Dear Colleagues,

In so many ways, NPWH and its members are showing that women’s health is about much more than just obstetrics and gynecology. But then, we have known this for a long time. Here are a few examples.

Sue Kendig, NPWH Director of Policy, describes the process and outcome of revising the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner: Guidelines for Practice and Education in this issue of the journal. As a member of the task force for this 7th edition and for the previous edition of the Guidelines, I can confirm that we definitely did our homework to produce a document that reflects the expanded scope of practice for today’s WHNP. NPWH members have free access to the Guidelines on the NPWH website.

NPWH is a leading organization in the field of evidence-based sexual healthcare, providing the first national Women’s Sexual Health Course for NPs in 2014. The course was so successful that it will be offered again this year. We at Women’s Healthcare, NPWH’s
official journal, are proud to present a new department, Focus on sexual health, in this issue. Brooke M. Faught, MSN, WHNP, Clinical Director of the Women’s Institute for Sexual Health in Nashville, Tennessee, has authored the inaugural article for this department. This issue of the journal also features an article on female sexual dysfunction by Casey B. Giebink, MSN, NP-C, WHNP-BC, and Ivy M. Alexander, PhD, APRN, ANP-BC, FAAN. And in our Assessment & management department, Wendy Grube, PhD, CRNP, a member of the task force that developed Preventive Male Sexual and Reproductive Health Care: Recommendations for Clinical Practice, summarizes the key points in this groundbreaking publication.

NWPH is developing a strong presence with regard to mental health as well. In the past year alone, we have offered articles on depression in women, self-esteem, postpartum depression, sexual assault, and depression in adolescents. Appearing now or coming soon are articles on binge eating disorder, PCOS psychosocial effects, and anorexia in adolescents.

To honor our Million Hearts® partnership commitment, we have been providing many evidence-based continuing education (CE) activities that give advanced practice nurses the tools they need to promote heart health. In the August 2014 issue of Women’s Healthcare, we published a CE article by Tamera Lea Pearson, PhD, MSN, FNP, ACNP, entitled Cardiovascular Disease in Women: A Journey Toward a Focus on Prevention. At the 2014 NPWH conference in Savannah, Megan McCarthy, MSN, NP-C, presented The Angina Monologues—Update on New Ways to Detect and Prevent Heart Attacks in Women and Jaye M. Shyken, MD, presented Long-Term Health Consequences of Pregnancy Complications, which included a discussion about the relationship between pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes with future cardiovascular disease. In that vein, Suzanne Shugg, DNP, ACNP, a clinical lipid specialist who runs a Preventive Cardiology Clinic in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, shares her insights on this topic in her article Pregnancy’s Effects on Cardiovascular Health: A Woman’s First “Cardiac Stress Test” in this issue of the journal. This issue also provides a Million Hearts® tip sheet on Improving Medication Adherence Among Patients with Hypertension. This coming year, an NPWH task force will develop a white paper on evidence-based best practices and policy recommendations to promote cardiovascular health and wellness for women, including those who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

You can rely on NPWH, and Women’s Healthcare, to continue to provide cutting-edge, evidence-based women’s healthcare information to support you in providing high quality care for women from menarche through senescence.

Beth Kelsey, EdD, APRN, WHNP-BC