PHASES OF HEALTH CARE

CARAH FE R. BACUS, RN
Maternal and Child Health Nursing
• Obstetrics, or the care of women during childbirth, is derived from
the Greek word obstare, which means “to keep watch.”
• Pediatrics is a word derived from the Greek word pais,meaning
“child.”
Maternal and child health nursing can be visualized within a framework
in which nurses, using nursing process, nursing theory, and evidence-
based practice, care for families during childbearing and childrearing
years through four phases of health care:
• Health promotion
• Health maintenance
• Health restoration
• Health rehabilitation
Common Measures to Ensure Family-
Centered Maternal and Child Health Care
Principles
• The family is the basic unit of society.
• Families come in many different forms and sizes and represent racial,
ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity.
• Children grow both individually and as
part of a family.
Nursing Interventions
• Consider the family as a whole as well as its individual members.
• Assess families for strengths as well as for specific needs or
challenges.
• Respect diversity in families as a unique quality of that family.
• Share or initiate information on health planning with family
members so that care is family oriented.
• Encourage family bonding through rooming-in in both maternal and
child health hospital settings.
• Encourage families to give care to a newborn or ill child.
• Family members affect other members; individual members affect the
total family group.
• Encourage family and sibling visits in the hospital to promote family
contacts.
• Participate in early hospital discharge programs to reunite families as
soon as possible.
• Include developmental stimulation in nursing care.
• Encourage families to reach out to their community so that family
members are not isolated from their community or from each other.
Goals and Philosophies of Maternal and Child
Health Nursing
• The primary goal of maternal and child health nursing care can be
stated simply as the promotion and maintenance of optimal family
health to ensure cycles of optimal childbearing and childrearing.
Philosophy of Maternal and Child Health
Nursing
• Maternal and child health nursing is family centered; assessment must
include both family and individual assessment data.
• Maternal and child health nursing is community centered; the health of
families depends on and influences the health of communities.
• Maternal and child health nursing is evidence based, because this is the
means whereby critical knowledge increases.
• A maternal and child health nurse serves as an advocate to protect the
rights of all family members, including the fetus.
• Maternal and child health nursing includes a high degree of independent
nursing functions, because teaching and counseling are major interventions.
• Promoting health and disease prevention are important nursing roles
because these protect the health of the next generation.
• Maternal and child health nurses serve as important resources for families
during childbearing and childrearing as these can be extremely stressful
times in a life cycle.
• Personal, cultural, and religious attitudes and beliefs influence the
meaning and impact of childbearing and childrearing on families.
• Circumstances such as illness or pregnancy are meaningful only in the
context of a total life.
• Maternal and child health nursing is a challenging role for nurses and a
major factor in keeping families well and optimally functioning.