From Pregnancy Through Postpartum: Caring for Patients with Opioid Use Disorder

This presentation provides psychiatric–mental health nurses with a developmentally informed, evidence-based approach for persons with an opioid use disorder diagnosis who are pregnant. Medications that will help manage both the opioid use disorder and the pregnancy will be discussed, emphasizing the continuing medication regime during the pregnancy and post-partum period. The session will present the effects of opioid use on the fetus and newborn in terms of brain development and the neurological system, and include newborn care interventions. An interdisciplinary case discussion will illustrate practical strategies for assessment, early intervention, and family-centered care.

Presenter:  Kathleen Schachman, PhD, PMHNP-BC, FAAN
Facilitator:  Trisha Charbonneau-Ivey, BA, MSHAL
Interdisciplinary Team: Jen Kreiner, MSN, NP-C, PMHNP-BC; Matthew Mitchell, DHA, LMSW, CCS CAADC; Jill Covyeou, Pharm.D.; Ricardo Bowden, MA, CPC, CADC, CPRM, CPR 

Disclosures:  The APNA planners and faculty have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.  Off-label uses will not be discussed during this presentation. 

Session Length:  2 hours

Target Audience:  RN, APRN 


Learning Outcome: 

Upon completion of this program, the participant will: 

• Identify one new or reinforced piece of knowledge gained from this session.

Learning Objectives: 

• Describe maternal, fetal, and neonatal effects of opioid use and withdrawal during pregnancy.
• Summarize U.S. prevalence patterns of opioid use disorder in pregnancy and explain variability in estimates.
  
• Identify individuals at risk for opioid use disorder during pregnancy and postpartum using appropriate screening strategies.
  
• Explain evidence-based pharmacologic and behavioral care for opioid use disorder across pregnancy and postpartum.
  
• Apply nursing-specific interventions to support MOUD continuity, patient education, and relapse prevention.
  
• Educate patients and families about neonatal opioid withdrawal, breastfeeding, and postpartum safety.
  

Key Takeaways: 

• Psychiatric nurses are often the first to recognize OUD, polysubstance use, or escalating risk—especially when patients appear “stable.”
• Psychiatric nurses influence engagement and trust by providing counseling, education, nonjudgmental language, and trauma-informed care whether patients stay in treatment or not.
  
• Psychiatric nurses support continuity of care, when obstetric care fragments often in the postpartum period.
• Psychiatric nurses provide evidence-based treatments, either as a registered nurse, by monitoring, reinforcement, advocacy, care coordination or as a nurse practitioner, by prescribing, dose optimization and treatment decisions.
  

Keywords:  Opioid Use Disorder, Pregnancy, Postpartum, Medications

Price:  Free

Nursing Continuing Professional Development:
2.0 contact hours.  * In order to receive contact hours, participants must:  Listen to the entire presentation, complete the evaluation, and honor statement before the expiration date. Once all steps are successfully completed, a certificate will be generated online and available for you to print immediately. Contact hours cannot be awarded unless all required components are completed.

Grant Statement: 
Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI088037 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Release Date:  April 15, 2026
Access to this course will end:  April 15, 2029

The American Psychiatric Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

© APNA 2026. Reproducing and distributing this material without the written permission of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (APNA) is prohibited. 

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