[Environmental health nursing. Experience in a pediatric environmental health specialty unit]

Abstract

Nursing occupies a strategic and privileged position to address many of the issues concerning children's environmental health. Nurses are the health professionals that work most closely with patients and their families and are in an excellent position to identify children at risk and advise their parents about the best practice to reduce or prevent environmental threats. Pediatric environmental health specialty units (PEHSU) can help to train and support nurses in this task. The activities of nurses in the PEHSU can be classified into five groups: nursing care, teaching, research, environmental management and school environmental health. Nursing associations and institutions should ensure that pediatric environmental health is compulsory in the undergraduate and postgraduate training of current and future nurses.