Professor: Department
Semester: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: Credit or concurrent enrollment in NUR 343.

Catalog Description: Application of the nursing process in the care of individuals and families with childbearing and reproductive experiences.

This course is designed to teach nursing students how to take care of women and families experiencing pregnancy, childbirth, and new parenting, as well as women with reproductive system problems, through simulation laboratory and clinical experiences with real clients. Students learn about both healthy and sick women and newborns.

By the end of this course you will:

1. Discuss the importance of excellent care for mothers and newborns.
2. Complete a thorough physical and social assessment of childbearing clients and newborns, and develop a list of risk factors, and a plan for caring for the families.
3. Teach clients about self care and newborn care during the development of the new family.
4. Discuss the cultural and social effects on care of women and infants in the United States.
5. Demonstrate ability to manage nursing care of pregnant and birthing women and their infants.

This course is primarily taught through supervised experiences in the simulation laboratory and in health care agencies, focusing on caring for the pregnant and birthing women, her newborn, and her family. Students are evaluated through observations of performance and written assignments.

Topics include:

• Fetal development and assessment
• Prenatal physiology and care, well and ill
• Care during birth, normal and complicated
• Postpartum care, normal and complicated
• Newborn care, well and ill
• Perinatal loss and family violence
• Caring for women with reproductive system problems

This course is taught by multiple instructors, please refer to the URI Course Schedule.

This is a required nursing course that prepares the student to care for women during pregnancy, birth, and throughout the lifespan, and for newborn infants, including both healthy and ill babies.

• Association of Womens' Health, Obstetrical, and Neonatal Nurses
• American College of Nurse Midwives