Pediatric nursing is challenging and especially nurses working in the emergency room have to encounter children who are ill in many ways. The purpose of this thesis was to describe what kind of abilities the nurses working in the emergency room of Kanta-Häme central hospital have to nurse pediatric patients fallen ill acutely. The aim was to clarify what nursing abilities do the nurses working in the emergency room have but on the other hand the aim was also to clarify what abilities would the nurses wish to have more.

The approach of this thesis was qualitative and the research material was collected from the nurses working in the Kanta-Häme central hospital emergency room. A questionnaire was used to gather the research material and the research material was analyzed by using an inductive content analysis.

According to the main research results the nurses working in the emergency room have good abilities to nurse pediatric patients fallen ill acutely. On the other hand, the nurses felt that they needed further education in pediatric nursing in the emergency room. Further education was especially needed in medication and in intravenous infusion. The nurses were also eager to have regular education to maintaining their knowledge and skills in pediatric nursing.