Arizona Perinatal Education Coalition (APEC) provides access to quality perinatal education preparing newly graduated nurses (or new nurses to perinatal services) for working in labor & delivery, mother/baby and special care nursery units. APEC provides a broad availability of sharing of expertise of perinatal educators and nurse practitioners using professionally prepared educational programs.  These educational classes are hosted by different hospitals and are rotated between the hospitals listed on their website. There are 19 member hospitals, representative of several health systems in the state. Some are held in the East Valley, some Central and some West Valley. They also have a Tucson group that provides the course series in Tucson. Hospital conference rooms are utilized.

APEC holds series several times annually. The series are 6 or 7 days long depending on the type of material presented. Typically, there are series in the Phoenix area in February, April, July and September/October as well as the offerings in Tucson. Typically, Tucson holds one or two series of classes.  There are also 1- and 2- day courses (different content – Intermediate and Advanced) for fetal monitoring education several times throughout the year in several different areas, including the greater Phoenix area, Tucson and Show Low.

What inspired this project?: In light of the cost containment activities affecting all health care facilities, an effort to share perinatal education resources, including educators, material and support services was desired.