In addition to an evolution of influences on child health, there have been incredible achievements in nursing education. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) published the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice in 2008. While we know that many Associate Degree Nursing programs use our books, we also are aware that a number of those programs also use “the Baccalaureate Essentials” in establishing their curricula. We have therefore applied the Essentials throughout the book and cite them in a new feature (see a description later in this preface). In 2009, the “Carnegie Report” on Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation was published. This long-awaited study emphasized the importance of connecting classroom and clinical learning, focusing on clinical reasoning when working with students, and fostering career ladders and lifelong learning. These recommendations inform our clinical judgment and clinical reasoning features. Finally, in 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. The IOM recommended that nurses function to the full extent of their education and training, achieve higher levels of education, be full partners with physicians and other healthcare professionals in the redesign of health care, and work to plan policies that ensure data collection and information infrastructure.

Child Health Nursing: Partnering with Children & Families is a contemporary pediatric nursing textbook. Excellence in pediatric nursing care, whether it is in the acute care setting or in the community, is a challenge and the major objective guiding today’s pediatric nurse. You, as a student, will be challenged to synthesize previous information with new knowledge, apply evidence-based findings, collaborate with other healthcare professionals and families, and integrate current knowledge to use clinical reasoning skills in planning pediatric nursing care. You will be challenged to lead, examining ways in which you can positively influence the health care of children and their families in the challenging times of healthcare reform.

The third edition of Child Health Nursing builds upon the strong foundation and planning of the first two editions and addresses the need for fresh approaches to child and adolescent health care and nursing education in several ways. Themes in this book include:

• Partnering with Children and Their Families
• The Roles and Essential Functions of the Nurse
• Health Promotion and Health Maintenance
• Collaboration with Families and Healthcare Providers
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Clinical Reasoning

The subtitle, Partnering with Children & Families, reflects the core value of our textbook—emphasizing family-centered care, recognition of the family as the central influence in each child’s life, and respect for families from all cultures. Families are viewed as case managers, as partners with healthcare providers, and as integral participants in care in all pediatric nursing settings. Partnership and interprofessional collaboration are other key concepts of our textbook. In the past, we introduced the Bindler-Ball Child Healthcare Model as a paradigm with which to view health care of children. This model illustrates an important core value—that all children need health promotion and maintenance interventions, no matter where they seek care or what health conditions they may be experiencing. Families may visit offices or other community settings, specifically to obtain health supervision care; or nurses may integrate health promotion and maintenance into the care for children with acute and chronic illness in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings. The Bindler-Ball Healthcare Model places health promotion and maintenance at the foundation of a pyramid to demonstrate the need to apply these concepts with all children. See Chapter 1 for an introduction to this model.