Fast Facts for the Antepartum and Postpartum Nurse

Michele R. Davidson, PhD, CNM, CFN, RN, is Associate Professor of Nursing and an affiliate faculty member for the Women's Studies Program at George Mason University. Her clinical experience has been in a variety of women's health settings including labour and delivery, postpartum, NICU, reproductive endocrinology and inpatient gynecology at Columbia Hospital for Women. She has delivered over 1,000 babies during her career as a nurse midwife and has treated women with a variety of mental health disorders. Dr. Davidson formulated a support group that provides ongoing treatment to indigent women battling postpartum depression. She has co-written 15 textbooks including the international bestseller Old's Maternal-Newborn Nursing and Women's Health Care Across the Lifespan (9th Edition), which is translated into nine languages. She has also written more than 17 textbook chapters and has published over 50 papers. Dr. Davidson is Past Vice President of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American College of Nurse Midwives (ACNM) and was an item writer for the ACNM National Certification Examination. She is also an educational affiliate of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). She received an honourary award from the March of Dimes for her ongoing care to pregnant women. In 2002, Dr. Davidson established the Smith Island Foundation to provide rural health care education and screening programmes and children's programming to a small island community in the Chesapeake Bay. She subsequently developed an immersion clinical practicum for students to participate in rural community health on Smith Island.

PREFACE




Chapter 1: Introduction




Chapter 2: Routine Antepartum Assessment




Chapter 3: Nursing Care of the Pregnant Woman




Chapter 4: Pre-existing Hematological and Cardiac Conditions




Chapter 5: Antepartum Pre-existing Conditions: Infectious Diseases




Chapter 6: Antepartum Pre-existing Neurological and Mental Health Conditions




Chapter 7: Antepartum Chronic Respiratory, Metabolic, Endocrine, and Orthopedic Conditions




Chapter 8: First Trimester Antepartum Complications




Chapter 9: Second & Third Trimester Complications




Chapter 10: Third Trimester Complications




Chapter 11: Routine Postpartum Assessment




Chapter 12: Nursing Care of the Postpartum Woman




Chapter 13: Postpartum Complications




Chapter 14: Postpartum Complications with Psychosocial Implications




APPENDIX A: Antepartum Skills




APPENDIX B: Postpartum Clinical Skills




APPENDIX C: Common Antepartum & Postpartum Nursing Abbreviations




APPENDIX D: Common Laboratory Findings in Pregnancy




APPENDIX E: Pharmacology in Antepartum & Postpartum Periods