Yes, Kirsten. Well said. I was wondering how longit would
take a student to write! :o)
Dear Abby,
I couldn't close my mouth anymore,
sorry!
You give a poor impression of midwifery
training in Australia. Coming from NZ, it's true its not the absolute
greatest, BUT i can say that the universities here DO NOT teach a
medicalised model of care.
I am quite happy with my university and
so far ALL my clinical experience has been with woman having homebirths and
homebirth midwives, although in saying that, there are some wonderful
midwives who i admire who also work in the public system!
As for the debate on VE's etc, just
because we learn something does not mean we will all go out and perform them
every 5 minutes! There are many skills taught to us that could be seen as
unnecessary interventions, why as Andrea Robertson in the Midwife
Companion ( love this book!) says, talking unnecessarily to a
woman in labour and distracting her can slow things down!
Personally i would rather be confident
and competent in these skills so if i have to do them i am gentle and cause
as less harm and discomfort as i can to the woman. I would hate to be
ignoarant and say " i don't need these interventionalist skills" and then
have to perform a VE and not be able to do it carefully and
gently.
There are still many woman out there who
request them, even if you don't think so.
Again, my philosophies on birth will not
change just because i have certain skills in my knowledge base, they don't
change who i am or what kind of (student) midwife i am, or how i see
things.
Many of the skills we learn don't come
from the uni itself, it's when we are on clinical placements and with our
follow thru woman that we learn the most. I am forever indebited to the
woman who have allowed me to be with them and to the amazing midwives who
offer their advice and support. It is them all who i learn the most off, not
textbooks, not the uni.
Cheers,
Kirsten
Darwin.