Anyway what I am getting at is there has been no political will to look at
midwives differently, in terms of equity, midwifery as a profession
deserving
support and new solutions for recurrent problems (the cost of escalating
intervention etc).
At least not in Australia and I think part of the reason is the hand maiden
status and mind set of midwives and women!
What do others think?? Especially the Bmids??
Denise
Hi Denise...thanks for the invitation to respond here...as a BMidder....the vision I have for my practice is the ability to offer my service to women, wherever the woman chooses to birth her babe...the issues with PII have certainly squashed the independent aspiration for now...though this is my long term aim...but inorder to provide continuity of carer....I'll take salaried/contract work as a midwife to give women choices in their birthing....I think if midwives are smart/politically savvy and don't take the medico approach of making decisions on behalf of women...then you can easily work/negate your way around many a hospital or agency policy/protocol....the final decisions in care and planning for birth rest with the woman...so she can decide what is best for her if she is given information in which to make her decisions...and be supported in whatever decisions she makes...I think where midwives get into strife is where they start living/acting out their own pol! ! itical agendas thru women who end up being the pawns in the whole political process. Not an ideal situation...and the midwife who sees that she has 'gone out on a limb' for a woman who is less than embracing of what the midwife 'whats' for her...in the end comes out the loser...discontent, disillusioned, frustrated and bitter with the birth world.
....Recently in working with a follow thru woman, I attended her pregnancy care visits to the hospital....her model of care was midwife-led care in a birthing unit.....but I was amazed at how subordinate and not so midwife-led it was. Some of the midwives were in their care of the woman far happier to defer or abdicate decisions to the doctors inorder to 'keep the peace' and were very accepting of medical dominant policy/protocol....While some of the midwives seem to embrace the whole responsibility/accountability thing....many do not...and would rather be seen in the handmaiden role in preference to accepting full responsibility for their midwife role. I suppose what I'm getting at here is if midwives don't see themselves differently to nurses...if midwives don't take themselves seriously as autonomous practitioners...if midwives don't have the trust and faith in their midwifery knowledge and skills to embrace responsibility and accountability...then how can we ask that anyo! ! ne else does....be it the government...the medical profession...the public..???
yours in reforming midwifery
Tina Pettigrew
Bachelor of Midwifery Student
Victoria University
