ASCC Nursing Program Strives To Ensure Healthy Babies
By James Kneubuhl, ASCC Press Officer, June 15th 2004
Six nursing students at the American Samoa Community College recently earned their certification in the Neonatal Resuscitation Program. The American Academy of Pediatrics developed the Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) with the goal of providing health practitioners with the knowledge and skills crucial to the proper care of newborns. In order to meet current and future needs at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center, the ASCC Department of Nursing has introduced the NRP certification into its curriculum for the island’s future nurses.
The ASCC student nurses underwent their NRP training as part of the two-month summer course "Family/Child Nursing," which covers a wide range of topics related to pregnancy, childbirth and the care of infants. The course combines classroom lectures with on-the-job experience in the Maternity Ward at LBJ. "Nurses should have knowledge of NRP just in case an emergency arises during delivery," said ASCC Nursing instructor Patricia Brooks, herself a certified NRP trainer.
"During childbirth, a baby has to go from breathing through the umbilical cord to breathing on its own," says Brooks. "Usually, a baby has no problem doing this, but occasionally one will. In this case, people trained in NRP can offer support by treating the infant’s airway, breathing and circulation." Prior to learning NRP, all student nurses complete a regular Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training. NRP utilizes the same concepts as CPR, but applies them specifically to infants during their first moments outside the womb.
In their transition from life inside the womb to outside, humans need to make more radical physiologic adjustments than they ever will again. Studies have shown that about 90% of the world’s newborns make that transition smoothly. Of the remaining 10%, a few infants need some kind of assistance, and about 1% will require major resuscitation to survive. While 1% may seem like a small number, to put the need for NRP training into perspective, consider the number babies born in the world each day.
Brooks and Nursing Department Chairperson Lele Ah-Mu Mageo strive to familiarize their students with all of the crucial issues surrounding maternity, especially within the context of our island culture. "Health care workers all over the world face a lot of challenges," says Ah-Mu Mageo. "Here in American Samoa, we need more nurses and other medical staff, for one thing. We also need to make mothers here on island more aware of the proper prenatal care procedures."
Ah-Mu Mageo has observed that many women come to LBJ for prenatal care at a late date, or do not come at all until actually ready to deliver their baby. "A mother needs to seek prenatal care the moment she suspects her pregnancy," she says. "That way, a doctor or nurse midwife can assess the health of both the mother and her fetus at an early stage."
According to the ASCC Nursing instructors, mothers need to especially exercise caution when considering a visit to a fofo (traditional healer) during pregnancy. "Pregnant mothers should always get the advice of their medical doctor at LBJ or their local Health Center before they seek treatment from a fofo," says Ah-Mu Mageo. "A mother may have a serious condition that a fofo cannot detect, but a ‘Western’ doctor can. A mother may lose valuable time if she only goes to see a fofo, time when a doctor at LBJ could have diagnosed and treated that condition. I also strongly advise pregnant mothers against receiving any kind of hard or deep massage from a fofo or anyone else, because this can cause harmful stress to the fetus within her womb."
Other factors that can adversely affect the health and safety of a fetus include substance (drugs or alcohol) abuse, smoking, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, multiple pregnancies, poor diet and kidney disease. Prenatal care allows nurse midwives and doctors to detect and cure these problems, or keep them under control so that no problems occur during pregnancy or delivery.
The Family/Child Nursing class will conclude on July 23. In addition to Brooks, the core group of NRP instructors in American Samoa includes Ah-Mu Mageo, Toaga Seumalo, Christine Peters and Rasela Feliciano.