Jessica Nijs

Profielfoto

In 2008 Jessica graduated as a nurse majoring in pediatric nursing with highest distinction from the Catholic University College Limburg (now University Colleges Leuven Limburg (UCLL)). Afterwards she did further training and obtained her master's degree in nursing at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2010 with great distinction.

Pain, and especially pain in children, has always had her attention. The roots were laid in her master's thesis: a randomized controlled trial examining the effect of audiovisual distraction on pain in children between 6 and 10 years old during venipuncture.

In 2010 she started at the University Hospitals of Leuven in a general pediatric department and since 2018, after reforms, more specifically in a department of pediatric gastroenterology, immunodeficiency and hematology.

During her job as pediatric nurse, she completed another two-year course in pain nurse specialist in 2011. She was also the pain reference nurse on her ward.

Since 2020, she has been working on two international projects: (1) Cosmo@home: development of an app to prepare children at home to decrease need of sedation and/or general anesthesia (2) Little NIRVANA: a novel, digital pediatric pain management solution directed towards empowerment and trust.

Besides her clinical activities, she also teaches nursing students at the UCLL.