You may:

• work with doctors to assess the needs of children who are ill, injured or have disabilities
• decide what level of nursing care is required
• carry out a range of clinical procedures like using medical equipment, dressing wounds, giving injections and medication
• monitor and interpret a child's behaviour to recognise if their health has become worse
• support parents and carers to help them cope with having an ill child in hospital
• advise parents and carers on how to care for their child on returning home

You may need to wear a uniform.

You could work in an NHS or private hospital, at a hospice, at a children's care home, at a GP practice or at a health centre.

Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding.

With experience you could move into a specialised area like:burns and plastics; child protection; cancer care; neonatal nursing; intensive care

You could also become a sister, ward manager or team leader. In these roles you'd have responsibility for running a ward or a team of nurses in the community.

Other management roles you could work towards include matron or director of nursing.

You could train as a health visitor, neonatal or school nurse, or practice nurse in a doctor's surgery. You could also become self-employed or work overseas.

With further study and experience, you could move into a nurse consultant position. In this job you'd work with patients to carry out research. You'd also develop and deliver training.