Expecting in the Royal City?
Pregnant women in the New Westminster who plan to have their babies at Royal Columbian Hospital are needed for a nursing student study.
Between September and April, nursing students at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) will be inviting moms-to-be to help them learn about pregnancy and childbirth from the patient's perspective.
Over the past 15 years, the nursing program at UFV has worked with pregnant women to allow nursing students to shadow them throughout their pregnancies.
Students follow these women through doctor visits, prenatal classes, labour and delivery, as well as the postnatal period.
"It's been a wonderful opportunity for our students," noted UFV nursing professor Marlene Upton in a recent release on the UFV website. "It gives them a chance to experience the pregnancy and birth process up close from the perspective of the mother and her family."
Nursing students take this program while they study the theory of maternity, which allows them to have real experience observing and supporting pregnancies before they start clinical training in maternity wards.
Women who are due between September 2012 and April 2013 at Royal Columbian Hospital are eligible to participate in this program.
The first step in the process will be for student nurses to meet with participants and their partners, if applicable, for a "getto-know-you chat."
For more information, or to volunteer, call the UFV Health Sciences Centre, tollfree, at 1-888-504-7441.
