This text offers complete preparation for meeting the needs of families across the continuum - from conception through adolescence. Using a consistent nursing process framework, Maternal-Newborn and Child Nursing provides the essential information for providing accurate, safe nursing care. Special focus is given to cultural influences, community settings, communication, nutrition, pain management, and fostering critical thinking skills essential for adapting to an ever-changing health care environment.

Today, more than ever before, nurses play a significant role in the care of families during pregnancy and the experience of birth, and then with the child's care through all stages of growth. Nurses working with childbearing and childrearing families are challenged by a variety of forces that effect the provision of nursing care. Our goal is a text that is accurate and readable, and one that helps students develop the skills and abilities they need now and in the future in an ever-changing health care environment. The underlying philosophy ofMaternal-Newborn and Child Nursing: Family-Centered Careis that the family members are coparticipants in care, whether this is related to pregnancy and childbirth or to care of the infant or child at any age of development. Families experience the excitement and exhilaration of adding a healthy infant to the family, but they also experience sorrow and concern when a health problem occurs. Nurses play a vital role in helping families celebrate the normal life processes associated with birth and then foster the child's growth and development from infancy through adolescence. Infants and children are dependent upon their families for the care they need. Nursing care for pregnant women and children is a family-centered process. We are committed to providing a text that integrates the needs of families across the continuum from conception through adolescence. NURSING CARE IN THE COMMUNITY Most maternity and pediatric nursing care occurs in the community setting, especially since most pregnant women end children are healthy and have only episodic acute health conditions. Although pregnancy, birth, and the postpartal period cover a timeframe of many months, in reality most women spend only two to three days in an acute care facility. Thus, by its very nature, maternal-newborn nursing is primarily community-based nursing. Moreover, because of the changes resulting from managed care, even women with high-risk pregnancies are receiving more care in their homes and in the community and are spending less time in hospital settings. Dramatic health care system changes have resulted in community and home care for children with serious chronic health conditions, including children needing care with advanced technology. Short-stay surgical units and short-term observation units have replaced hospitalization for many acute conditions. The nurse's role in preparing a family for their child's discharge from an acute care facility is often the transitional step to nursing care in the home and community. Information on long-term management of complex health conditions is included as these problems are especially challenging to manage in community settings. Selected ambulatory pediatric conditions are also included because students will see them in everyday life and in the hospital where these conditions are secondary to the presenting problem. Because many graduating nurses practice in acute care facilities, this text emphasizes the information necessary to prepare students to work in that setting. Students who understand how to care for families effectively in an acute care setting can readily transfer these skills to other nursing situations and environments. However, there is a strong emphasis on helping pregnant women, parents and families care for themselves and their children in community settings. As educators and nurses, we have organized this text to flow logically and to integrate maternity and pediatric nursing concepts carefully. For example, Chapter 1 begins with introductory concepts important for maternal, newborn, and child nursing. Later chapters focus on reproductive issues and women's health, pregnancy, birth processes, postpartum care, newborn management, and then transition into the pediatric care chapters. The pediatric chapters first address general pediatric health care concepts, and then the nursing care of children with various disorders,