Nurses working in the field of obstetrics must have a greater depth and breadth of genetic knowledge over any other subspecialty. In gestation, nurses should include education on the effects of teratogens, prenatal screening options, and prenatal diagnoses. After delivery, early recognition of genetic disorders is important for immediate initiation of potentially life-saving therapies. Preconception education is a critical component of health care for women of reproductive age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that all women of childbearing age consume 0.4 mg of folic acid daily to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs). Counseling can still be useful in terms of optimum pregnancy management in a setting best able to cope with any anticipated problems. Complex and multifaceted maternal and fetal factors influence the consequences of drugs, radiation, and chemical and infectious agents to the developing fetus.

The health professions have taken very seriously the importance of ethical considerations in research and practice. Most of the ethical issues regarding measurement of human subjects have been addressed in connection with biomedical and social research. Three basic, comprehensive ethical principles provide the foundation for the guidelines, recommendations, and standards that provide for the rights and well-being of human subjects in measurement and research: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. In accordance with these ethical principles, researchers are obliged to recognize and protect the basic rights of subjects in measurement activities. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy regulations took effect on April 14, 2003. These provisions, which require health care organizations and providers to protect the privacy of patient information, underscore the importance of privacy in the measurement context, and limit communication and use of individual patient health information in both practice and research.

This chapter examines pre- and postconference expectations and activities, explores forms to be used by the professor and the students, suggests care plans and patient assignments, and describes sample concept maps and a math skills assessment. A student with no experience in health care may be shy or sheepish when it comes to hands-on care. It may be of benefit for the students to be paired in the first few weeks of clinical classes. The care plan forms can help guide the student through the nursing process. Medication forms will help the student learn about various medications. Nursing education has adopted the use of concepts maps to assist students in gathering patient information. Patient safety is the number one priority for all health care professionals. Dose calculations are a daily activity for nurses.

In this chapter, the author began working in international medical humanitarian aid, with an organization called Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors without Borders (MSF). Pediatrics and Pediatric Intensive Care are where the author’s nursing career had started. With assignments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, and South Sudan, the author have provided care for people who have been displaced due to conflict, victims of war trauma, women with high-risk pregnancies, malnourished and critically ill children, and people with HIV and tuberculosis, and responded to outbreaks of preventable illnesses such as measles and cholera. MSF opened the Sibut project, with a focus on providing care for young children and women of child-bearing age. The security system includes daily contact with all of the village leaders in Sibut, including the Catholic priests, the imams at the Muslim mosque, the village elders, and the militia leaders.

Multiple physical changes can impair the mental health of the aging individual. These changes include: acid-based imbalances, dehydration, electrolyte changes, hypothermia or hyperthermia, and hypothyroidism. This chapter reviews the most common mental health disorders affecting the elderly population and trends affecting care delivery. Moreover, chronic, unresolved pain has been associated with an increased risk of a mental health disorder such as depression, suicide, or anxiety. The aging individual may exhibit signs and symptoms of insomnia such as sleeping for short periods during the night, sleeping during times of normal social activities, arising early in the morning while others sleep, and experiencing daytime sleepiness. The chapter concludes by applying the nursing process from an interpersonal perspective to the care of an elderly patient with a mental health disorder.

The obesity epidemic is even more pronounced in rural America, and is a growing concern as rural adults and children are now more likely to be obese than urban adults and children. People who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for chronic disease and conditions such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and some types of cancers. For women, obesity also is associated with complications of pregnancy, menstrual irregularities, hirsutism, and psychological disorders such as depression. Stress has been linked to obesity in adults and in children, and rural residents are continually subject to the stresses of poverty, limited access to health care, and geographical and social isolation. In rural communities, community organizations and families need to come together to identify common goals related to obesity prevention and identify and mobilize human and community assets to implement strategies they believe will work for their community.

This chapter explores how three successful nursing leaders, using different leadership approaches, demonstrate traditional leadership attributes such as strategic vision; risk-taking and creativity; interpersonal and communication effectiveness; and inspiring and leading change. It discusses the opportunities and implications for nursing leaders and those external to the profession to develop collaborative and transformative partnerships to advance quality health care. Pragmatic leaders demonstrate leadership excellence by effectively translating their nursing care assessment skills into the ability to approach organizational problem solving and decision making in a systematic, logical manner. In contrast to the present-needs focus of pragmatic leaders, charismatic leaders are vision-based leaders who predicate their leadership agenda on attaining future goals. Each of the three nursing leaders profiled understands the importance of being politically astute and effectively leveraging power and influence to make value-added contributions. To varying degrees, the various constituents of the nursing leaders profiled view them as socialized leaders.

Bernhard went to New York, where he had some old friends and found work with a publisher. He married Sara who employed as an editor at Fortune magazine. In December 1950 they established Springer Publishing Company. Sara took care of the administrative and marketing work, while Bernhard managed the editorial and production elements, and mainly, of course, obtained additional new publications. Their first 20 books, produced by the end of 1956, were all in medicine or medicine-related fields. The events that followed belong to the history of the nursing profession, since they show the beginning of self-assured professional nursing. Dr. Modell, obviously impressed by the strong sales of his cardiology text, started an annual series on Drugs in Current Use for nurses. Springer Publishing Company addresses professors in the fields of health and medical care and their applications.

This chapter focuses on the following topics: demography, gender, age at diagnosis/onset of cardiovascular disease (CVD), Medicare usage, work and retirement, social support, social context and neighborhoods, ethnography of families, qualitative research, and social policy. These topics constitute some of the key areas that should be the focus of future research on the sociology of minority aging. The chapter provides a rich description of trends in the ethnic and racial composition of older cohorts to illustrate the dramatic changes that have taken place in the United States in the past century. The rising costs of health care and the increasing older minority population, additional reform will be needed to maintain the sus-tainability of the program. Additional work examining within-race group differences is key to understanding minority aging issues given the large amount of cultural diversity in the United States.

This chapter reviews research and theory linking religion and health. It presents number of reasons why nurses should appreciate the role of religion as they provide health care. Social scientists describe facets of religion with typologies. The growing body of evidence linking religious belief with health care decision making describes the influence of beliefs on varied decisions, from those related to pregnancy and genetic testing to cancer and HIV treatment. Furthermore, a health-related event may have religious implications. Nurses have many reasons for recognizing patient religiosity. These include the fact that religion is prevalent, that some religious practices have health-related implications, and that some health-related events have religious implications for adherents of some religions, and professional mandates. Religion serves many functions, from social cohesion to intrapsychic comfort. When religion lacks personal spirituality, it becomes harmful.