This article explores pregnancy, breastfeeding, and postpartum care, emphasizing preconception health, self-care, and informed breastfeeding decisions. It advocates for accessible resources, prenatal lactation education, and culturally sensitive assistance. Addressing challenges like maternal medications and systemic barriers, it supports diverse representation in lactation support. It discusses the role of comprehensive support networks, including health care providers, lactation consultants, family, and community organizations, in empowering mothers and birthing people and promoting maternal and infant well-being.

Comprehensive care during the fourth trimester is crucial for the well-being of both birthing individuals and their infants. This period, which extends from birth to 12 weeks postpartum, involves significant physical, hormonal, and emotional changes that require attentive and holistic nursing care. Nurses play a vital role not only in physical assessments but also in providing emotional support, pain management, and education on infant care. Using the BUBBLE-LE framework helps ensure thorough monitoring of physical recovery and emotional health. Addressing conditions such as postpartum depression, breastfeeding issues, and sexual health concerns is essential for preventing complications and improving the postpartum experience.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (POCS) represents the most common endocrinopathy among reproductive aged women. The prevalence is between 4% and 20% and the etiology is complex. Clinical characteristics encompass reproductive, metabolic, and psychologic features making the diagnosis and management challenging. PCOS often starts during adolescence. Early identification, education, and risk mitigating treatment can reduce impacts to patient's physical and mental health across their lifespan and improve quality-of-life.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has gained popularity as a naturalistic approach to managing menopausal symptoms. This evidence-based article reviews recent studies on the use of CAM for menopause and aims to provide insights into the effectiveness, safety, and potential benefits of various CAM modalities. The article focuses on the biological domain, which includes supplements, botanicals, nutrition, homeopathy, and aromatherapy. Black cohosh and red clover are 2 of the most common botanicals used for managing menopausal symptoms. However, their efficacy and safety remain controversial and further research is needed to elucidate their precise mechanisms of action.

Obesity is a disease much like any other chronic disease with multiple causes. Therefore, all contributing factors should be addressed to assist in effective weight loss. Women are twice as likely to be affected, starting at puberty. Weight reduction is challenging, in part, because of metabolic adaptations and hormonal changes that favor weight regain and these changes persist for months, if not years. Creating an energy deficit is the core of effective treatment of obesity. Physical activity is especially important to maintain weight reduction. Medications have an important role in reducing food consumption, unless contraindicated.

This scoping review delves into psychometric measures assessing the strong Black woman and superwoman constructs among African American women. It evaluates various scales, emphasizing their clinical relevance and implications for women's health. By recognizing and addressing unique stressors faced by Black women, health care interventions can be tailored to promote holistic well-being and mitigate adverse health outcomes. The review underscores the necessity for culturally relevant stress measures in clinical practice to ensure equitable health care access and outcomes for this population.

Delving into the complexities of pain management in women with polysubstance use, the focus of this article is on the intersection of chronic pain and mental health. One in 5 adults in the United States experience chronic pain, with women being particularly susceptible. To address these challenges, a careful and patient-centered is crucial. To guide our approach, we utilize the nursing process to address gender-specific factors, which influence substance use disorder, such as trauma, societal stigmas, and pain management. The significance of an interdisciplinary, multimodal approach is essential to achieve effective patient outcomes for women that misuse substances.

Nurses working in a variety of settings may encounter transgender-diverse patients. It is important for nurses and all health care providers to understand and know how to care for and provide inclusive care. This article will discuss ways to provide inclusive care as well as the health maintenance for transgender-diverse patients, and gender-affirming treatment options.

In this article, we present a case study that illustrates the nurse's obligation in applying clinical judgment in determining the applicability and appropriateness of carrying out a standing order, and how nurses can navigate institutional policies that reinforce a gender binary and heteronormative ideals of womanhood while depriving the client of their autonomy. The case study also reveals some of the challenges transgender, nonbinary, and other gender expansive people may experience when health care institutions have standing orders that are not inclusive of all gender identities.

To achieve equity in obstetric care, nurses need to understand maternal and infant mortality rates, recognize biases, and work to reduce them. Understanding the differences between equity, equality, justice, and inclusion is vital for delivering quality, individualized care that meets each patient's unique needs. This article aims to offer a resource on equitable care principles and bias mitigation strategies in obstetric care.

Doulas, non-clinical companions trained to provide emotional, informational, and physical support throughout the pregnancy continuum, have emerged as cost-effective interventions to enhance maternal health. This article aims to review existing definitions, roles, outcomes, and theoretic frameworks surrounding doula support, culminating in the development of the Building Respectful Integrated Doula Support as a Gateway for Enhanced Maternal Health Outcomes and Experiences (BRIDGE) conceptual framework. The BRIDGE conceptual framework provides a comprehensive understanding of doula support and its potential to improve maternal health outcomes, underscoring the importance of integrating doula support into standard maternal health care practices.

Ineffective communication is implicated in 80% of medical errors, costing the United States approximately $12 billion annually. Teaching communication skills is a component of nursing curricula linked to improved patient outcomes. Simulation-based experience (SBE) is a strategy for healthcare professionals to learn communication skills. Providing nurses with the ability to practice nurse-nurse, nurse-physician, nurse-patient, and team communication skills in a psychologically safe learning environment provides an opportunity for skill development and meaningful self-reflection. The multiple modalities for SBE support needed communication techniques for skill development and acquisition to improve patient outcomes.

Healthcare systems have been challenged to reduce errors, improve patient outcomes, and enhance the quality of care provided. Simulation can support patient safety and risk management by improving medical and nursing education, knowledge, skills, and behavior. This engaging experiential teaching method helps healthcare professionals identify and correct potential sources of error in their practice and has also improved safety and clinical outcomes.

Simulation-enhanced interprofessional education (SIM-IPE) offers an avenue to teach and facilitate communication, collaboration, and teamwork while gaining an appreciation for the unique roles different healthcare professionals from a variety of settings bring to such learning experiences. This article provides an initial overview of the current trajectory of interprofessional simulation-based education in healthcare practice. An introduction to the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Core Competencies and the Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best Practice will have a TM after Practice in superscript. Practical applications of integrating Sim-IPE into the varied workplaces where nurses are leaders within interdisciplinary teams are provided.

Across the healthcare continuum simulation is routinely integrated into the curriculum for nurses and other professionals. The amount of simulation experienced at different points in the clinical setting highly depends on the specialty and organizational investment. The use of simulation in nursing can be divided into five specific use cases. Required and specialty certification courses include the following: Nurse Onboarding, Nurse Continuing Education, Regulatory & Joint Commission, and Interprofessional Education. Although common elements exist for each of the abovementioned use cases, there are distinct advantages, disadvantages, and implementation challenges with each that need to be considered.

Nursing education at the undergraduate and graduate levels is undergoing a transformational curricular change that includes moving toward a competency-based curriculum. This opportunity holds promise to close the education-practice gap that has plagued nursing education for decades. A key teaching modality to achieve this outcome is simulation-based education. This article will explore the interaction between simulation and competency-based education.

The effectiveness of simulation to reduce the theory-practice gap in graduate nursing education is supported by an extensive body of research, and numerous studies have demonstrated improved learner outcomes in such areas as clinical competence, confidence, and preparedness for practice. This paper explores the types of simulation-based education available for graduate nursing programs and provides examples of graduate nursing simulations that educators can use in their own programs to prepare clinicians for practice.