Maternity nurse navigation: A roadmap through pregnancy

I will never forget looking at the positive pregnancy test and feeling that an entire world of possibilities, and questions, had been opened. When I first became a mother, it was new, exciting, a little frightening and raised many questions.

I had been through nursing school, but wasn’t working in the maternity area at the time. I bought a book about what to expect as most moms do and as my pregnancy progressed, I looked through my old nursing books to refresh my knowledge. My level of confidence versus my level of concern would have been more balanced if I’d had a person I could turn to with questions. Someone to help organize my thoughts for more effective doctor visits. In the journey to motherhood, balance is key and that’s what patients will find with maternity nurse navigation.

Maternity nurse navigation is a new and growing field created to help patients and families navigate their way through pregnancy. To understand the process, tests, procedures, and to facilitate a successful interaction with their physician along the way. The ever-increasing volume of medical knowledge can be daunting, and the navigator can assist in sorting through all that is available to patients and their families. In the event of a high-risk pregnancy, there is a high-risk nurse navigator available to assist women before, during and after hospitalization.

Navigating your way through what is necessary during pregnancy and after can be challenging. Knowing that you have a support person who has been there can ease anxiety and make the journey smoother.

Navigators can help with finding available community resources, help with development of birth plans, help organize thoughts and questions for doctor visits, discuss parent education classes and more. The service is free and available 7 days a week.

The goal of the navigator is to make the complicated more understandable, the overwhelming more manageable and your overall experience more centered on you.