The board may work with accredited hospitals, advanced practice registered nurses, and licensed health care professionals and may create a referral network in Nebraska to develop policies, procedures, information, and educational materials to meet each of the following requirements concerning perinatal mental health disorders:

Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 38-213

  • Board: means the Board of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. See Nebraska Statutes 38-204
  • Perinatal mental health disorder: means a mental health condition that occurs during pregnancy or during the postpartum period, including depression, anxiety, or postpartum psychosis. See Nebraska Statutes 38-204.01
  • Postnatal care: means an office visit to an advanced practice registered nurse occurring after birth, with reference to the infant or mother. See Nebraska Statutes 38-204.02
  • Prenatal care: means an office visit to an advanced practice registered nurse for pregnancy-related care occurring before birth. See Nebraska Statutes 38-204.03
  • Questionnaire: means a screening tool administered by an advanced practice registered nurse to detect perinatal mental health disorders, such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Patient Health Questionnaire, or other validated screening methods. See Nebraska Statutes 38-204.04
  • Year: shall mean calendar year. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801

(1) An advanced practice registered nurse providing prenatal care may:

(a) Provide education to a pregnant patient and, if possible and with permission, to the patient’s family about perinatal mental health disorders in accordance with the formal opinions and recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and

(b) Invite each pregnant patient to complete a questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Screening for perinatal mental health disorders may be repeated when, in the professional judgment of the advanced practice registered nurse, the patient is at increased risk for developing a perinatal mental health disorder;

(2) An advanced practice registered nurse providing postnatal care may invite each postpartum patient to complete a questionnaire and, if completed, shall review the questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and recommendations of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and

(3) An advanced practice registered nurse providing pediatric care to an infant may invite the infant’s mother to complete a questionnaire at any well-child checkup occurring during the first year of life at which the mother is present and, if completed, shall review the questionnaire in accordance with the formal opinions and recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in order to ensure that the health and well-being of the infant are not compromised by an undiagnosed perinatal mental health disorder in the mother.