Defining expertise in paediatric orthopaedic nursing

SummaryThe aim of this research was to explore the meaning of paediatric orthopaedic nursing so that differentiation is made between the components of adult and children’s orthopaedic nursing care. Using focus group methodology, data were collated from nurses working in the domain of paediatric orthopaedics. The thematic data analysis concluded with the emergence of four dominant themes, of which only two; the perceived ‘specialist knowledge and specialist skills’ of paediatric orthopaedic nurses can be attributed specifically to the definition of paediatric orthopaedic nursing expertise. The remaining themes of ‘global paediatric issues’ and ‘knowledge and skills pertaining to adult orthopaedic nursing’ demonstrate how nursing specialisms are interrelated and often impossible to separate. Whilst this research lays the foundation in identifying what defines the expertise of Paediatric Orthopaedic Nursing, the complexities of differentiating whether knowledge and skills belonged to adult or specialist paediatric orthopaedic nursing were evident when analysing the data. The results demonstrated that the fundamental principles of orthopaedic nursing practice are embedded in both paediatric and adult based orthopaedic care, with some explicit definable differences which individualise paediatric orthopaedic nursing as a specialist domain of practice.