Newborn infant assessment

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Postpartum.

Hello,

I have started training in postpartum after 3yr of Med/Surg and am very excited. I did my first baby assessment and could not believe how off my assessment skills for infants is. I have only done assessments on adults since my ob rotation during clinicals as well as peds rotation. BOY did my balloon get deflated.... I pulled out my old health assessment book from school but it was not very helpful. Went to Barnes and Nobles looking for a good reference book and came up with zero. Does anyone have any good book they can recommend for newborn assessment.?

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Specializes in Nurse Manager, Labor and Delivery.

Gosh, the best newborn assessment thing I ever did was a conference sponsored by Professional Education Center. It was really indepth and the speaker was phenomenal. That was YEARS ago though. Check the AWHONN bookstore on their website (http://www.awhonn.org). They have the perinatal books there, and now they have the Perinatal education program and one of the modules there is on newborn assessment. If your hospital has neonatal nurse practitioners, I would get with them also. They are a wealth of knowledge and are usually eager to help out and teach skills. (I know ours does).

Just asking...where did you go wrong in your assessments???

Good luck to you

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

How about watching a pediatrician/newborn Nurse Practicioner do this and taking pointers from them? Our NNP is a wonderful teacher and knows her stuff. I am always learning new things from her, and I have been at this almost 10 years. I think there is nothing like working with somebody who is "expert" at this to learn hands-on the best assessment techniques, including those of newborns.

Good luck.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Nursery, Post-Partum.

I book I have been reading which so far I've found helpful is this one:

Physical Assessment of the Newborn: A Comprehensive Approach to the Art of Physical Examination by Ellen Tappero. I haven't finished it yet, but so far so good, I'm about halfway in. It seems to be written from a NP point of view so to speak, and its very thorough. Good luck, I know how weird it feels to go from big patients to little patients!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Postpartum.

Thanks, I will look for this book on Borders.com!

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