Nurses in every area of specialty will care for persons assigned female at birth (AFAB). Therefore, nurses should be aware of the nuances of care across the life stages, including adolescence, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause. People are unique, and nurses are in unique positions to promote health, detect vulnerability, intimate partner violence, homelessness, depression, and impacts of social determinates of health. This text introduces these concepts and encourages students to consider individual patient-centered care.
Maternal-Newborn Nursing is written with a focus on pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, and newborn care. This text presents normal physiology and abnormal conditions specific to maternal/newborn care. The student will be able to implement the Clinical Judgement Measurement Model to recognize, analyze, prioritize, create, act on, and evaluate outcomes throughout the many normal and abnormal conditions presented. After reading Maternal-Newborn Nursing, students will be able to provide patient education regarding contraception, pregnancy, labor, or chronic pelvic pain; screen for mental health issues such as postpartum depression and anxiety, grief, or fear; determine a patient’s access to care questioning transportation, insurance, employment; and integrate inclusive care by addressing patients by their preferred name, recognizing populations at higher risk for health disparities or complications, and providing a safe place for care.
