Obstetrics is the branch of medicine concerned with the management of childbirth.
The ultimate goal of all workers in the field of obstetrics is to assist a mother to produce a healthy baby, with a minimum of danger and discomfort to both.
Pregnancy is defined as the condition of being “with child.” To understand pregnancy, we must know how it begins, how the fetus grows in the uterus, and how it affects the mother.
Today, more than ever before nurses play a central role in the planning for and the experience of birth, and in how families feel about the experience afterwards. You, as a practical nurse, should be knowledgeable of all aspects of maternal nursing. And, by applying this knowledge you will develop skills and experience in providing quality nursing care.
Subcourse Components: The subcourse instructional material consists of the following:
Lesson 1: Reproductive Anatomy and Physiology.
Lesson 2: Embryology and Fetal Development.
Lesson 3: Diagnosis of Pregnancy.
Lesson 4: Psychologic Needs During Pregnancy.
Lesson 5: Physiologic Changes During Pregnancy.
Lesson 6: Prenatal Care During Pregnancy.
Lesson 7: Personal Hygiene and Care During Pregnancy.
Lesson 8: Minor Discomforts of Pregnancy.
Lesson 9: Patient Education During Pregnancy.
Lesson 10: Fetal Positions and Adaptations.
Universal Body Substance Precautions
At the end of each Lesson is a Self-Test. These tests are for your own use and will not be recorded. Take as long as you like and feel free to look up any answers.
Visual images play an important role in your understanding of this material. In the Image Gallery, we’ve gathered all of the images from this course.
Videos can provide insights in ways not possible with words and pictures alone. In the Video section, we’ve collected a number of videos that will enhance your understanding of this material
The Print Version is a downloadable pdf file that you may print, if you wish. It is the original U.S. Army Correspondence Course upon which this Brookside Associates Distance Learning Course was based.
Study Suggestions:
Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you in completing this course:
Read and study each lesson carefully.
Complete the subcourse lesson by lesson. After completing each lesson, take the Self-Test at the end of the lesson.
After completing each Self-Test, compare your answers with those at the bottom of the Self-Test page. 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.