YSN professor of midwifery awarded "Book of the Year" by the American Journal of Nursing
New Haven, CT — January 29, 2004
Professor Helen Varney Burst's recently published fourth edition of Varney's Midwifery, (with Jan M. Kriebs and Carolyn L. Gregor) has been recognized as "the most valuable text of 2003" and awarded the 2003 Book of the Year Award by the American Journal of Nursing (AJN).
In a recent review of the book, published in the Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health (Volume 49, No. 1, 62-3, 2004), the reviewer wrote:
Ms. Burst is a Professor in the YSN Nurse-Midwifery Specialty. She has directed nurse-midwifery education programs at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the Medical University of South Carolina, and Yale University and has served as a consultant to many others. She was co-originator of the mastery learning modular curriculum design for nurse-midwifery education, is an Editorial Consultant to the Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. Her textbook, Varney's Midwifery, is the first textbook for nurse-midwives in the United States. Ms. Burst is also a co-author of Varney's Pocket Midwife.
"This new fourth edition of Varney's Midwifery is another classic. All midwives who read this book will be enriched by the "pearls" and clinical guidelines it contains. They will also develop a deep appreciation and respect for authors who present all the arguments and relentlessly maintain that Real midwifery is "with woman" and women have choices… This author is unsurpassed in her knowledge, skill, experience, and willingness to share in the progression and expansion of nurse-midwifery in the world."
Ms. Burst has practiced midwifery in a variety of settings, been a service director in two, and was co-founder and president of the Family Childbirth Center in New Haven, Connecticut. She has served the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) in numerous capacities including two terms as President from 1977-1981, Secretary from 1972-1974, Chair of the Bylaws Committee, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on JCAH/DOD, Chair of the Division of Examiners, and as Chair of the Division of Accreditation. Ms. Burst has also served as the ACNM representative to the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) as well as to many national interdisciplinary and interorganizational meetings and advisory groups.
Helen Varney Burst received the ACNM Hattie Hemschemeyer Award in 1982, the 50th year of nurse-midwifery education in this country. She is recipient of alumni awards from all her alma maters: Yale University (MSN, 1963); University of Kansas (BSN, 1961); Kansas Sate University (BSHE, 1961). In 1987 she received a Doctor in Humane Letters (honoris causa) from Georgetown University.
She is currently conducting research to document the history and contributions of YSN and its faculty and alumnae/i and for a book on the history of nurse-midwifery in the United States.
Dr. Burst will retire on June 30, 2004. In her honor, YSN is pleased to announce the creation of the first university chair in midwifery in the United States. The Helen Varney Chair in Midwifery demonstrates YSN's commitment to women's health and recognizes professor Burst's scholarly and clinical contributions to professional midwifery that have shaped the profession.
We invite you to be a part of this historic and important milestone in the future of midwifery care, by making a tax-deductible contribution in support the Helen Varney Chair in Midwifery. For more information, please contact Lisa Hottin, Director of Development, Yale School of Nursing, P.O. Box 9740, New Haven, CT 06536-0740. Call 203-785-7920. lisa.hottin@yale.edu.
