Within this Issue of The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing (JPNN) on Emergency and Disaster Readiness, the perinatal section presents 2 commentaries and 4 articles. Given the recent severity and increased numbers of disasters, it is fitting that one of the commentaries by Tyer-Viola is on the essential trait of grit. This trait gives nurses the ability to endure challenges and be successful in their roles during emergency and disaster situations. Prepas and Mielke, in the second commentary, put forth the notion ... "When Disaster Strikes in Rural America-Call the Midwife!" Often overlooked are disasters that take place in rural America that involve the perinatal population. To meet the demands of pregnant women in rural America during a disaster, the authors propose that the role of midwife as first responder be greatly expanded.
Giarratano, Bernard, and Orlando focus on "Psychological First Aid (PFA): A Model for Disaster Psychosocial Support for the Perinatal Population." They highlight the immediate, psychological, and social needs of pregnant women and families during the postdisaster period. Lavin et al discuss disaster training tool kits for both the Zika and Flint Water crises applicable to pregnant women. These innovative educational tools can be used as a model for use in other clinical disaster scenarios.
Maher, in the continuing education article, "Emergency Preparedness in Obstetrics: Meeting Unexpected Key Challenges," focuses on the key challenges facing hospitals and caregivers involved in perinatal services as they cope with emergency and disaster readiness. She highlights challenges and strategies for survival.
In "Hurricane Harvey: One Hospital's Journey Toward Organizational Resilience," Ybarra documents the components necessary for organizational resilience during times of disaster. She focuses on a women's specialty hospital during a major hurricane disaster. In addition, we call your attention to the perinatal columns within this issue. The Legal and Risk Management column is on specialty certification and the Expert Perinatal column covers labor induction considerations with the Randomized Trial of Induction versus Expectant Management (ARRIVE Trial).
With this issue, the Editors of JPNN present a new, joint perinatal and neonatal column. We have 2 new contributing editors, one perinatal and one neonatal, who will be alternating columns covering issues on breastfeeding and nutrition. Please take a moment to peruse this new and exciting JPNN column.
Our current issue is focused on emergencies and readiness for disasters. As nurses, our training prepares us to be ready for emergencies, and given so many changes in the world today, we are faced with a greater variety of unexpected disasters than ever before. In the neonatal section of this issue of the Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing (JPNN), we feature 3 articles, each highlighting a unique aspect of emergency and disaster readiness. The first is from Lisa Zell and colleagues, reporting on a simulated evacuation exercise of a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The second article, "The Pillow Project: A low cost intervention with the potential for widespread application to enable training in the event of an infant choking and basic life support for prospective parents" is from Maebh Barry and colleagues. This article reports on an e-learning program that enables parents to learn the appropriate procedures required in the event of an infant choking. This low-cost intervention has the potential for widespread application within developed and developing countries. Finally, we have an article from Dr Toly and colleagues reporting on the relationship of mothers' psychological well-being (depressive symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms) and resourcefulness with their technology-dependent infants' healthcare utilization (rehospitalization, emergency department visits) over 3 months following discharge from the NICU to home. While the topic of this article is not exactly aligned with emergency preparedness and disaster readiness, it is included here so that our readership can learn more about this very important topic in neonatal nursing.
Lisa Steurer has provided our expert neonatal column for this issue, and in this column, she has provided insights on the choreography involved in an NICU expansion to ensure emergency preparedness. Our new column on nutrition and breastfeeding is written by Leslie Parker. In this column, she reports on donor human milk and some of the challenges that remain to be overcome. Terese Verklan shared parting thoughts on the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Scoring Tool and whether it is time for us to move beyond the use of this tool in clinical practice. We are incredibly fortunate to have such an outstanding group of columnists who provide these columns for our reflection in these issues of the JPNN.
As always, thank you for reading the JPNN. Please reach out to us with any thoughts or suggestions for the journal. We have several great topic areas planned for forthcoming issues of the journal and we welcome your submissions!
-Diane J. Angelini, EdD, CNM, NEA-BC, FACNM, FAAN
Perinatal Editor
-Katherine E. Gregory, PhD, RN, FAAN
Neonatal Editor