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Hi Julie
I agree with all of the postings on this subject so
far. There are a few private hospitals in Oz where you can utilise your
midwifery skills fully, although the key word here is "few". Every week I
receive a call from a midwife in a private hospital somewhere in the country
who is planning changes in the ways their care is provided, so
lots of good work is being done out and about in many pockets that we don't hear
about in the private sector where the midwives are working hard to put into
place a higher midwifery profile and expand the role of the
midwife and to make known to the women who access private sector care just
what it is that we midwives do. It amazes me how little awareness women and
their partners have of the midwife's role. In antenatal information sessions,
when we ask couples what they believe is the role of the ob and
then move on to that of the midwife, most are amazed and ask the 64
million dollar question......I'll leave you to work that out
:-) :-) :-)
Some things to think about though.
1) From our experience, for many midwives who have
come to work at our unit, the hardest thing is getting used to the doctor being
there at the birth when things are straightforward - this has undoubtedly
been the most difficult thing for the midwives to get used to, despite the fact
that most of the time (oo) the docs just slip in and blend in with whatever
is happening in the birthing room.
i
~
2) Remembering to call the doc in
the first place is another :-), epecially when you have been used to autonomous
practice.
3) Also you will get a lesser pay rate
than if you worked in the public sector
4) Understanding the (wierd and deeply entrenched)
structure of the private health system (which is business and therefore revenue driven) is a challenge.
When I first began to work there and the managers and bosses talked about
'customers', foolish me thought these were the women. Not the case. It was
actually the doctors, because the docs have always been the revenue generators.
I have never accepted that - I believe first and foremost that it is
the women who are our (shudder...) 'customers' and they are the ones
who make the difference. I know that because they have been the
drivers of many of the changes we have put into place. They ask a question about
what we do or how we do it or discuss a service and we think "why or
why not?"
5) Often you have to flex your shifts - if it is
quiet, you may be asked to cancel, take annual leave or work in another area of
the hospital. Most private hospitals have few full time staff and
mostly part-time permanent, and a casual pool.
6) You may have to get used to doing no antenatal
care (except where women are hospitalised), the 'private sector hybrid' of
labour and birth care, lots of Caesareans, inductions of labour, epidurals and
the consequences of those, lots of level two nursery care (as a consequence of a
higher Caesarean rate - in many cases over 50% of births), and surgical
recoveries for women entering motherhood.
7) BUT you do get to work with some wonderful women
and men who are highly motivated, professionals, who tend to be older, many
of whom have had IVF procedures and have all the stuff that goes with that, are
well educated (but that does not mean they have the information to
make informed choices), and are wonderful to accompany on their birthing
journeys and into parenting.
8) AND you also get to work with some wonderful
midwives who care about what they do and provide the very best midwifery care
they can despite their daily struggle with the way the private system is
currently set up.
Changes are ahead though. I hope this has been of
some use Julie
Regards, Lynne
----- Original Message -----
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- Re: [ozmidwifery] working in a private hospital ? Lynne Staff
