The Role of a Midwife in Maternity Care

It relies on persuasive tactics to ensure compliance. Being medical-based, it aims to reduce morbidity and reduce premature mortality and is conceptualised around the absence of disease. As midwives do not regard pregnancy and child-birth as states of ill-health, its validity in midwifery care must be questioned (Dunkley, 2000a). The benefits of breastfeeding are well-documented (Appendix Two), however difficulties arise in making this information relevant and personal to each woman. Often, simply giving women ‘information’ makes little difference to them (Dunkley, 2000b).

Continuity of care may have different meanings, ranging from continuity of caregivers, to a shared philosophy of care by large numbers of caregivers with different professional backgrounds or ideally one-to-one care (Waldenstrom et al. 2000). The purpose of midwifery continuity of care is to allow women and their midwives to get to know each other over time. This involves not only a personal knowledge of each other, but also the ability to be able to work out, investigate, talk about and consider the complex decisions, bearing in mind the woman’s needs and expectations. The relationship has a professional purpose, which is the provision of safe and effective midwifery care (Homer, Brodie & Leap, 2008).

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.

This essay demonstrates significant factors, a midwife and the women may face within Australian public hospitals. As a midwife the key skills are understanding of what supports and impacts the normal physiological process of labour and birth. This essay will discuss two influencing factors that have a negative effect on the normal progress of labour and birth. This will be seen, firstly by discussing the cultural and environmental impacts of labour and birth. Then, examining how the midwife may best support and facilitate the adverse effects of normal physiological process. This essay also discusses a positive labour and birth environment within the Australian standard model of care.

The assignment will be written in the style of the British Journal of Midwifery (BJM), the abstract is incorporated into this introduction and Harvard 2014 will be used for the referencing style.

This report will evaluate the roles and responsibilities of a midwife. “Midwifery encompasses care of women during pregnancy, labour, and the postpartum period, as well as care of the new-born.”(WHO, 2015) This is a recent definition and clearly points out that a midwife has many roles and responsibilities. The NMC Codes of Conduct will be evaluated with specific emphasis on recent changes within healthcare. These changes took place as a result of the tragedies at Mid-Staffordshire Hospital in 2005-2009 and are the outcome of the Francis report in order to improve care given to patients.

For hundred of years, women have wrestled with their womanhood, bodies, and what it means to be a woman in our society. Being a woman comes with a wonderful and empowering responsibility--giving birth. What sets us aside from other countries is that the process and expectations of giving birth has changed in our society; coming from midwifery, as it has always been since the early times, to hospitals where it is now expected to give birth at. Midwifery was a common practice in delivering babies in

On April 13, 2013, nursing became one of the, if not the most, important professions around the world. On that date, Disease-666, which caused the zombie apocalypse, broke out. It infected nearly three-fourths of the population, and nearly all doctors and scientists fell ill of the disease as they worked tirelessly trying to find a cure, leaving only nurses left. Besides hearing the stories of how important nursing has been the last couple years here at the Michigan State Safe Haven and outside of it, I conducted my own research on the field, more specifically, the field of midwife nursing. I found through many literacies that nurses are the primary caretakers of humans; providing care for the sick and unable, while also being the supporter during the emotional stress of recovery. Nursing earns the status of the most important profession during the apocalypse as they are the backbone of emotional support, they are the curators of repopulation, and they are the most certified people left to help turn the apocalypse around.

Depending on the time and place, midwives have played a key role in childbirth and comfort for new mothers. In early American, the midwife was the standard attendant for a birth, but today a vast majority of Americans choose to go to the hospital. Despite this, midwives still have a role to play in American childbirth, and always have. Wherever it has existed, under whatever circumstances, midwifery has found a way to stay relevant, whether it be in performance, trends, or even through ethnic pockets in the US. It is the idea of compassionate care focused on the comfort of the mother that has kept midwifery alive, persisting until it may reclaim a larger role in the American birthing system, perhaps one day achieving the same status of midwifery in Western Europe.

As a midwifery student, the author has worked with two women, within the Continuity of Care Experience, who have been induced for post-term pregnancy. Reflections have been written about the care these women received and are located in the authors Continuity of Care Experience reflective journals under the pseudonyms RO’B and EE. The purpose of this portfolio is to explore current midwifery practice in relation to this event which can turn an uncomplicated pregnancy into a complex labour and birth. Current literature will be reviewed to determine best practice in care provision for woman who are post-term and a recommendation will be made on how midwifery practice can improve outcomes for women whose pregnancies progress past term. For

On my community placement, I had the opportunity to work with my mentor, Beth, in assisting the delivery of antenatal care to a woman who presented with glycosuria. Given the ability to observe and participate in the woman's care pathway, has allowed me to understand the duty of care that a midwives role encompasses in acting as an advocate in promoting and protecting normality for all women.

Hearing the word midwife leaves many people thinking of unprofessional, inexperienced women who help deliver babies naturally, without the help of medication. In truth, nurse-midwives are registered nurses who have attended additional schooling for women’s health and are taught to make women feel as comfortable as possible. In the beginning, remedies were the females’ legacies, their “birthright”; these females were known as “wise-women by the people, witches of charlatans by authorities”. (Ehrenreich, 1973). “Females were wanderers, traveling from one place to another, healing the sick and wounded.” (Ehrenreich 1973). These women were among the first human healers and they were especially helpful when it came to childbearing. The midwives

Nurses serve an important role in emergency preparedness on all levels through planning, community and consumer education, and direct care provided to those in need when disaster strikes. Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) focuses on the specific population of mothers and their infants because of the special needs that this vulnerable population may need in an emergency. The role of the nurse in emergency preparedness demonstrates that during a disaster, the nurse is to address the needs of

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the role of the labor and delivery nurse to the “maternal role attainment - becoming a mother” model. The model (MRA) was proposed by nursing theorist Ramona T. Mercer in 1991 to guide nurses in implementing the nursing process while providing care to the non-traditional mother. Revised in 1995 to “Becoming a Mother”, this model soon proved useful for nurses to access, concentrate on, and attend to the needs of all new mothers. New mothers experience various stressors such as an ill infant, their own health, financial strains, and postpartum depression. This model is evidenced- based and incorporates the four global nursing concepts into it. The importance of this model is the provisions it makes for mother-infant bonding that affects the health and development of individuals and families throughout the lifespan (Role Attainment, 2005). For the professional nurse in labor and delivery, the model has significant use aiding the impact that labor and delivery nurses have on new mothers perceiving and attaining their maternal role.

This study included seven (7) nurse midwives and 16 postnatal mothers. Among the nurse midwives four (4) were enrolled nurse midwives and three (3) registered nurse midwives. Nurse midwives age ranged from 23 years to 45 years, their mean age was 33 years. Nurse midwives qualification levels were certificate and diploma holders, their working experience ranges from one year to seventeen (17) years. Midwives marital status, three were single and four (4) were married. Among seven nurse midwives participants six (6) were female and a man. Characteristics of postnatal mothers are presented in a table number two (2).