delays requiring referral to early intervention, developmental pediatrics, or subspecialty services.

Growth monitoring and nutrition

  • Explain pediatric growth chart interpretation using WHO and CDC standards including weight, length or height, head circumference, and BMI percentile plotting.
  • Identify growth pattern abnormalities including failure to thrive, childhood obesity, short stature, and macrocephaly and describe initial evaluation steps.
  • Describe age-specific nutritional requirements including breastfeeding support, formula preparation, solid food introduction timelines, and dietary guidelines for children.
  • Identify common pediatric nutritional disorders including iron deficiency anemia, vitamin D deficiency, food allergies, and feeding difficulties in young children.
  • Analyze growth trajectory data across multiple visits to differentiate normal growth variation from pathological growth patterns requiring further investigation.
2 Pediatric Assessment
3 topics

Pediatric Assessment Triangle

  • Identify the three components of the Pediatric Assessment Triangle: appearance, work of breathing, and circulation to skin for rapid acuity determination.
  • Explain how to perform a rapid across-the-room PAT assessment to classify a child as stable, potentially unstable, or unstable requiring immediate intervention.
  • Analyze PAT findings to identify the pathophysiologic category including respiratory distress, respiratory failure, shock, metabolic derangement, and CNS dysfunction.

Age-specific vital signs and assessment

  • Identify normal vital sign ranges for neonates, infants, toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children, and adolescents across heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure.
  • Describe age-specific physical assessment techniques including anterior fontanelle evaluation, capillary refill interpretation, and systematic head-to-toe approaches.
  • Explain pediatric early warning scoring systems including PEWS components, scoring criteria, escalation thresholds, and communication of deterioration concerns.
  • Analyze trending vital sign data and PEWS scores to identify early signs of clinical deterioration and determine appropriate escalation responses.

Pediatric pain assessment

  • Identify age-appropriate pain assessment tools including NIPS for neonates, FLACC for preverbal children, Wong-Baker FACES, and numeric rating scales for older children.
  • Describe non-pharmacological pain management strategies for pediatric patients including distraction, guided imagery, comfort positioning, and parental presence.
  • Analyze behavioral and physiologic pain cues in nonverbal pediatric patients to determine pain severity and guide pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.
3 Weight-Based Medication Dosing
2 topics

Dosing calculations

  • Explain principles of weight-based medication dosing including mg per kg calculations, body surface area dosing, and maximum dose limits for pediatric patients.
  • Describe the process for verifying pediatric medication doses including daily weight verification, dose range checking, and independent double-check requirements.
  • Identify high-alert medications in pediatrics including insulin, opioids, chemotherapy, anticoagulants, and concentrated electrolytes with their specific safety protocols.
  • Analyze pediatric medication orders to identify dosing errors, inappropriate formulations, and weight-dose discrepancies requiring pharmacist notification.

Administration techniques

  • Describe age-appropriate medication administration techniques including oral syringe use, IM injection site selection by age, IV medication dilution, and topical application.
  • Explain strategies for medication administration to resistant or anxious children including distraction, therapeutic play, positioning, and family involvement techniques.
  • Describe IV access considerations in pediatric patients including site selection, catheter sizing, fluid volume calculations, and infusion safety measures.
4 Family-Centered Care
2 topics

Family-centered care principles

  • Identify core principles of family-centered care including dignity and respect, information sharing, participation, and collaboration with families in care decisions.
  • Explain strategies for supporting family coping during pediatric hospitalization including rooming-in, child life services, sibling support, and parental participation in care.
  • Describe family assessment techniques including genogram construction, family strengths identification, cultural considerations, and social determinants of health screening.

Discharge and care coordination

  • Describe pediatric discharge planning components including caregiver education, medication reconciliation, follow-up scheduling, and home care resource coordination.
  • Analyze family readiness for discharge using teach-back verification of medication administration, equipment use, and warning sign recognition for return visits.
  • Synthesize a comprehensive family-centered discharge plan for a child with complex medical needs incorporating interdisciplinary coordination and community resources.
5 Immunizations
2 topics

Immunization schedule and administration

  • Identify the recommended childhood immunization schedule including vaccines, number of doses, timing intervals, and catch-up schedules for under-immunized children.
  • Describe vaccine contraindications and precautions including immunocompromised states, allergies, moderate illness, and live vaccine spacing requirements.
  • Explain vaccine storage and handling requirements including cold chain management, temperature monitoring, and procedures for temperature excursion events.
  • Describe vaccine administration techniques including site selection by age, needle length selection, simultaneous administration rules, and adverse reaction monitoring.

