VERY nurse knows that, in an emergency, she may have to assist with the birth and immediate care of a premature baby. Relatively few nurses, however, feel competent to do this. In a hospital where there are standing orders, equipment, and well-defined techniques, the nurse is on familiar ground. In an emergency, however, in the interim before organized aid is available, where the nurse is working without equipment or standing orders, only two things are of help to her at that moment-sound professional knowledge, and common