MIDWIFERY PRACTICE

Midwifery - Critically evaluate an aspect from midwifery practice

Midwifery - Critically evaluate an aspect from midwifery practice

Introduction

A midwife (midwife or in new spelling), is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as:

"A person who has completed a program of training recognized in his country, has successfully passed the relevant studies and acquired the necessary qualifications to be recognized or licensed as a midwife. It must be able to provide supervision, care and advice to the woman pregnant, in labour and during postpartum, or assist in delivery under its responsibility and care for newborns and infants. Her care measures include preventive, the detection of abnormal conditions in mother and child, recourse to medical assistance when needed and to implement certain measures of emergency in the absence of a doctor. It plays an important role in health education, not only for patients but for family and preparation for parenthood and should be extended in certain areas of gynecology, the family planning and caring for the Child.” (MacLean & Ross, 2008, pp. 404-08).

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) has developed Standards for the global regulation of the practice of midwifery (2011) in response to the ICM to requests from midwives, associations of midwives, the governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders. These standards have aims to promote regulatory mechanisms that protect the public (the women and their children) by ensuring that midwives competent and reliable provide high levels of care to each woman and each baby. The regulation is designed to help midwives to work independently on the entire scope of their activities. By raising the status of midwives through regulations, the level of maternity care and the health of mothers and babies in are strengthened (Kearns & Andrews, 2009, pp. 308-315).

These standards were developed in 2010 in parallel with the development standards Comprehensive training for midwives and review of core competencies for practicing basic skills of midwives ICM. Overall, the skills core of the ICM, global standards for regulation and global standards provide training for a professional that can be used by associations midwives, regulators of the practice of midwifery, the trainers of midwives and governments, to strengthen the profession and improve the standard of practice of midwifery in their country

The Midwifery Model of Care

After years of working “with woman,” midwives and their supporters have created a model of care that is genuinely concerned with meeting the needs of clients. This model has the potential for positively influencing the models of care that are entrenched in the mainstream health care system. Most health care provider models of care place the professional at the center.

The Netherlands leads the world in midwifery care—a majority of Dutch birthing women choose midwifery care. Holland also boasts the highest home birth rate in the industrialized world. In the past few decades, the Dutch model of midwifery has influenced many countries in a positive manner. The “woman-centered” midwifery model, as espoused in many parts of the world, is composed of the following main elements:

Health and Weil-Being. The prenatal period is considered to be healthy, natural, and ...