Numerous challenges to wellbeing have arisen for children and their families as a result of the COVID‑19 pandemic. With many traditional services under pressure or unavailable, the pandemic presented an opportunity to consider new service delivery approaches. Podcasts are one such approach, with considerable potential as a method of disseminating evidence-based health information. In this article we describe our experience in developing and delivering a podcast series, Parenting in a pandemic, and the extent of audience reach. Parenting in a pandemic consisted of 20 brief episodes delivered between April and July 2020 aiming to support the wellbeing and mental health of families during the COVID‑19 health crisis. More than 8,700 plays of the podcasts were recorded between April 2020 and February 2021. The first episode was the most accessed, indicating that while initial engagement was strong, parents did not necessarily listen to further episodes. Episodes relating to cultural connections, routines and avoiding conflicts were more widely accessed compared to other topics. Listening time ranged from 36–98% depending on the podcast topic and did not correspond to the number of parents accessing podcasts, implying that topic saliency was most relevant for engagement. Our learnings and recommendations from this work can help to expand the potential use of this technology for parenting intervention delivery.

This paper is adapted from the transcript of an invited keynote address of the same name given at the Australian College of Children and Young People’s Nurses (ACCYPN) 2020 Conference in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 2–4 September 2020. It was delivered as a webinar because of COVID‑19 restrictions.

In Western countries, the concept of childhood did not really exist until after the Industrial Revolution. Many civilisations regarded children as a resource, a part of the family unit that would evolve into a contributing member of that family. During the Industrial Revolution and afterwards, egregious things were done to children, for example, making them work in mines, factories and so forth. The idea of providing specialist healthcare for children only arose, at least in the Western world, in the 1700s. This was also before nursing began its evolution into an educationally prepared profession. This paper discusses how healthcare for children evolved, and how paediatric and child health nursing evolved at the same time. The past is compared with the present, with examples of how paediatric and child health nursing has changed to be what it is today. Then, and perhaps somewhat recklessly, I try to predict what it is going to look like in the future.

Background The incidence of childhood cancer among children and young people is on the rise and remains the major cause of death amongst children internationally. Fortunately, due to advances in chemotherapy treatment, the survival rate amongst children with cancer has improved but these improvements are unfortunately associated with toxic treatment side effects such as nausea, pain and oral mucositis (OM).

Aim To assess the availability, quality and consistency of recommendations for the prevention and management of OM in children receiving chemotherapy in Australasia.

Methods A review was undertaken on the available Australasian clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) on the prevention and management of OM in children receiving oncology treatment.

Findings Four Australasian CPGs met the inclusion criteria – The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Cancer Institute New South Wales, Sydney Children’s Hospital and Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland. Analysis of the four CPGs generated five themes – education, assessment and risk stratification, mouth care medications, treatment of thrush, and treatment for an established OM.

Conclusion It is evident within Australasia there is no gold standard CPG proven to be effective in preventing or treating OM in the paediatric oncology population. However, an emphasis has been placed on the importance of education and consistent oral care to decrease the likelihood of OM. Nurses have an important role to provide education, evaluate the daily oral status of children, and implement the appropriate interventions to mitigate the likelihood of OM and improve health outcomes. Further co-design research is required with multidisciplinary, parental and consumer involvement to update and generate evidence-based OM CPGs that are effective, meaningful and child friendly.