Why I chose to study child nursing

Student nurse Abbi discusses what motivated her to choose child nursing as a profession, and ARU as a supportive and welcoming place to study.

When I came to the end of school, I still was not sure what career I wanted to pursue. However, I had always wanted a career that was rewarding and enabled me to make a difference to other people’s lives.

I had also always enjoyed working with children. I worked in a variety of settings: children’s clubs, Brownies packs, nurseries, schools for children with learning disabilities, and also spent some time with play specialists. Therefore I had always wanted my career to involve caring for children.

Inspired by nursing staff

However, it was not until one of my best friends had a kidney transplant and I went to visit her in hospital that I realised that I aspired to be a paediatric nurse. I watched how the nurses were so caring and compassionate to my friend, and although she was in lots of pain and very uncomfortable, the nurses were still able to make her smile. The nurses told me how rewarding they felt their job was and they felt they made a difference to so many vulnerable children and their families. They also spent some time with me explaining what their role involved: observations such as temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate; preparing and given medications; and being an advocate for patients and their families.

Would Child Nursing be a good career for me?

I decided to research more into the role. I looked at student nurse blogs and university websites to see what child nursing involved and whether it was suitable for me. I learnt that the role of a child nurse was very practical, which I felt was how I learnt best. There was also a variety of settings I could work in such as the neonatal unit, accident and emergency, or the community.

Why Child Nursing at ARU?

Therefore I decided that this role was perfect for me and I started to look at the potential universities that I could go to. Anglia Ruskin University was local, and I knew past students who had been to the university and had told me how supportive they were and how much they enjoyed their experience. So I decided to go to an Open Day and I immediately felt so welcomed.

I met some current student nurses and was able to ask them about the course, which helped me to decide if it was suitable for me. They told me about the academic side of the course which was very helpful as it was always an area that I worried about. They also advised me about my personal statement, nursing tests and interviews which was useful and made me feel very excited to start my journey to becoming a child nurse.

Study nursing at ARU

Find out more about our nursing degrees, and studying at ARU, at one of our Open Days.

We've been training nurses and other healthcare professionals for more than 25 years, and you can choose to specialise in adult nursing, child nursing or mental health nursing with us.