Introduction to Nursing Care of Childbearing Persons and Families

In this course, students will be introduced to key concepts and practices foundational to nursing care of childbearing persons and their families. Course learning will span the perinatal care continuum from pre-conception through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum transition. The course is grounded in principles of person-centred, family-centered and trauma-informed care, which are integrated across both classroom learning and acute care clinical experiences.

Students will explore topics relevant to the perinatal population including sociocultural and institutional contexts of perinatal care in Canada, healthy physiologic and psychologic changes in pregnant, labouring, postpartum clients, and the newborn transition to extrauterine life. Additional topics include nursing management of common adult and newborn complications newborn feeding and care and supporting the transition from hospital to home.

Throughout the course, students will apply and strengthen clinical reasoning and decision-making skills using the nursing process and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing-Clinical Judgment Model (NCSBN-CJM). The NCSBN-CJM is integrated into learning activities, formative and summative case studies as well as learning in clinical practice environments to support development of clinical judgement as expected by the licensing exam and CNO Entry-to-Practice Competencies.

In both classroom and clinical settings, students will build critical thinking and problem-solving skills through practice-based learning activities, including virtual and in-person simulation, case studies, and clinical experiences. During clinical placement in acute care settings, students will have the opportunity to care for childbearing persons and families across the perinatal continuum. Students are expected to integrate current course content knowledge with foundational nursing and therapeutic skills acquired in the fall term/Term 1.