Using electronic communication safely in health care settings.

Nurses are increasingly using mobile and other devices, such as cell phones, smartphones, tablets, bar-coding scanners, monitoring equipment and bedside computers, to communicate with members of the health care team and with patients. Communication accomplished with such devices includes direct verbal communication, text-messaging, emailing, obtaining patient care information and accessing medical records for order entry and for documenting nursing care. Problems that could occur with such communication methods include distraction, errors, de-personalized care, violation of confidentiality and transmission of nosocomial pathogens. Policies are needed to prevent inappropriate use of technological devices in patient care and to promote patient safety and quality care with their use.

Grant writing for childbirth educators: lessons learned from the resource center for young parents-to-be.

Obtaining funding to support community-based childbirth education programs can be a challenge for childbirth educators who may have little grant-writing experience. This article was written by two nurse educators/nurse-midwives who have been involved for over 10 years with a grant-funded parenting and childbirth education program for pregnant teens. It reviews the background of the Resource Center for Young Parents-To-Be, suggests grant-funding sources, and explains the building of partnerships in the community. The basic steps involved in the grant-writing process are presented as well as the importance of follow-up evaluations and reports. Grant-writing skills and the ability to forge partnerships with other community organizations can be important tools for childbirth educators and health-care professionals.

Designing and implementing a parenting resource center for pregnant teens.

The Resource Center for Young Parents-To-Be is a longstanding and successful grant-funded project that was initiated as a response to an identified community need. Senior-level baccalaureate nursing students and their maternity-nursing instructors are responsible for staffing the resource center's weekly sessions, which take place at a public school site for pregnant adolescents. Childbirth educators interested in working with this population could assist in replicating this exemplary clinical project in order to provide prenatal education to this vulnerable and hard-to-reach group.