Continuing to Care

摘要

Thank you for publishing the article "Experiences of Obstetric Nurses Who Are Present for a Perinatal Loss" by Puia, Lewis, and Beck in the May/June 2013 issue of JOGNN. As a nurse educator (with a clinical background in labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care) for the Women & Infants unit at my hospital, I have been involved in several fetal and infant deaths during my career. As noted by Puia et al., nurses are frequently with patients throughout the labor and delivery process and often provide postmortem care to the newborn while continuing to support the parents. These experiences, especially in the case of traumatic deaths, often stay with the nurse for the rest of his or her career.