A Framework for Maternal and

Child Health Nursing

Cherry Joyce G. Basco, RN, LPT

Maternal and Child Health Nursing
➢ Involves the care of woman and family throughout pregnancy and child birth
and the health promotion and illness care of women, children and families.
➢ Obstetrics Nursing
➢ Care of women during childbirth
➢ derived from the Greek word obstare meaning “to keep watch”
➢ Pediatrics
➢ refers
to the child
➢ came from the Greek word pais meaning “child” and iatros meaning “doctor
and healer”.
➢ Primary Goal OF MCN:
➢ Promotion and maintenance of optimal family health to ensure cycles of
optimal childbearing and childrearing.

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 Maternal and Child Health Nursing
The care of childbearing and childrearing families is a major focus of nursing practice,
because to have healthy adults you must have healthy children. To have healthy
children, it is important to promote the health of the childbearing woman and her
family from the time before children are born until they reach adulthood. Both
preconceptual and prenatal care are essential contributions to the health of a woman
and fetus and to a family’s emotional preparation for childbearing and childrearing.
As children grow, families need continued health supervision and support. As
children reach maturity and plan for their families, a new cycle begins and new
support becomes necessary. The nurse’s role in all these phases focuses on
promoting healthy growth and development of the child and family in health and in
illness. Although the field of nursing typically divides its concerns for families during
childbearing and childrearing into two separate entities, maternity care and child
health care, the full scope of nursing practice in this area is not two separate entities,
but one; maternal and child health nursing.

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 Goals and Philosophies of Maternal and Child Nursing
Philosophy of Maternal and Child Health
▪ 1. MCN is family centered
▪ 2. MCN is community centered
▪ 3. MCN is evidence based

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Goals and Philosophies of Maternal and Child Nursing
The area of childbearing and childrearing families is a major focus of nursing
practice in promoting health for the next generation. Comprehensive
preconception and prenatal care is essential in ensuring a healthy outcome
for mother and child. Although childbearing and childrearing are often
viewed as two separate entities, they are interrelated, and a deeper
understanding is achieved when they are viewed as a continuum.

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Goals and Philosophies of Maternal and Child Nursing
The primary goal of both maternal and child health nursing is the promotion and
maintenance of optimal family health. Major philosophical assumptions about
combined maternal and child health nursing are listed in Box 1.1. Maternal and child
health nursing extends from preconception to menopause with an expansive array of
health issues and healthcare providers. Examples of the scope of practice include:
• Preconception health care
• Care of women during three trimesters of pregnancy and the puerperium (the
6 weeks after childbirth, sometimes termed the fourth trimester of pregnancy)
• Care of infants during the perinatal period (the time span beginning at 20
weeks of pregnancy to 4 weeks [28 days] after birth)
• Care of children from birth through late adolescent
• Care in a variety of hospital and home care settings

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 Goals and Philosophies of Maternal and Child Nursing
Regardless of the setting, a family-centered approach is the preferred focus of
nursing care (Papp, 2012). The health of an individual and his or her ability to
function as a member of a family can strongly influence and improve overall family
functioning.
Family-centered care enables nurses to better understand individuals and
their effect on others and, in turn, to provide more holistic care (Hedges, Nichols, &
Filoteo, 2012). It includes encouraging rooming-in with the mother by the mother’s
partner or support person and with the child by their caregiver. Family members are
encouraged to provide physical and emotional care based on the individual
situation and their comfort level. Nurses provide guidance and monitor the
interaction between family members to promote the health and well-being of the
family unit.

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 Healthcare technology has contributed to a number of important advances in
maternal and child health care.
➢ Through immunization, childhood diseases such as measles and poliomyelitis
almost have been eradicated.
➢ New fertility drugs and fertility techniques allow more couples to conceive.
➢ The ability to prevent preterm birth and improve the quality of life for both
preterm and late preterm infants has increased dramatically.
➢ As specific genes responsible for children’s health disorders are identified, stem
cell therapy may make it possible to replace diseased cells with new growth cells
and cure these illnesses.
➢ In addition, a growing trend toward healthcare consumerism, or selfcare, has made
childbearing and childrearing families active participants in their own health
monitoring.
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 • To improve maternal health.
• To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
• To ensure environmental sustainability.
• To develop a global partnership for development.

The establishment of global health goals is a major step

forward in improving the health of all people, as contagious
diseases, poverty, and gender inequality do not respect
national boundaries but follow people across the world and
into all nations (UN, 2000)

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 ✓GOAL 1: No Poverty
✓GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
✓GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
✓GOAL 4: Quality Education
✓GOAL 5: Gender Equality
✓GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
✓GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
✓GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
✓GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

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 ✓
✓
✓

✓
✓
✓
✓
✓

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 ✓

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✓

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✓

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✓

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

• Health promotion
• Health maintenance
• Health restoration
• Health rehabilitation

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

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A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care

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 A Framework for Maternal and Child Health Nursing Care
Three components:
❑ Best external evidence: Evaluate and implement the most current,
clinically relevant, and scientifically sound research.
❑ Individual clinical expertise: Draw on your personal experience of what
has worked and not worked in your clinical practice.
❑ Patient values and expectations: Consider and value the preferences of
your individual patients.
Nursing research (the systematic investigation of problems that
have implications for nursing practice usually carried out by
nurses) plays an important role in evidence-based practice as
bodies of professional knowledge only grow and expand to the
extent people in that profession are able to carry out research
(Christian, 2012).
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Measuring Maternal and Child Health
Measuring what constitutes the area of maternal and child health is not as
simple as defining whether patients are ill or well because individual
patients and healthcare practitioners can maintain different perspectives on
illness and wellness.

Birth rate: The number of births per 1,000 population.

Fertility rate: The number of pregnancies per 1,000 women of
childbearing age.
Fetal death rate: The number of fetal deaths (over 500 g) per 1,000 live
births.
Neonatal death rate: The number of deaths per 1,000 live births occurring
at birth or in the first 28 days of life.

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Measuring Maternal and Child Health
Perinatal death rate: The number of deaths during the
perinatal time period (beginning when a fetus reaches 500 g,
about week 20 of pregnancy, and ending about 4 to 6 weeks
after birth); it is the sum of the fetal and neonatal rates.
Maternal mortality rate: The number of maternal deaths per
100,000 live births that occur as a direct result of the
reproductive process.
Infant mortality rate: The number of deaths per 1,000 live
births occurring at birth or in the first 12 months of life.
Childhood mortality rate: The number of deaths per 1,000
population in children aged 1 to 14 years.

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SUMMARY
Maternal and Child Health ▪
Nursing
▪
▪ - Involves the care of
woman and family ▪
throughout pregnancy
and child birth
▪ and the health promotion
and illness care of ▪
women, children and
families. ▪
Primary Goal OF MCN: ▪
▪ Promotion and
▪
maintenance of optimal
family health to ensure
cycles of optimal
▪
childbearing and
childrearing. ▪

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SUMMARY
▪

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