W&I midwife guest editor of national nursing journal

PROVIDENCE – Elizabeth Howard, a nurse midwife at Women & Infants Hospital, served as a guest editor of the 25th anniversary issue of The Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, focusing on the issues of loss and bereavement.
“It was an honor to be part of this issue,” Howard said. “Perinatal and neonatal loss and bereavement is a topic of increasing interest among nurses who provide care for women and families facing life-threatening or life-limiting conditions,” she said.
Articles in the issue reviewed comprehensive physical, spiritual, religious and existential needs of parents and families. “The examination of loss in this context provides utility for guiding the practice of perinatal nursing and establishing evidence-based guidelines,” she said.
Howard works as a nurse-midwife with the academic nurse midwifery program within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants. The program recently celebrated its own 25th anniversary at the hospital, which helps to teach Brown University medical students and obstetric residents basic birthing skills and low-risk intra-partum care.
Howard is also a clinical assistant professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and she serves as American College of Nurse-Midwives delegate for the National Quality Forum.
Howard earned an undergraduate degree in sociology from William Smith College, a master’s degree in nurse-midwifery from Yale University School of Nursing, and a doctoral degree in nursing science with a minor in ethics from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing.