Health Upp Nursing is a delicate job, and everyone, whether adult or pediatric nurses, has a fair share of the ups and downs. The different specialties work to make the hospital a safe space for the sick and vulnerable. These professionals ensure that patients of all ages are catered for during their stay at the facility. Hospitals accommodate humans of different ages, whether infants, children, teenagers, young adults, or older adults. These classes of patients are nursed differently depending on their specific needs. This explains why the nursing profession dedicates experts to cater to the needs of each population.
Nurses are saddled with the responsibility of caring for all age groups, but their approach to treatment matters greatly. Are there differences in treating various age groups? Of course, and here are five major ones:
Different reasoning levels
Treating patients based on age is a consideration in the pediatric population. The major difference between an adult and pediatric nurse is the role age plays in nursing care. A pediatric nurse can have 3-5 patients of different ages. These groups have various reasoning strategies. Therefore, this nurse has to explain differently to the groups. A strategy that works for stage one might not work in the second and third stages, making the job tricky. These kids act differently because they have different cognitive abilities and motor development, and their coping ability for painful and traumatic procedures is also different. With adults, it is almost a one-size-fits-all approach.
Although adult humans have individual nuances, they are more similar than children. With adults, their emotional, physical, cognitive, and clinical data ranges are relatively consistent. After discussing a procedure with an adult patient, you can employ logical explanations to help them understand. Explaining to children feels like learning a new language in adulthood.
Adults have a more complicated medical history
Children have barely spent a few months or years on earth, so the chances of having a complicated medical history are slim. As a result, nurses caring for adults are concerned with the interconnectedness of illness within the patient. Nurses caring for adults are trained to understand disease pathophysiology and how one body system affects another.
Children have fewer allergies, no surgical history, no medical history, and a single problem associated with etiology. While children have fewer complex histories, it doesn’t mean they are easier to care for. They usually do not present the same symptoms as adults, even in severe conditions. Therefore, it is easy to overlook them until they graduate into something more severe. Regardless of the symptoms adult or children patients present, these nurses are trained to assess and care for them accordingly.
Family complications
It is not enough to care for your child or adult patient; you also consider the immediate family directly affected by the ill health. With nursing, your activities are not only monitored by regulatory bodies but also by family members. Adult patients often have more visitors who ask many questions about their friend’s or colleagues’ health. In the case of kids, it is mostly the parents asking the questions. Pediatric nurses are obliged to be with the kids and go the extra mile to make them happy. Nurses who choose to specialize in pediatrics are fond of children and do not see this as an extra task. They are quick to build a bond with the children in the ward, thus making the job easier.
Medication
Medication management in older adults differs from kids. Children express pain by crying, but adults might conceal it. Although some toddlers cannot talk, their body language reveals their feelings. Studies show that pain evaluation and treatment in adults, especially the elderly, is more difficult because of the potential to hide the pain. Despite the challenges, multiple medications can be effectively managed in the age group. Routine screening is necessary because even pain causing severe impairment may not be revealed due to cultural, personal, and psychological reasons. However, nurses can exceed expectations by acknowledging individual needs without voicing them.
Administration of drugs
It is harder to get veins for IV in babies and children because they are unable to do things for themselves. Therefore, this makes the administration of drugs slower. However, the pediatric nurse is patient with the process, knowing that any mistake could be disastrous. The adult nurse can beckon on their patients to experiment with some tricks that could get the veins out. This makes drug administration faster.
Finding the Ideal Nursing Role
You can choose from a wide range of paths in the nursing industry. However, if you want a closer relationship with the younger patients and families, you can specialize in family nursing. A family nurse is a registered nurse with specialized training to provide primary health care to people of all ages. This group comprises adult and pediatric practitioners. Aside from treating illnesses and injuries, this profession teaches people to live healthy lives and avoid habits that attract diseases. FNPs perform diagnostic tests, procedures, and physical exams and prescribe medications to patients. If you are already a practicing nurse and wish to become a family nurse, the DNP FNP online programs might be the right choice for you. It is affordable and accessible from any part of the world as it is online.
Conclusion
A nurse takes on many characters depending on the situation. To the child, the nurse could be a friend and caregiver. To an adult, the roles can change to a confidant and disciplinarian. Nurses understand how fast their roles change in the scheme of things and are ready for the challenge. Everyone, irrespective of age and class, deserves quality health care.