Nursing Notes newsletter delivers a look at the Perinatal Nursing specialty. I brought together a panel of perinatal nurses to discuss this nursing specialty and some of the exciting changes on the horizon for patient care and nurses in this field. On the panel were current AWHONN board member and Labor and Delivery Nurse Manager Kelly Walker, Anne Robinson, public health nurse for Eagle County, Colorado and previously a labor and delivery nurse and patient care quality manager, and Cyndy Krening, a perinatal nurse specialist at Littleton Adventist Hospital in Littleton, Colorado and our featured Get To Know Nurse this month.

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MP3 Audio Podcast

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Transcript of Discussion:

Jamie:                  I want to start off the discussion with Kelly Walker. Kelly, you were awarded as one of the Emerging Leaders Grantees and participated in this unique mentoring program that AWHONN has supported – the Association of Women’s Health Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses – and I wonder if you would share with us some of the things that you gained from being part of this groundbreaking program.

Kelly:                   Part of the leadership program, which I encourage everyone to apply for, it took my perspective of my little work area in OB and just giving it a more global perspective – how things work altogether hand in hand from prenatal care to antepartum care to labor and delivery to the newborn stage. It’s just all those little aspects to affect the whole big picture. I think working through the Emerging Leader program, you met other mentors throughout AWHONN and other nurses like yourself working in the trenches trying to figure out what can we do to improve our patient outcomes.

Jamie:                  I think that mentoring is such a vital part of the nursing process as nurses share and pass on their knowledge and collaborate and creating new ways to improve patient outcome. It’s really exciting to hear about this program. Cyndy, we talked in our other episode this month about your specific path through the nursing career as our Get-to-Know Nurse but I wonder if you would share some of your thoughts about being a member of this organization for perinatal nurses. AWHONN has so many programs and projects like this Emerging Leaders program that improve patient outcomes, what do you look forward to on the future in this organization?

Cyndy:                  Well, I do think that AWHONN, for many years, has strived to enhance perinatal nursing as a profession from many fronts. There’s quality education coming out of the organization. The Emerging Leaders program like Kelly just mentioned. There’s written resources that are educational material as well as educational offerings and our national convention and just resources within the organization at many levels. Nursing is an amazing profession because there are so many ways to diversify yourself and specialize as a nurse. I think our specialty is no different than others.

Jamie:                  Anne, go ahead.

Anne:                   Yes. Cyndy, I agree. I was an OB nurse and went to neonatal nurse for eight years and moved in to quality patient safety and then I’ve been working in the last four years within public health. More on the prenatal end of things of the maternal child health and what can we do to get those women to access care, to prevent problems and complications later on. It’s amazing to see how that organization helps with educating in those opportunities but then once you’re involved in that organization, how then your experience can change and evolve as your career evolves.