Participation in prepared childbirth. Baccalaureate nursing education

Nurses need to meet consumer demands for quality maternal-infant health care. To meet this need, the College of Nursing faculty at the University of Florida included prepared childbirth classes as a clinical experience in a BSN program. Each student works with a client couple in an ambulatory care setting to provide complete and individualized nursing care through the final weeks of pregnancy, the labor and delivery experience, and for a brief period postpartum. How this program facilitates students' development of a holistic approach to maternal-infant nursing and increases the quality of health care for expectant parents is described.