Maternity and Pediatric Nursing, 5th edition, is designed to align with today's education curricula, addressing the need for nursing educators to focus on key concepts amidst reduced class time. This textbook provides a solid foundation for delivering sound nursing care to women and children, focusing on essential content that enables students to anticipate, identify, and address common problems with timely, evidence-based interventions.

Combining maternity and pediatric nursing into a single, cohesive volume, this book equips students with the knowledge and skills needed for comprehensive nursing care throughout the continuum of women's and children's health. By integrating these areas, students build a robust knowledge base and develop critical thinking skills essential for improving patient outcomes.

Structured into eleven units, the book begins with general concepts related to maternity and pediatric nursing care, covering topics from women’s health, pregnancy, and birth to child health promotion and the management of health alterations in children. Enhanced with unfolding patient stories, threaded case studies, "Consider This" sections, and detailed nursing care plans, Maternity and Pediatric Nursing fosters critical thinking by providing practical examples and scenarios. 

The fifth edition integrates content from Ricci’s Essentials of Maternity, Newborn, and Women’s Health Nursing and Kyle/Carman’s Essentials of Pediatric Nursing, combining the strengths of both into a single, concise volume. It includes new features such as phonetic spelling of key terms, coordinated design elements, and standardized end-of-chapter elements like “Chapter Worksheets” and "Developing Clinical Judgement." Additionally, it incorporates the latest guidelines on growth and development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, COVID-19 considerations, and the Supreme Court's abortion decision. Enhanced topics cover maternal morbidity and mortality disparities, LGBTI care, human trafficking, obstetric deserts, safe infant sleep practices, new contraceptives, and updated clinical practice guidelines.