Nursing at Children’s

Nurses at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta maintain their commitment to delivering exceptional care to kids and practicing at the top of their profession. Caring for kids is no easy task, yet our nurses exemplify the compassionate, caring and supportive nature that is at the heart of Children’s. The unique skills, knowledge and compassion our nurses embody truly makes the care we provide stand out and is why the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) has designated Arthur M. Blank Hospital and Scottish Rite Hospital as Magnet hospitals and Hughes Spalding Hospital as a Pathway to Excellence hospital.

Whether providing clinical care or working in specialty areas, our nurses span a wide range of roles and responsibilities, all with the same Mission to make kids better today and healthier tomorrow.

Professional Practice Model

The professional practice model (PPM) is a framework that serves as a guide for defining, overseeing and evaluating professional nursing practice to ensure and support the advancement of the nursing profession at Children's. The PPM, also referred to as our practice framework, represents nurses' professional identity through eight components that describe how nurses at Children's practice, collaborate, communicate and develop professionally to provide patient-centered care of the highest quality. Collectively, it defines what it means to be a Children’s nurse.

Shared Leadership

Shared Leadership is the professional governance system at Children’s. It was first implemented in 1984 and has evolved through periodic evaluations to better meet the needs of Children’s nurses and reflect changes over time in pediatric healthcare. The purpose of Shared Leadership is to support the Children’s Mission, Vision, Values and strategic plan by engaging and empowering clinical staff committed to achieving clinical excellence and demonstrating superior outcomes through the delivery of quality, relationship-based patient care for our patients and families. Successful Shared Leadership relies on encouraging staff members to provide input to all councils and hold them accountable for following professional nursing practice standards.

By the nature of the profession, nurses are committed to lifelong learning. By offering high-impact programs with a reduced time commitment, Children’s provides critical training and development for our nurses, without compromising the time needed to do their jobs effectively.

Supporting Your Nursing Career

The Children’s My Nursing Career Path Program offers direct patient care nurses a variety of development opportunities and allows nurses to build a customized career portfolio based on their interests. The purpose of the program is to promote career development and raise the bar of professional excellence among clinical nurses while also providing recognition and advancement opportunities.

The program outlines flexible criteria for demonstration of excellence within four domains of professional nursing practice at Children’s: practice, engagement, development and outcomes. Clinical nurses can earn points by documenting their roles and specific projects. The program provides suggested learning activities for clinical nurses who wish to further explore related development opportunities.

My Nursing Career Path Levels

• Clinical Nurse 1 (CN1)
• Clinical Nurse 2 (CN2)
• Clinical Nurse 3 (CN3)
• Clinical Nurse 4 (CN4)
• Clinical Nurse 5 (CN5)

Education Assistance

Children’s encourages learning, development and continuing education and understands the value of supporting employee growth. In addition to an extensive course catalog provided through the Learning Department to help employees learn new skills, Children’s also offers a program for educational assistance. Employees seeking to further their education may be eligible for financial assistance for classes through the Children’s Education Assistance Program. Regular full-time and part-time employees with at least six months of service to Children’s are eligible to apply for the program.

Nurse Certification Programs

Children’s recognizes the importance of professional nursing certification. Being a certified nurse “validates an individual’s knowledge and skills in a defined role and clinical area of practice, based on predetermined standards.” (ANCC: General Testing and Renewal Handbook, 2016). Children’s supports obtaining and maintaining two concurrent professional nursing certifications for approved roles.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta is dedicated to advancing the science of pediatric nursing. Children's recognizes that a robust program of nursing research is essential to the provision of the highest quality patient care and the overall advancement of nursing as profession. The program of Research and Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) provides the necessary resources and leadership to ensure that care delivery is data-driven and systematically evaluated.

Within this program, the nurses at Children's are provided with:

• Expert support to develop and test innovative, cost-effective practice and models of care.
• Continuous mentorship and educational activities.
• Access to research literature and understanding a system of review to determine best practice.
• Clinical research support.
• Technical and methodological assistance such as data management, IRB protocol development and survey design.

In 2025, our nurses authored 46 publications, delivered 60 podium presentations and shared 35 poster presentations at local, regional, national and international venues—ensuring that the innovations developed at Children’s are shaping pediatric nursing practice far beyond our walls.