Educating the new community children's nurses: challenges and opportunities?

This paper aims to stimulate debate around the issue of educating nurses within the new Specialist Practitioner courses in areas where no Community Children's Nursing services currently exist. The United Kingdom Central Council (UKCC) (1994) have provided the impetus and the educational structure for the development of community services for children through the publication of learning outcomes for the new, long awaited, Community Children's Nursing qualification. In outlining learning outcomes for this and the other Specialist Community Nursing Practice courses, the UKCC is clearly communicating that the care of sick children in the community should be the province of Community Children's Nurses and not held to be within the remit of other community nurses. Consequently, areas which do not currently offer a Community Children's Nursing service to these children and their families are presented with several challenges: educating nurses for these new roles; developing a new service; and redefining the roles of practitioners currently caring for these children in the community. This paper addresses the first of these challenges and identifies three factors influencing the education of these new practitioners: funding, supervision and placements. A strategic model for the support of these new students in areas with no existing service is proposed.