Preterm Labor and Birth: A Clinical Review.

When caring for women experiencing preterm labor and birth, nurses play a significant role as bedside experts, advocates, patient educators, and key members of the maternity care team. Enhanced expertise on clinical and professional knowledge of preterm labor and birth is crucial in prevention and treatment. As preterm birth rates continue to rise, perinatal nurses as well-informed clinical experts have the opportunity to offer innovative education, holistic assessments, and communication through shared decision-making models. Educating pregnant women about early recognition of preterm labor warning signs and symptoms allows for timely diagnosis, interventions, and treatment. Informed and collaborative nursing practice improves quality of clinical care based on individualized interactions. A clinical review of preterm labor and preterm birth is presented for perinatal nurses.

Periviability: A Review of Key Concepts and Management for Perinatal Nursing.

One of the most complex clinical problems in obstetrics and neonatology is caring for pregnant women at the threshold of viability. Births near viability boundaries are grave events that carry a high prevalence of neonatal death or an increased potential for severe lifelong complications and disabilities among those who survive. Compared with several decades ago, premature infants receiving neonatal care by today's standards have better outcomes than those born in other eras. However, preterm labor at periviability represents a more complex counseling and management challenge. Although preterm birth incidence between 20/7 and 25/7 weeks has remained unchanged, survival rates at earlier gestational ages have increased as perinatal and neonatal specialties have become more adept at caring for this at-risk population. Women face difficult choices about obstetric and neonatal interventions in light of uncertainties around survival and outcomes. This article reviews current neonatal statistics in reference to short- and long-term outcomes, key concepts in obstetric clinical management of an anticipated periviable birth, and counseling guidance to ensure shared-decision making.

Pulmonary Edema in Obstetrics: Essential Facts for Critical Care Nurses.

Pulmonary edema is an acute pregnancy complication that, if uncorrected, can result in increased maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Although pulmonary edema is relatively rare in the general obstetrics population, pregnant patients are at increased risk for pulmonary edema because of the physiologic changes of pregnancy. The risk may be exacerbated by certain pregnancy-related diseases, such as preeclampsia. Prompt identification and appropriate clinical management of pulmonary complications is critical to prevent adverse outcomes in pregnant patients. This article reviews the collaborative treatment of pulmonary edema in pregnant women with complex critical illnesses.

A Standardized Approach to Electronic Fetal Monitoring in Critical Care Obstetrics.

From the periphery, pregnancy is a common event in women of childbearing age. Normal anatomic and physiologic adaptations occur and, in most cases, will result in ideal maternal-fetal outcomes. Yet, every day, obstetric clinicians are facing complex pregnancies with complicated life-threatening conditions or coexisting medical and surgical problems that not only alter maternal physiology but also impact fetal survival. A challenge in this population is individualizing maternal-fetal care in critical care women while integrating medical-surgical specialties in creating an interdisciplinary team with similar management goals. Questions frequently arise concerning admission criteria, location of care, as well as type and mix of personnel. Furthermore, how to simultaneously manage a critically ill parturient while monitoring a viable fetus is often obscured. This article focuses on crucial fetal monitoring concepts using a standardized approach to interpretation and management in pregnancies managed in an intensive care environment. Application of fetal monitoring during surgical procedures, during perimortem cesarean birth, and in women who have irreversible loss of brain function is included.