Prenatal Care Education Nursing PICOT Question Discussion

Scholarly Paper: Using the PICOT process, analyze current nursing practice-related issues.Select an issue from your NURS 412 clinical practice and write a PICOT research question.

The scholarly paper should be typed, double spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman using APA format, and limited to 6 pages including title and reference pages. The references cannot be older than 2018.

EVALUATION OF UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARLY PAPER RUBRIC WILL BE USED.

Support your position with references no older than 2018 from at least two peer reviewed journal reference articles.

Also use the attached rubric to ensure proper completion of the assignment. I have also attached samples as a guide to not plagiarize the sample. Let me know the topic you are choosing to write about. and let me know if you have any questions.

Prenatal Care Education Discussion

Prenatal care is medical care females receive during pregnancy with the goal of providing regular check-ups that allows their physician or midwife to detect, treat, and prevent potential health concerns throughout the course of their pregnancy- promoting a healthy lifestyle that can benefit the mother and child. First time mothers with less than a high school education, as well as women with more than 12 years of education showed improvement with newborn care when basic prenatal education was given in the late stages of pregnancy.

Studies showed that women with the least amount of formal education (0 to 4 years) increased their test scores- knowledge of prenatal care- by 11.8% compared with 10.9% increase in women with 4 to 8 years of education, 6.4% in women with 12 to 16 years of education and 11.1% in women with >16 years of education (Weiner, E. A., Billamay, S., Partridge, J. C., & Martinez, A. M. (2011).

Prenatal care is inexpensive and can save patients more money from having to deal with potential complications if it was to not be given. The affordable care act says that all insurances have to cover many services for pregnant women. It is important that even uninsured pregnant women receive the proper information on what she can do to get insured and receive accurate care during her pregnancy.

Many pregnant women can get Medicaid coverage (a low-cost health insurance to people with low income) or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (for children and pregnant women whose families make too much to receive Medicaid (March of Dimes, 2014). Whenever a woman becomes pregnant, they need to receive some type of prenatal care for the mother and fetus. 

When prenatal care is not received from the beginning of pregnancy or not received at all, negative consequences can happen to both fetus and mother. The link in our PICOT question would be: Prenatal deficiency can account for negative outcomes to both mother and child. These negative outcomes can be low birth weight, preterm infants, preeclampsia, and intrauterine growth restriction (Beeckman, Louckx, & Putman, 2011). 

The dependent variable would be the prenatal care because if the mother and fetus is given this type of care, the risk of negative outcomes would significantly be lower. Our focus on how health promotion in terms of prenatal care education affects the quality of life for both mother and baby is because this can prevent many complications before and after the birth of the baby. Education is an imperative factor in supporting a healthy pregnancy (Bahrami, Simbar, & Bahrami, 2013). If pregnant/expecting women are educated on prenatal care this promotes healthy lifestyles, during their pregnancy, and also helps expectant mothers on how to manage stress to avoid hypertension /preeclampsia. Also if mothers are educated on what to expect during their pregnancy and what to be aware of this can lead to recognizing warning signs of fetal distress or complications (March of Dimes, 2014).

For example when a mother experiences fetal movement often, but notices no movement all day this could be a sign of fetal distress or an indication to seek medical help. The independent variable is education because this will affect the expectants mother’s approach to prenatal care. CINAHL, MEDline (EBSCO), Health AND Wellness Resource Center, and Health Source: Nursing were the databases of choice for this project. 

A literature review of several types of articles with various methods and sampling facilitated the development of this evidence based project. CINAHL had the most extensive information regarding the prevalence and effectiveness of prenatal care.

Prenatal care, especially by education, is an important aspect in improving a pregnant woman’s awareness and knowledge about risks, factors, complications and outcome of pregnancy. Prenatal care begins from the time of conception and ends with the onset of labor. It is important for a pregnant woman to be very careful because everything they do affects their baby. Factors like environment, diet, exercise.

