This column is part of an ongoing series on selected Internet and other resources that are useful for clinical practice or teaching. The column for this issue provides several examples of e-mail discussion forums or listservs that might be of interest to perinatal and neonatal nurses. These forums provide opportunities to network with colleagues from different countries, ask questions, and share ideas and information. Some of these forums are very active with multiple messages each day; others are much less active with only occasional flurries of messages.

LACTNET (http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html) is a discussion forum for healthcare professionals interested in breast-feeding that has been active since 1995. You must subscribe to LACTNET to post to the list; however, archives can be read online or searched for a specific topic without subscribing.

PNATALRN (http://nursing.buffalo.edu/mccartny/perintal.htm) is a discussion forum for perinatal nurses and other professionals interested in perinatal care. Membership is currently more than 800 individuals from 8 countries.1 The focus of the list, which was also created in 1995, is on perinatal nursing practice, education and research, and an opportunity for networking with nurses from multiple countries. Similarly to LACTNET, you must subscribe to PNATALRN to post to the list; however, archives can be read online or searched for a specific topic without subscribing.

NICU-NET (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nicu-net/) is a closed forum for discussion of neonatal intensive care issues; that is, you must be subscribed to access the discussions and other resources. List members include neonatologists, neonatal nurses, and other healthcare professionals involved in neonatal and perinatal care. A rotating group of neonatal care professionals moderates the group. "Topics for discussion include practical or procedural issues of patient care, recently published clinical trials or recommendations, effects of health care reform on neonatology, continuous quality improvement, the role of computers in neonatal practice, informal surveys of clinical practice, pathophysiology, upcoming conferences of general interest...."2 Current membership is more than 4000 individuals from multiple countries.

The National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) offers special interest listservs and resources (http://www.nann.org/membership/sigs/index.html) including discussion forums focusing on advanced practice (ASIGnet), education (ESIGnet), management (MSInet), and research (RSIGnet) as well as discussion lists for staff nurses (ANSIGnet) and NNP educators (NNP_Faculty). The National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners (NANNP), a division of NANN, also provides access to the NANN listservs as well as to NANNPnet (http://www.nann.org/nannp/listserv.html), a listserv for NANNP members.

-Susan Blackburn, PhD, RN, FAAN

Professor, Department of Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle

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