New Obstetric and Newborn Recommendations from the American Academy of Nursing

The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), a member of the American Academy of Nursing’s Choosing Wisely® Task Force, recently published treatment approaches that may not always be necessary or in the best interests of women and newborns.

These include:

• Don’t promote induction or augmentation of labor and don’t induce or augment labor without a medical indication; spontaneous labor is safest for woman and infant, with benefits that improve safety and promote short- and long-term maternal and infant health.
• Don’t prescribe opioid pain medication in pregnancy without discussing and fully weighing the risks to the woman and her fetus.
• Don’t separate mothers and their newborns at birth unless medically necessary. Instead, help the mother to place her newborn in skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and encourage her to keep her newborn in her room during hospitalization after the birth.

This new release, which includes two additional items, brings the Academy’s Choosing Wisely list up to 15 recommendations.