Amanda Watson

Assistant Professor, School of Nursing | University of Delaware

Newark, DE, UNITED STATES

Prof. Watson is a passionate educator and advocate for women's reproductive health.

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Biography

Dr. Watson (she/her) is a Certified Nurse Midwife with over 17-years' experience in the field of women's health. She has served as Director of the Women's Health Department of La Red Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Sussex County Delaware where she has played an instrumental role in bridging healthcare access disparities for underserved women, and advocating for expanded health insurance coverage for populations denied coverage due to immigration status. She holds delivery privileges at Bay Health, Kent Campus in Dover and Tidal Health Nanticoke in Seaford where she previously provided full-scope Midwifery and Women's Health care. Prior to becoming a nurse, she graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in International Relations and Women's Studies. She later became a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) and attended deliveries in the home and freestanding birth center setting.

Her doctoral research studied improving entry to prenatal care in the first trimester for underserved women. She has written a Global Health column for the Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing where she explored international women's health issues. She is a passionate educator and advocate for women's reproductive health. When she is not caring for patients, catching babies or teaching she loves spending time with her two elementary aged children, traveling, cooking and enjoying friends and family.

Industry Expertise (2)

Health Care - Services

Health Care - Providers

Areas of Expertise (6)

Women's Reproductive Health

Health Disparities

Midwifery

Immigrant and Refugee Health

Prenatal Care

Women's Health

Media Appearances (3)

Access to prenatal health care isn’t equal for all Delaware mothers

Delaware News Journal online

2022-05-25

“There's been several people that have missed their entire care during a pregnancy because they just didn't have a ride,” said Amanda Watson, a certified nurse-midwife at La Red Health Center.

As small hospitals disappear nationwide, Seaford saved its hospital. But at what cost?

Delaware News Journal online

2022-05-24

What this new TidalHealth-La Red relationship will ultimately look like isn’t entirely clear yet, but Amanda Watson, La Red’s clinical operations director for women's health, said she has been working with TidalHealth to develop a referral system.

Women’s health care is a ‘dire need’ in Sussex County. And pregnant women, doctors know it.

Delaware News Journal online

2022-02-14

Providers like Amanda Watson, a certified nurse-midwife at La Red, as well as others like state Rep. Ruth Briggs King, said the issue of accessing reproductive or women’s health care may have never been as dire as it is right now in Sussex County.

Articles (3)

Global “maternal” mental health from a non-binary life course perspective

The Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing

2024

Health workforce shortages: Do global healthcare dollars equate to workforce sense?

The Journal of Perinatal and Neonatal Nursing

2024 An adequate, skilled, and well-distributed workforce is essential to preserving the quality, accessibility, and sustainability of the global health system and efforts toward universal health coverage. Despite reduction of overall health workforce (HWF) shortage estimates to 10.2 million by 2030, from a previous estimate of 18 million, we are seeing HWF disparities more than double in the 47 countries identified in the World Health Organizationʼs (WHO) support and safeguard list. Midwives and their workforce equivalents contribute significantly to critical human resource pools needed to address maternal and infant health indicators worldwide, yet growth of jobs and educational programs continue to lag. Medical technology and foreign labor exchanges reflect migration patterns from low-to middle-income countries (LMICs) toward high-income countries (HICs) in North America and Western Europe, despite regulatory efforts and ethical guidelines regarding human resource trade. Natural disasters, conflict, and disease pandemics, such as COVID-19, further stress already compromised healthcare education, training, and workforce pools, in ways we have yet to fully understand. The responsibility for resolution to this crisis lies internationally, as the fluidity of medical technology and labor exchanges across international borders uniquely characterize the global workforce issues of our generation.

Effective Entry into Prenatal Care of Underserved Women in a Rural Federally Qualified Health Center

Frontier Nursing University Dissertation

2022 Background: Early entry to prenatal care mitigates poor obstetric outcomes of low birth weight and preterm birth, disproportionately burdened by Black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic women, whom also disproportionately enter late into prenatal care. Local Problem: A chart audit (N = 20) of a federally qualified health center (FQHC) found that 25.0% (n = 5) of women entered care in the first trimester, a prenatal intake nurse identified 38.5% (n = 5) of present risk factors (N = 13), patient mean comprehension of perinatal topics scored 60.5%, and stakeholders rated team communication 3.1 on a 5 point Likert scale. Methods: A quality improvement initiative mapped critical pathways, cultural barriers, and targeted workflow processes through surveys, chart audits, and root cause analysis, to focus interventions toward gaps in entry to prenatal care. Interventions: Four interventions were implemented addressing scheduling of prenatal visits, risk screening, patient education, and team engagement. Tests of change were implemented in each intervention in each two-week Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.