Implications for Nursing
To remain at the forefront of prenatal client education and care, nurses must be knowledgeable about new prenatal screening and diagnostic procedures. Clients who are identified via 1st trimester screening as being at risk of carrying an abnormal fetus will be offered additional diagnostic testing and possibly a genetic referral. Nurses can assist clients and their significant others by teaching them about prenatal screening techniques, such as FNT and biochemistry; diagnostic procedures; such as chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis; and by explaining the genetic referral process.
Any nurse involved in performing obstetric ultrasonography would benefit from becoming certified in FNT screening. An advanced background is not required for this certification but will enhance the provider's professional credibility. Nurses and other health care providers also are welcome to attend the didactic course on FNT without intending to become certified in performing FNT. As FNT becomes more commonplace in the United States, it is likely that presentations on FNT will be given at nursing conferences.
So far, no controversy has surrounded whether nurses should be allowed to provide this service in the United States. In the United Kingdom, where a national system of health care is in place, nurse-midwives perform the majority of obstetric ultrasonography including FNT screening.
Although the United States is lagging behind the United Kingdom in FNT screening, health care providers in more than 15 states and Washington, DC, are certified in FNT screening. Health care providers in an additional 14 states have attended the course and are in the process of becoming certified in FNT Screening.