Vaccine hesitancy and counseling

  • Describe evidence-based strategies for addressing vaccine hesitancy including motivational interviewing, presumptive language, and common myth correction approaches.
  • Analyze immunization records to identify gaps, determine appropriate catch-up schedules, and recommend vaccine combinations for under-immunized children.
6 Pediatric Emergencies
3 topics

Respiratory emergencies

  • Identify clinical presentations of pediatric respiratory emergencies including croup, bronchiolitis, asthma exacerbation, epiglottitis, and foreign body aspiration.
  • Describe assessment and initial management of pediatric respiratory distress including positioning, supplemental oxygen, nebulized medications, and escalation criteria.
  • Analyze pediatric respiratory findings to differentiate upper from lower airway obstruction and determine appropriate emergency intervention priorities.

Shock and dehydration

  • Identify types of pediatric shock including hypovolemic, distributive, cardiogenic, and obstructive with their distinguishing clinical features and compensatory signs.
  • Explain assessment and management of pediatric dehydration including clinical severity grading, oral rehydration therapy, and IV fluid resuscitation volume calculations.
  • Analyze fluid and electrolyte data in pediatric patients to calculate maintenance requirements and replacement volumes for dehydration correction by severity.

Seizures and neurological emergencies

  • Describe assessment and initial management of pediatric seizures including febrile seizures, status epilepticus, benzodiazepine dosing, and airway safety measures.
  • Identify signs of increased intracranial pressure in pediatric patients including bulging fontanelle, Cushing triad, altered consciousness, and pupillary changes.
  • Analyze pediatric neurological assessment findings to determine seizure type, identify status epilepticus, and prioritize emergency management interventions.
7 Child Abuse and Neglect
1 topic

Recognition and reporting

  • Identify physical indicators of child abuse including bruising patterns, burns, fractures, and injuries inconsistent with stated mechanism or developmental stage.
  • Describe behavioral indicators of child abuse and neglect including withdrawal, regression, inappropriate sexual behaviors, and concerning caregiver interaction patterns.
  • Explain mandatory reporting requirements for suspected child abuse including reporter obligations, procedures, immunity protections, and documentation standards.
  • Analyze clinical presentations to differentiate accidental from inflicted injuries using injury pattern analysis and developmental plausibility assessment.
8 Chronic Disease Management
2 topics

Common chronic conditions

  • Describe nursing management of pediatric asthma including trigger identification, inhaler technique education, action plan development, and peak flow monitoring.
  • Explain pediatric type 1 diabetes management including insulin administration, blood glucose monitoring, carbohydrate counting, and hypoglycemia recognition and treatment.
  • Describe nursing care for children with sickle cell disease including pain crisis management, transfusion therapy, infection prevention, and family education.
  • Analyze psychosocial impact of chronic illness on pediatric patients and families and describe strategies for promoting resilience and developmental progression.

Care transitions

  • Describe transition from pediatric to adult healthcare including readiness assessment, self-management skill building, and transfer planning for adolescent patients.
  • Synthesize a transition care plan for an adolescent with a chronic condition incorporating self-advocacy skills, healthcare navigation, and adult provider coordination.
9 Pediatric Mental Health
1 topic

Mental health screening

  • Identify common pediatric mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and eating disorders with their presenting features.
  • Describe mental health screening tools appropriate for pediatric patients including PHQ-A, GAD-7 modified, and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale for adolescents.
  • Analyze pediatric behavioral presentations to differentiate developmental variation from mental health concerns requiring further evaluation and referral.
10 Pediatric Procedural Preparation
1 topic

Preparation and therapeutic play

  • Describe age-appropriate procedural preparation techniques including therapeutic play, medical play, visual schedules, and graduated exposure strategies.
  • Explain the role of child life specialists in procedural support, pain management, coping skill development, and family-centered care coordination.
  • Synthesize an evidence-based pediatric nursing competency program covering developmental assessment, medication safety, family-centered care, and emergency response.

Scope

Included Topics

  • Pediatric developmental milestones, screening tools, and growth monitoring across all age groups.
  • Pediatric Assessment Triangle and age-specific vital sign interpretation.
  • Weight-based medication dosing, safety checks, and age-appropriate administration.
  • Family-centered care, discharge planning, and care coordination.
  • Childhood immunization schedules, vaccine safety, and hesitancy counseling.
  • Pediatric emergencies including respiratory distress, shock, dehydration, and seizures.
  • Child abuse recognition, mandatory reporting, and injury pattern analysis.
  • Pediatric chronic disease management and transition to adult care.
  • Pediatric mental health screening and behavioral assessment.
  • Procedural preparation and therapeutic play techniques.

Not Covered

  • NICU nursing or advanced neonatal resuscitation beyond initial assessment.
  • Pediatric surgery beyond pre- and postoperative nursing assessment.
  • Advanced pharmacokinetic modeling beyond weight-based dosing principles.
  • Pediatric oncology treatment protocols beyond general chronic disease concepts.
  • Genetic counseling or advanced genomics beyond screening awareness.

CE Pediatric Nursing is coming soon

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