Authors

  1. Szulecki, Diane Editor

Article Content

On this month's cover, a child being treated for pediatric blood cancer plays alongside a child life specialist at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. The young patient also appears in a CE article in this issue, "Hematologic Childhood Cancers: An Evidence-Based Review," in which author Jessica Lynne Spruit offers a guide to the therapies and treatments for these cancers and discusses key patient teaching points.

  
Figure. On this mont... - Click to enlarge in new windowFigure. On this month's cover, a child being treated for pediatric blood cancer plays alongside a child life specialist at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

Spruit, a pediatric NP at Children's Hospital's Division of Hematology/Oncology, told AJN that the playful spirit of this boy captures what pediatric nursing means to her. "Despite everything this young man is going through, he is still a child," she says. Spruit explains that while it is important for nurses who work with children to learn as much as they can about disease processes, symptoms, and treatment modalities, "it's more important to continue to see the child as a child and recognize their developmental and psychosocial needs. Pediatric nurses have a special and unique role when it comes to preserving and promoting childhood while also providing nursing care to the children and families who need it most."-Diane Szulecki, editor