My heart bleeds when I see this sort of discussion going on. I am all for
healthy and passionate debate, but we should be standing together, not
tearing each other apart. The medical profession doesn't need to attack us,
we do that ourselves(like all oppressed groups).
How can we express our disagreement over the current policy oriented
maternity services without it becoming targeted on one group or another? I
am grateful for those hospital based midwives who welcome my client and put
her at ease when we transfer for medical assistance and try so hard to
"soften" the harshness of the hospital environment, while still providing
the clinical care required. . Thank you!
I think that the only way we can change "the system" is to make women aware
of their rights and help them function without the fear. As Caroline Flint
says, "everyday, tell a woman about your job as a midwife" and soon the
whole population will know". cheers, MM
It seems that there are those who feel a midwife working in a hospital
setting has "sold her/his sole to the devil" for doing so. But they are the
ones on the "front line" so to speak who fight every day for the rights of
birthing women, without them it would be worse. Yes there are lots of
problems in every hospital in regards to care of women, but the fact is
women do birth in hospitals and we need our best, most passionate midwives
there standing beside them or all is lost and it will all become obstectrics
care under doctors sole control with "ob nurses". If no one has the passion
to work in the hospitals who's left??????? We are never going to get
anywhere if its so easy for external forces to cause us to turn on each
other so easily "United we stand, divided we fall"??????????? Yes there are
going to be differences of opinion which we are all entitled to express,
thats what I love about the country we live in. But we must have one goal
and that is to get and give the absolute best care for women and their
families no mater whether they turn up at a Birthing Centre, Hospital, in
their own home or where ever. We must fight to be the worlds BEST place to
have a child and make every pregnant women wish they could birth here no
matter where she goes in Australia.
This is the first time I have ever written anything on here so as you can
tell this has sparked an interest in me. And I hope it makes sence!
Amanda
----- Original Message -----
From: "wump fish" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 2:25 PM
Subject: RE: [ozmidwifery] re: hospital based midwife
It is sad to hear yet another hospital midwife feeling under attack. It
can be argued that hospital midwives have an even greater role to play in
changing the maternity service and catering for women's needs. I turned
down the chance of working as an independent in the UK because I believed
that the women in hospital needed me more. They were birthing in a strange
environment amongst strangers, many in vulnerable social situations. The
statistics demonstrated the poor chances these women had of avoiding an
instrumental birth or c-section.
It is because most women give birth in hospitals, and because the
statistics for physiological birth are shocking - that hospital midwives
are so important. It is time we asked ourselves how we can improve these
outcomes for women and increase satisfaction rates. Many of us are, and as
I have said, I have come across far more motivated midwives in the
Australian hospital system than the UK. Let's not kid ourselves that there
is not a lot to fight for if we do not want to end up as obstetric nurses.
We are prevented in many ways from making our own clinical judgements by
guidelines, policies etc. We are prevented from developing and maintaining
midwifery skills such as waterbirth, suturing, full spectrum care - in
some hospitals even catching the baby.
It is only by acknowledging our position and refusing to accept that over
30% of women (fit and healthly by global comparison) are unable to give
birth without an operation. By looking at our own contribution to
individual care and to the midwifery profession. By standing together as
midwives regardless of where we practise that we can start to change
things for ourselves and the women we care for.
We need to stop taking discussion and debate personally and take a leaf
out of the drs book. Discuss, question, debate.... and learn. I am pleased
that this debate has drawn some lurkers out to provide us with their
valuable perspective we would otherwise have been ignorant of.
Rachel - another hospital midwife
From: "mariet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [ozmidwifery] re: hospital based midwife
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 10:30:49 +1100
I wanted to respond to this because it touches something I've felt for a
while. I've been a lurker on this list for ages but not a contributor
because, despite many years as a midwife (and I use the term advisedly, I
don't consider myself an obstetric nurse) I've had the impression from the
language used on this forum that the work I do and even the women I look
after is somehow not as valuable or important as community based midwifery
or birth centre care. I don't for a moment think that this is the stated
position of most of the contributors to this list. But to a hospital based
midwife it certainly can come across that way. I've never been accused of
being a shrinking violet but I haven't cared to expose myself here, to
dismissive comments about the place I choose to work or the people I work
with. Not all hospital midwives do their 8 or 10 hour shift and ignore it
for the rest of the day.
People are people. I have had atrocious handovers of care from the midwife
on the shift before me. I have also had atrocious handovers of care, or
refusal to share antenatal findings, from homebirth midwives bringing
women into hospital.
Women who come to the place where I work come from a wide cross section of
the community. Many come from countries where English is not the first
language. Some are highly educated, some are illiterate. There are early
attenders and women having their fourth child in succession without
booking in or having any antenatal care. Not to put too fine a point on
it, not all families are committed to providing the best start for their
babies. As midwives we give care to all these women, the best we can.
I joined this list in the hope of learning more and gaining support for
some of the difficult times and knotty questions that arise. I've learned
heaps and am so glad I joined; getting different viewpoints from the ones
I encounter every day has been so valuable and opened my mind to many new
things.
But I can't say I've been confident that I would receive support, I came
to the conclusion long ago that my place of work would overshadow what I
had to say and I do not feel inclined to apologise for the fact that not
only do I work in a hospital Delivery Suite, I even feel satisfactin and
joy in much of what I do.
Another hospital midwife
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