Cesar Acain

BSN IV-B
Philo104-B

Maternal-Child Nursing
Adele Pillitteri

Maternal-child nursing refers to a framework of health care provided for child-bearing women
and their families. Maternal-child nursing strives to approach the birth process as a natural life
event rather than a medical procedure. This field of nursing includes both prenatal care to
pregnant women and health care to mothers and their newborn infants. This health care also
extends to the entire family.
A maternal-child nurse is often cross trained. They must retain skills and knowledge that allow
them to assist the patient during the entire hospital stay. The maternal-child nurse serves in
roles related to labor, delivery, recovery, operational, postpartum and management of high-risk
pregnancies. Specific roles they may perform include fetal monitoring, assisting in cesarean
delivery and identifying postpartum complications.
The maternal-child nurse also often needs technical skills in order to effectively understand
advanced equipment and procedures. This also involves continuing education in order to stay
up-to-date on the latest innovations and new practices in the field. In addition, basic nursing
skills are a necessity. These include pain management, patient and family education,
assessment, diagnosis and communication. Some areas of expertise in maternal-child nursing
include treating a pregnant teenager, a critically ill child, or another group within the
community.
Maternal-child nursing often involves caring for a mother and baby simultaneously. Rather than
the newborn infant being in a nursery away from the mother and under the care of a different
nurse, both mother and child are cared for by the maternal-child nurse. This family-centered
model of maternity health care encourages family cohesion and bonding and facilitates
education. The family-centered care model also encompasses care before and after the
delivery. This involves duties such as prenatal stress-testing and checking on new mothers and
infants after discharge.

The area of childrearing and childbearing families is a major focus of nursing practice today
because to have a healthy adults, you must promote healthy lifestyles of childbearing women
and their families from the time before children are born until they reach adulthood. As
children grow, families need continued health supervision and support to ensure children
remain well. As teenagers or young adults reach maturity and begin to plan for their own
families, the cycle repeats and a new generation of support becomes necessary. The primary
goal of both maternal and child health nursing can be simply stated as the promotion and
maintenance of optimal family health to ensure cycles of optimal childbearing and childrearing.
As a nursing student, seeing how a mother carry her child in her womb until a baby is born is a
big milestone. The growth and development is a very important matter that everyone must be
aware of. Health teachings regarding breastfeeding, cord cleaning, babysitting and many more
is a must for us to tell the mother and the family. For all of us repeats this cycle and everyone
must be knowledgeable enough to be able to prepare oneself for this situations. For health is
wealth.