5 College Minors Ideal For Pediatric Nurse Majors
When choosing to go to college to start a career as a nurse, there are many specific fields that you can choose from. If you're interested in children and families, then your nursing degree can focus on various areas like pediatrics, family practitioners, or neonatal care. Along with those specific focuses, you can supplement your degree at a top nursing college with a minor that helps expand your skills and really thrive in the field. The following five minors can supplement your current studies and are a great way to get the most out of your time in college. Each one relates to the care of children and their different nursing fields.
Child Psychology
As a pediatric nurse, you will be dealing with children on a daily basis. Understanding their mindset and point of view can help you tremendously when you're treating and diagnosing the patient. A minor in child psychology is a great way to get a grasp on the developing mind and to understand ways to handle all types of children. Classes will focus on the development of children, different age groups, and ways that children cope or react to trauma.
Expanded learning in the field of child psychology can help you communicate with children better and be prepared for all types of feelings and emotions. By learning the ability to connect and understand a child's perspective, you can treat them as needed and avoid any delays.
Sociology
Along with understanding the child's mind, you can minor in sociology to help understand the worlds or environments that they come from. Sociology minors take courses that focus on different cultures, incomes, and societies through the world. The study of sociology focuses on human behavior and the factors that go into these behaviors. These classes can help you gain a perspective on all the different children you will be treating during your time as a nurse. As you meet a child for a first time, you will understand how their social raising impacts the way they act and behave during an appointment.
Public Health
As a nurse, many courses courses will focus on diseases and illnesses that patients need treatment for. You can dive deeper into these studies with a minor in public health. Through various public health courses, you have the ability to learn how diseases are spread and can help determine how a child got sick. Specific courses may also focus on genetics and diseases that are passed down through family members. This can help you recognize the same types of illnesses in children and you can create a proper diagnosis while treating them. Additional classes may focus on global health issues and diseases found all over the world. This can help you if you decide to travel overseas and work with children in various countries.
Nutrition
A child's nutrition is extremely important as their bodies develop and they grow older. A nutrition minor is a great way to build a foundation for learning about proper diets and meal plans for children. You can use this information to diagnose and treat children with food allergies, diet problems, or children that are obese. Learning about proper nutrition can help you guide children to better choices and inform parents of changes that they can make to better the health of a child.
Computer Science
As a nurse, you may get a job in a small family practitioner's office. Your role as a nurse in a small office will often include a lot of computer work, including patient information and file updates. Instead of struggling in the technology area of your career, you can enter it with more confidence by minoring in computer science. Through a computer science major you will improve in multiple areas like typing, spreadsheets, and web design. All of these factors will make it easier to operate medical software and complete future job tasks as needed.
As you choose minors, you have the option of selecting multiple ones through your time in college. It's important to take on only as much as you can handle. Pace yourself and try not to overload it with too many courses.
For information about nursing programs, you can read more here.
