Safeguarding the Future of Pediatric Care

Challenges and Opportunities for Educating and Expanding the Pediatric Nursing Workforce
May 18, 2021

An Institute of Pediatric Nursing White Paper

Safeguarding the Future of Pediatric Care

Challenges and Opportunities for Educating and Expanding the Pediatric Nursing Workforce

This web resource shares content from the IPN's 2021 white paper describing the current and worsening future pediatric nursing workforce shortage. Academic nursing programs have a social contract with society to meet future nursing workforce needs. However, schools of nursing and faculty face current challenges to securing traditional, inpatient pediatric clinical experiences for nursing students for myriad reasons presented in this paper. These challenges can be ameliorated by relying upon the wide array of ambulatory and community-based settings in which children increasingly receive health care services.

The white paper includes a list of strategies to increase pediatric clinical opportunities for students, including Five Things Pediatric Nursing Faculty Can Do Right Now.