Early prenatal education that includes environmental influences has been overlooked in many studies, but is associated with impaired cognitive development and behavioral disabilities. There are many forms of prenatal care and education; some are even available online. In addition, in a comparative study of prenatal education by nurses from New Orleans, USA and Ankara, Turkey, the topics addressed were significantly different, as well as the requirements for giving the education.

The nurses in New Orleans mostly had a master’s degree, while the nurses from Ankara had a two-year education. Despite these differences, all pregnant women that attended the programs were able to benefit and had a successful pregnancy outcome. Moreover, another study by Wallis, et.al (2014), showed that pregnant women with medical conditions prior to the pregnancy like hypertensive disorder and diabetes, were positively impacted by prenatal education. Interestingly, a study by Pilon (2011) was about a program called Early START that is created to remove the barriers pregnant teens face to prenatal care. 

This model addresses the removal of transportation barriers, offers convenient after school scheduling, and provides small incentives to motivate pregnant teens to keep appointments, make healthy lifestyle choices, and adhere to prescribed medication regimens. Similarly, University of Miami is offering a course in preconception health and prenatal development in order to improve college students’ reproductive health awareness. Another study suggests group education is associated with an increase in effectiveness of prenatal care. Therefore, prenatal care and education is essential for all pregnant women. 

The main focus is on health education during prenatal care to provide guidance, teaching, encouragement and support, to address and treat the minor complications of pregnancy, and to provide effective screening during the pregnancy to both the educated and uneducated mother. Education is an essential constituent of prenatal care, especially for the first time pregnant mothers. Antenatal care offers a significant chance for discussion amongst pregnant women and their care provider about healthy behaviors during pregnancy and how to recognize problems that may arise throughout pregnancy. 

These include but are not limited to information on postpartum care, newborn care and breastfeeding, signs of problems, and appropriate action to take. (Holmes, 2012). It has been found in numerous studies that women with some kind of prenatal care education came into labor much more prepared as compared to those that did not have any form of education.

These uneducated women did not know the pros, cons and safety issues associated with different pain management options, C-sections versus vaginal births, episiotomies etc. this left them unprepared to participate in their own care. Prenatal education also helps reduce the preterm birth rate and that is one of the key reasons for focusing on health education. (Holmes, 2012).

Reference 

  • Bahrami, N., Simbar, M., & Bahrami, S. (2013). The Effect of Prenatal Education on Mother’s Quality of Life during First Year Postpartum among Iranian Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial. International Journal Of Fertility & Sterility, 7(3), 169-174. 
  • Beeckman, K., Louckx, F., & Putman, K. (2011). Predisposing, enabling and pregnancyrelated determinants of late initiation of prenatal care. Maternal And Child Health Journal, 15(7), 1067-1075. doi:10.1007/s10995-010-0652-1
  • Holmes W. Effective provision of antenatal care. Lancet. 2012; 358(9285):928. [PubMed]
  • Weiner, E. A., Billamay, S., Partridge, J. C., & Martinez, A. M. (2011). Antenatal education for expectant mothers results in sustained improvement in knowledge of newborn care. Journal Of Perinatology: Official Journal Of The California Perinatal Association, 31(2), 92-97. doi:10.1038/jp.2010.108 
  • March of Dimes Health insurance during pregnancy. (2016). Retrieved April 8, 2016, from http://www.marchofdimes.org/pregnancy/health-insurance-duringpregnancy.aspx 
  • March of Dimes. Prenatal education and outreach. Retrieved April 07, 2016, from http://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/prenatal-education-and-outreach.aspx 
  • Delgado,C. (2013). Pregnancy 101: A Call for Reproductive and Prenatal Health Education in College. Maternal & Child Health Journal, 17(2), 240-247 8p. doi:10.1007/s10995-012-0967-1 
  • Knutzen, D. M., Stoll, K. A., McClellan, M. W., Deering, S. H., & Foglia, L. M. (2013). Improving knowledge about prenatal screening options: can group education make a difference?. Journal Of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine, 26(18), 1799-1803 5p. doi:10.3109/14767058.2013.804504 
  • Pilon, B. (2011). Removing the Barriers to Prenatal Care and Education for Teens -Rock-a-Bye Teens: An Early