From prenatal through postpartum care, Gloria Leifer's Maternity Nursing: An Introductory Text provides an essential foundation for promoting the health and wellness of mothers and newborns. This edition includes the latest advances and practice standards in maternity nursing care, highlighting Healthy People 2020 and the 2011 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals. Part of the popular LPN Threads series, this text addresses the knowledge, skills, and scope of practice appropriate for LPN/LVN and LPN/LVN-to-ADN ladder programs. Chronological organization of content follows a sequence from family issues, fetal development, pregnancy, labor, birth, and care of the newborn, to postpartum issues with special social, familial, and cultural considerations. Organization of concepts in each chapter by simple to complex and from health to illness makes it easier to locate and understand the material. Complete, concise coverage includes a table of physiologic and psychosocial changes throughout the pregnancy, unique content on CPR for the pregnant patient and infectious diseases acquired during pregnancy, a pictorial story of a vaginal birth, cultural considerations of pregnancy and maternal care, and nursing responses to loss, death, and grief. UNIQUE! A FREE Study Guide in the back of the book reinforces understanding with multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, scenario-based clinical situation questions, and online activities. Nursing Care Plans with critical thinking questions help in understanding how a care plan is developed, how to evaluate care of a patient, and how to apply your knowledge to clinical scenarios. Health Promotion boxes and content focus on family-centered care, health promotion, illness prevention, and women's health issues. Clinical Pathways use an interdisciplinary, collaborative-care approach in tracking interventions along a timeline from assessment to discharge and follow up. Online resources for further research and study are included at the end of each chapter. UNIQUE! LPN Threads make learning easier, featuring a 10th-grade reading level, key terms with phonetic pronunciations and text page references, chapter objectives, special features boxes, and full-color art, photographs, and design. Coverage of the latest advances in nursing care includes fetal heart rate monitoring during labor and delivery and revised diabetes classifications. Get Ready for the NCLEX® Examination! section at the end of each chapter includes key points, review questions, and critical thinking questions for individual, small group, or classroom review. Safety Alert! boxes highlight 2011 Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals, with special consideration for serious and potentially fatal medication errors. Easily recognizable icons for standard steps are included in each skill (e.g., hand hygiene). UNIQUE! Icons in page margins point to relevant animations and video clips on the companion Evolve website.