I think there is a difference between the training and skills of Australian
mw and UK mw. But, this largely exists due to the different maternity
systems and the blocks placed on practice by the obs. Your mw training is
reliant on the experiences you are able to access. For example, as a direct
entry mw in the UK my training began in the community with a community
midwife providing midwifery-led care with a family focus. By the end of our
course we were expected to be able to provide total care for 'normal' women
(including suturing).
I realise that I have a limited viewpoint at present, but I have noticed
that the mainstream perception of midwives is that we are nurses with a mid
specialisation, and even refer to each other as nurses. People are getting a
bit sick of me correcting them when they call me a nurse. Midwives are
prevented from maintaining and developing skills by hospital systems. For
example, I have been told I am not allowed to suture! Many mw do not rotate
and will only work in one area eg. postnatal. I am working on an escape plan
to get out of the maternity system as I can see my midwifery skills being
worn away.
I am sure that the independent mws and birth centre mws are more than able
to provide total care for women. But, I wonder if mws who have been trained
in the mainstream system and have only worked in this system would have the
skills, experience or confidence to provide total care for women.
If Dr Giltrap is correct, then the answer is not to leave birth the the obs,
but to improve mw education and empower the mw profession.
Rachel
From: Vedrana Valèiæ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [ozmidwifery] Fw: 'Higher risk' in midwife deliveries
(http://theaustralian.com.au report)
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:54:14 +0200
" Obviously scary rubbish makes better news than
truthful lovely births."
I think you are SO right there.
It seems to me that viewing birth as a disaster just waiting to happen,
even if it is a "normal" birth, is Dr Giltrap's problem. Plus, I'm still
trying to understand what he meant by:
"Dr Giltrap claimed Australian midwives were not as well trained as their
European counterparts and Australian standards were often higher than those
in Europe."
There is a resolution by EU which states how many hours of what midwives
have to have, and I doubt that it is more than you have in Australia.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Janet Fraser
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2005 6:22 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] Fw: 'Higher risk' in midwife deliveries
(http://theaustralian.com.au report)
Rachel (welcome btw!) I hear everything you're saying and I concur. It's so
transparently about a professional monopoly but their own brilliant
misinformation campaign is so entwined with our current cultural fears
around normal physiological birth that very little gets into the media to
contradict it. Of course what I really want is for them to have to answer
how all the guff they spout really stands up against the research but the
seven second soundbite only allows long enough for scare tactics, not
evidence. It's interesting to me that in many years of writing letters to
SMH and The Age, I have never had one published on birth issues. I've got
quite a track record on political issues of other kinds, but not even the
most benign letter on home birth or midwifery has made it into their
publications. Obs and midwives get published a bit but very rarely
consumers. I sent letters to every major paper plus regionals for Home
Birth
Awareness Week last year, and not one was published. That's a lot of
editors
making the same decision. Obviously scary rubbish makes better news than
truthful lovely births.
Food for thought!
J
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