Woman and Midwife
Exploring the partnership
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Midwives and women
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One of the oldest
partnerships in human
society
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The theory of midwifery as a
partnership (Guilliland & Pairman 1994)
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Birth is seen as a normal life event
Midwifery is woman centred
Midwife provides care during the total
childbirth experience
Midwifery is a profession in its own right
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Practice Standards for Midwives –
towards a philosophy of Midwifery
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Pregnancy is part of the life cycle
The focus of midwifery practice is to provide
woman-centred care
Midwifery practice is holistic in approach
The concept of partnership between the
woman and the midwife is fundamental to
midwifery practice
Midwifery practice is based on the best
available evidence
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The midwife and woman
partnership
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A social model of care focussed on the
woman and her family
Accessible care to a woman and her
family preferably in their own
community
Provides continuity of care
The focus of care is on health as a state
of complete physical, mental and social
well being (WHO)
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The partnership develops
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Trust
Confidence
Understanding
Information giving enabling choice
based on best available evidence
Support
Collaboration
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The midwife and woman
partnership
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The partnership empowers the woman
and the midwife
The partnership enables the woman to
make her own choices to fulfill her
emotional, physical, spiritual and
cultural needs
The partnership enables a midwife to
practice as an autonomous professional
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Centralised hospital care
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Hierarchy and institutions can inhibit
individualised care
Systemised care can be easier to
provide than individualised care
Can make a partnership between
women and midwives harder to develop
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Changing our maternity care
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Offering more choice to women:
Opportunity to have midwife led care and
build a partnership with a known carer(s)
Place of care and place of birth
Evidence based information
Supporting women who want to birth using
their own resources rather than intervention
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Changing our maternity care
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Strong, positive support and leadership
for midwives to increase confidence in
physiological pregnancy and birth
Education for midwives in supporting
physiological birth process
Offer midwives choice in working
practice to suit their life situation
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The tapestry of support
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The warp – the strong supports (often
invisible) that lie beneath the tapestry
The weft – the interwoven threads of
our individual experiences and lives
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The warp – maternity care in
Ireland
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Government Policy
Health care philosophy
System of care
Cultural and societal values
Financial support – public/private
Midwifery care
Appropriate Obstetric and neonatal care
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The weft
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Our individual and unique stories
Each woman and her family and their
journey through pregnancy, birth and
postnatally
Each midwife and her family
Each community supporting the
partnership including the GPs,
Obstetricians and hospitals
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Dreams and vision
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How did we get
here? It was hard
work
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References
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An Bord Altranais (2010) Practice Standards for Midwives ABA: Dublin.
Anderson, T. (2002) Out of the laboratory: back to the darkened room.
Midirs. 12:1 65 - 69.
Davis-Floyd R (2002). The technocratic, humanistic, and holistic
paradigms of childbirth - MIDIRS Midwifery Digest, 12:4, 500-506
Guilliland, K & Pairman S. (1994) The Midwifery Partnership - A model
for Practice NZ College of Midwives Journal October 5 - 9.
Maternity care Working Party (2007) Making normal birth a reality.
Consensus statement from the Maternity Care Working Party: our
shared views about the need to recognise, facilitate and audit normal
birth. NCT, RCM & RCOG. Available from NCT web site.
Walsh D & Newburn M (2002a) Towards a social model of childbirth:
part one - British Journal of Midwifery , 10:8, 476-481
Walsh D & Newburn M (2002b) Towards a social model of childbirth:
part two - British Journal of Midwifery , 10:9, 540-544
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