The birth of a child is usually a wonderful and exciting event.
Despite the occasional magazine or newspaper article extolling the virtues of having a child at home with an experienced midwife in attendance, we are still generally conditioned to having the baby in a hospital complete with attending physician.
Sometimes, however, the baby decides to be born before the mother can get to the hospital. In such a case, you may be called upon to assist in the birth. Birth is a natural process with the mother doing the delivering and someone else, perhaps you, assisting in the delivery. Also, as much as children are wanted, there are times when some adults lose control and abuse a child. You need to know something about child abuse in case you find yourself examining a child you suspect has been abused.
This subcourse deals with childbirth outside a medical treatment facility, pediatric emergencies, and child abuse. A lesson on the female and male reproductive systems is included to allow you to review these systems. Your attention to learning the material given in this subcourse will prepare you to deal with situations involving childbirth and children.
Subcourse Components:
The subcourse instructional material consists of four lessons as follows:
Lesson 1, The Reproductive Systems.
Lesson 2, Normal and Emergency Childbirth.
Lesson 3, Pediatric Emergencies.
Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you in completing this subcourse:
–Read and study each lesson carefully.
–Complete the subcourse lesson by lesson. After completing each lesson, work the exercises at the end of the lesson, marking your answers in this booklet.
–After completing each set of lesson exercises, compare your answers with those on the solution sheet that follows the exercises. If you have answered an exercise incorrectly, check the reference cited after the answer on the solution sheet to determine why your response was not the correct one.