AWHONN - The Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses

A recent white paper produced by the March of Dimes provides astonishing facts on the all too common incidence of premature birth:

• “Approximately 12.9 million babies are born too soon every year, a global prevalence of preterm birth of 9.6 percent.”
  
• “An estimated 28 percent of the 4 million annual neonatal deaths are due to preterm birth.”
  
• “The rate of preterm birth in the United States has increased 36 percent in the past 25 years…”
  
  Help combat prematurity and help extinguish the deaths it can cause. Visit the AWHONN Education and Resources page on prematurity on www.awhonn.org for information on and links to resources that will help you increase your clinical expertise in this area and also prepare you to educate parents. Access many AWHONN resources, including position statements, that specifically address issues of prematurity and can help guide your clinical practice in the care of neonates, including:
  
  
  
  
  • Position statements: National Standards for Newborn Screening & Universal Screening for Hyperbilirubinemia
    
  • Neonatal Orientation Education Program (NOEP), which will ensure both new and experienced neonatal nurses acquire and maintain the expertise they need to provide the safest care.
    
  • AWHONN’s Late Preterm Infant Initiative and;
    
  • The newly updated Improving Neonatal Skin Care presentation package. Dispels myths and corrects misinformation about proper neonatal skin with the latest research-based information from AWHONN member experts. Includes everything needed to present the information as an educational in-service to nurses in normal, NICU and special care nursery settings.
    

"Hold your breath, count to 10 and push hard!" Is this the way you are caring for laboring women?

Join presenter Joyce Roberts, CNM, PhD, FACNM, FAAN to learn the definition of the second stage of labor. This is a must see presentation fo perinatal nurses and healthcare providers that care for pregnant women during pregnancy and postpartum periods as well as nurses and providers that care for newborns.

Learn to:

• Provide alternative positioning and non-directed pushing techniques based on the most current evidence.


• Provide emotional, physical, pyschosocial supportive and instructional care to women during labor.

Register Now

What do you know? Share your expertise gained through research and clinical practice! The AWHONN 2010 Convention Program Committee is seeking Specialty Paper abstracts for the 2010 AWHONN Convention held in Nashville, TN, June 12-16, 2010.

Deadline to apply: May 11, 2009

The theme of the AWHONN 2010 Convention is "Sharing Science, Finding Solutions." The goal is to share science and find solutions to promoting excellence in the nursing care of women and newborns. To submit an abstract, please visit www.awhonn.org for instructions and access to our electronic submittal site. You must apply by May 11, 2009!