Before becoming an RN,do you have to start out as a Nursing Assistant?

Nurse Assistant is a short course and generally your chances of getting a job on a pediatrics ward is pretty slim..... unless your hospital happens to be hiring for care aids in the peds dept.. all in all pretty rare. LPN is a 2 yr associate's degree. Some hospitals you can work with a limited scope with kids (no medication administration at some hospitals for LPN and kids, because children's drug calcs are more complex then the adult population) RN generally is a bachelor of science degree, around 4 years. As an RN you can work in virtually any field of nursing, including peds. However, be prepared to work with 75% older patients on your journey. Young people generally aren't the majority of hospital clients. At the end of your degree you could try to find a hospital willing to hire you in the pediatrics dept...... beware though, this isn't all fun and games, most of the time you're nursing the family more then the actual patient...... and parents get pretty stressed when their kids are sick. I mean wouldn't you be? :) RN's make the most, followed by LPN's and nurse assistants.