Midwifery: Personal Statement

Throughout personal professional development reflection is essential, allowing health care professionals to self-develop by revisiting events and analysing areas in which improvements and learning would ensure a positive impact on their future practice. The Nursing and Midwifery Council, (NMC, 2010) notes that all health care practitioners must be self-aware in their own values and principles which could affect their practice. Ensuring they maintain personal and professional development while learning through supervision, feedback and reflection.

Being a midwife does not only defined by assisting women in childbirth. The general dictionary definition are the misconception of how people view midwives. Being a midwife means to be ‘with women’ and this leads the construction of the midwifery philosophy, Page (2006) 5 steps and Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) competency standards, in order to provide the best women centred care (Australia Collage of Midwives, 2017). This essay will cover a constructive overview of what Page (2006) 5 steps of being a midwife means, it will also defined what women centred care is and emphasis on the importance it has for the woman. Understanding Page (2006) 5 steps and women centred care helped build the pathway for midwifery philosophy to correlate with NMBA competency standard in order to support midwifery practice. For

I believe as a Midwifery Student at Australian Catholic University (ACU) that childbirth is a natural life process. Within my philosophy, my aim is to provide a women-centred care based on evidence- based practice. Also the importance of supporting women with cultural variation, social circumstance and understanding other specific needs throughout the woman’s pregnancy. The women-centred care is an essential quality to a midwife as it ensure that the women is educated in healthy lifestyle choices within pregnancy, childbirth and during parenthood. This relationship of “women-centred care” is the key to midwifery practices as Australian College of Midwives (2009) refers to the philosophy of maternity care that promotes a holistic approach by recognising each women’s social, emotional, physical, spiritual and cultural needs. In retrospect, it is important to reflect on your past experiences during your midwifery practice but also your life beyond midwifery.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published the expected standards for pre-registration midwifery education. They stated that Student Midwives are required to assist in the care and support of several women throughout their antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum period. This is achieved via the caseload holding scheme (Nursing and Midwifery Council, 2009). Midwifery led continuity of care models are described as care given during the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period from a known and trusted midwife in order to empower a woman to have a healthy pregnancy and birth (Sandall, Soltani and Gates, 2016). In September 2005 research was published supporting midwifery-led continuity of care, which they found was linked to a number of benefits for both mothers and babies, in contrast with obstetrically led and shared care (The Royal College of Midwives, 2014).

In this article, the authors explored the continuity of midwifery care using the caseload approach that was established in Queensland. This was to address the development of care for women experiencing inequalities and to improve birth outcomes. The authors objective was to investigate midwife’s responsibilities within their scope of practice when applying a caseload model (Midwifery Group Practice [MGP]).

first watched, "The Business of Being Born" when it came out in 2008.  It was prior to having children and I had just accepted my position as a Nurse Manager the year prior in Obstetrics in a Rural, Level 1 Facility.  (Being Level 1 in Obstetrics means that we only care for low risk mothers and babies that are at least 35 weeks gestation.)  I find it very interesting how my perspective has changed in the 9 years since its release.  Although I am still pro, low-intervention birth, I feel like the enthusiasm I once had for natural birth with limited intervention has been hijacked by an increase in anxiety d/t the fear of medical liability.  A couple of bad home-birth outcomes can do that to you.  On the flip side, and to be fair, we don’t see all of the perfectly healthy and safe home-birth deliveries; because if everything went well, there would be no need to come to the hospital.

A constructive critique of the research into women’s experiences of becoming a mother after prolonged labour.

This essay will be relating to an episode of care that was provided to a woman, her partner and their baby on day five during the postnatal period. It will examine the role of the midwife in relation to breastfeeding and how this was not achieved in the case study which is shown in the appendix. Throughout the essay it will look at the following outcomes: the role and responsibility of the midwife within current maternity care provision, the importance of sensitive midwifery, key legal and ethical dimensions of the midwife's role and key sociological and psychological agendas impacting on current maternity care.

I have been interested in medical work due to having spent numerous periods of time in hospital suffering with asthma and medical ailments but, I recently realised midwifery is my vocation; to help bring a new life into the world and supporting women and families is highly rewarding . I most enjoy my A Level subjects Biology and Philosophy and Ethics and I feel these would be put to good use in Midwifery, it has also been my ambition to be the first person in my family to go to university. I am excited by the role of being a midwife and aware it consists of more than delivering babies and is actually very diverse. The position includes being the first point of contact for expectant mothers during pregnancy, labour and the early postnatal period while providing care and supervision during childbearing. Becoming a midwife means being responsible for helping the mother make informed choices about the services and options

Now there are two types of midwives: professional and traditional. There are several different pathways to become a professional midwife. All pathways require higher education and training that results in certification or licensing. Gynecological, family planning, counseling, and childcare are stressed elements taught in higher education to midwives. The most common types of midwives are listed below including the three professional U.S. midwifery credentials, Certified Professional Midwives (CPM), Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM), and Certified Midwives (CM). The traditional, community-based midwife chooses not to become certified or licensed for various reasons. They believe that they are only accountable to the community or patient that they

Across the enormous continent of Africa, there are a myriad of birth practices, customs, and traditions. From spiritual ceremonies, consumption of certain fruits, blessing ways to having supportive birthing assistants are some of the very common and important customs from African countries, especially Ghana. One of the oldest and most widely recognized customs is midwifery. Midwifery is the act of assisting women and their families before, during, and after childbirth. Moreover, some midwives also perform abortions and aid in post abortion care

The International Confederation of Midwives (2011) recognises midwives as being responsible and accountable professionals who work in partnership with women and their partners to give them support, care, and advise during pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. This assignment will look at the significance of professionalism and how it affects the role of the midwifery student in university and in midwifery practice. It will begin by giving a definition of professionalism, followed by a discussion on two characteristics of professionalism; accountability and knowledge. Finally how these impact on the role of the midwifery student with regard to conduct and behaviour within the university, will be discussed in relation to both their personal

My passion for midwifery came to light whilst working as a domiciliary care assistant, although I believe it has been my vocation for some time. I am drawn to the role of a midwife because I want to empower women to make their own decisions during their pregnancy and birth and give them the confidence to do so. I think it is important to remember that everyone is different. The role of a care assistant has taught me a lot of valuable skills and knowledge that I can take to midwifery; I have been lucky enough to support a variety of people to live a life of independence to the best of their ability, and aid them with tasks and decisions where needed. I have learnt the importance of listening to people, and offering advice and reassurance where

My particular interest is in normality and my future ambition is to become a core member of the Midwifery Led Unit team at Leighton Hospital. I have gained valuable experience in this area, in particular with water birth. Although

My chosen clients are women who are pregnant and have complications or are unwell in pregnancy. Clients can come in any ethnicity. Usually these clients are from the age of 16-40 however there are anomalies.