threatened by bmid? want to change the world? long of course!

[Trish David]

Dear ozmidders I applaud Denise's sentiments here and wish to express a few thoughts of my own having watched this thread for some time now. There will be midwives out there threatened by the advent of Bachelor of Midwifery, just as they have been by Graduate preparation. It is similar to the anxiety felt by many with the credential creep in nursing. People value their own pathway to their level of expertise, because it is too painful not to value it. And indeed, these people are the ones who have taught many of us so much and their pathway is therefore demonstrably of value. But it is human nature to be sceptical of what we don't know and to worry about change. That caution is what stops many of us making huge mistakes. Tempered risk taking is good. And with the world so uncertain many midwives from all settings will be feeling perhaps a little undermined and fearful about what the 'new' midwife is all about. That is a fair and valid emotion and we should respect their best motives in questioning the direction we have set out on. We should also respect that they, too, have much to teach us. Many of them have been life-long participants in education, have attempted change from all directions for the betterment of women's experience, and will cautiously accept changes to their profession but will attempt to retain the best of the 'old' system. In the end, it is all a big experiment, and BMid will not be perfect first up (if ever), just as other pathways have had their detractors but struggled on and proved their worth. It will only work if students and midwives and educators work together with respect. I get worried when I see the discourse of students coming out and shaking up what are characterised as unreflective stick in the mud midwives, or worse, showing 'obstetric nurses' how it should be done. There are those of us who have had the same education as these people yet are fighting and working for progressive change. Therefore it is not necessarily the preparation of the midwife that is the issue, but the person of the midwife that is important. And not all BMid midwives will be reflexive and open to change and 100% women-centered all the time, either. A fact of nature. So I urge all prospective BMid students out there to maintain respect for midwives of all sorts and in all settings. They are women (99.5%) of them, anyway. They are for the most part pure of motive (insofar as they are human). They try hard to do what is right for women, themselves and their loved ones, just as you do. And they will all know a lot about something you need to learn. Just because they learned it from a different path doesn't mean it is lacking in value. But they might be constrained by systems, and it is up to you to sort out the difference between a midwife who is unwilling to pick apart her own part in poor practice and attitude, and one who is unable to do anything about it. And midwives out there, remember when you started midwifery or nursing? The old wise women of the wards always had something to say about their training and how things have got worse for students, etc? There was always someone who undermined your confidence in your course, your learning and your practice? But you were too scared to speak up to them? Well, these students might not be scared, they are already empowered and active in political struggles for change, many of them. And this is what they have to teach. That you can change things, or empower yourself through collective activity and common purpose. Nurture that in them and try not to feel threatened. But don't stand too much crap either, you are worthwhile and knowledgable and these women will not be able to learn without you. Respect each other's knowledge, know that none of us has all the answers, we are all entitled to several mistakes per day so long as we learn from a percentage of them, and we all have the capacity to walk a mile in the others homypeds! I look forward with some degree of trepidation to teaching BMid. It has been an arduous, fascinating, thankless, difficult, inspiring and nerve-wracking three years leading to this point. As part of the BMid Taskforce (developing guidelines for accreditation of courses) and Werna Naloo Consortium (Victoria University, Australian Catholic University, and Monash University "We Us Together, Women Midwives and Universities" for bachelor of midwifery education) developing curricula for BMid, I have had the privelege of working with wonderful midwives of all sorts of pathways. I have come to respect the merging and commonality of vision as being more important than the path to that point. All of the academics involved in Werna Naloo were hospital trained nurses then midwives, then did further study. But we manage somehow to see the need for another path. Others like us haven't, and they have good reasons for not agreeing with us. That's ok, we will show them in a few years that BMid is one great way to prepare midwives. But please, don't hang all hopes for salvation (or damnation) of the profession on this initiative. It is part of a multifaceted set of initiatives we have to make. These will include the work of lobbying governments for changes to Medicare acts, professional indemnity insurance and services for childbearing. Changes to state acts to recognise midwifery as distinct from nursing needs to occur across all states in a uniform way. Women need to work with other women to demonstrate to them the power of midwifery working with women. And midwives need to respect each other, support our colleagues in growth, nurture them when they are fearful and beaten down, and to not say anything at all if they can't say anything nice (as my mother used to say)! All of these initiatives are rolling, and i do believe we are on the cusp of some big changes, but that is very scary, even if you really want it...... So, go with optimism tempered with caution and let respect and tolerance be your masthead. And if you come across me in the classroom or the clinical setting, be gentle because I am really tired and don't yet have all the answers either. Love to all, Trish   Denise Hynd wrote: Dear AllChange is always frightening for most peopleNostalgia and glorifying the past is so common it is marketed in our culture! As one who trained firstly as a hospital nurse then a hospital midwife a university mature age nurse (educator) the recertifying LC and homebirth midwife with several senior preceptors mentors I see that no way is perfect we are after all human not gods!! Also we need to recognise that we can learn from all situations, including how to help others next time (if the situation repeats itself?) and ourselves to learn and help others. That includes improving on the learning pathways we offer to sutdent nurses and midwives.I remember when I had doubts about my becoming a nurse, midwife I looked at those who had the qualification and saw some I did not think worthy of it and others who I wanted to follow.So every place and path has it's good points and bad and there is things to be learnt! One of the things I appreciate and love (value) about the homebirth midwives I know and work with here in Perth is thier openess to each pregnancy, birth and individual to have it's own path and being an opportunity to learn something from it! Denise ----- Original Message ----- From: Nikki Macfarlane To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 4:23 PM Subject: Re: RE B MID  While direct entry Midwifery has been in existence for a lot longer in the UK than in Australia, I do remember several years whien i was still living there talking to midwives about how they felt towards direct entry Midwives. In the group I had spokent o there was a general feeling that without the nursing background they would not be any good since they lacked a fundamental understanding of pathophysiology. However, that attitude has slowly been changing and the profession is now much more readily accepted. I am doing my Bachelor of Nursing Science at the moment (finally more than half way through!) and there is the same concerns there. Doing the degree in University is perceived by many as not being as good as doing hospital based training since we do not learn as much "on the job" stuff - however, we learn other aspects that were more difficult to learn in the hospital envirnment. One of the things I particularly like is we work with a wide variety of clinicians in a wide variety of settings. There is a lot of focus on questioning why we do what we do and using reflective practice. There is also a lot of focus on research. Each method of learning has its own advantages and disadvantages. On top of doing a degree nursing course I am doing it part time by correspondence/distance learning. There are a large number of nurses trained through the more traditional systems who are horrified. "How on earth can you learn enough by distance?" However, i do exactly the same number of clinical placement weeks as a nurse studying on campus. Whenever there is change in a profession, especially in the way that profession is taught, there are alwaysgoing to be some who find that change frightening or threatening. Does it really matter what other midwives think of Direct Entry Midwifery? What is important is that you feel you are doing the job you want to do, feel appropriately trained and qualified for it and confident in the skills you develop. Those midwives who feel uncomfortable with this new system will gradually become more accepting - it is just because it is still new. Nikki MacfarlaneSingaporewww.parentlink.org  ----- Original Message ----- From: barbara glare & chris bright To: Ozmidwifery Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 1:51 AM Subject: Re: RE B MID  Dear Macha and Tina, I was shocked when a friend of mine who is a midwife reacted vehemently and negatively to the idea of B Mid.  I think her words were "It will undermine everything we have worked for - I would never agree to work with a direct entry midwife in a hospital"  When I picked myself up off the floor and asked her about it, it turned out that she really had no idea at all about what it was.  After I explained, she was a bit calmer about it. Love