Just as the British government is admitting their maternity system is crumbling as thousands of midwives flee to greener pastures (e.g. Australia!) for better pay and working conditions, it seems Australia is finally doing good by their midwives and pregnant women in one of the largest trials of one-to-one midwifery care in Victoria.
It seems midwives have finally gotten the message across: when women are looked after by one midwife from the start to end of pregnancy and beyond, birth outcomes are better and the caesarean rate goes down and women are supported better postnatally. Midwives have a more manageable workload with more midwives on staff, women feel more secure having a familiar face when they give birth and there is less of a strain on the medicare system as less women are interfacing with obstetricians unless absolutely necessary. In the Victorian trial, 1,000 women are paired up with one midwife and hopefully the system of having midwives on call will be implemented more widely in Australia as it seems to work quite well in Europe and New Zealand. Now, if only the American government could be persuaded to think about the welfare of its pregnant women maybe the atrocious birth outcomes in the US would be better with a midwifery system as opposed to the heavy emphasis placed on obstetrics.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/onetoone-midwifery-aims-to-cut-complications/2008/01/28/1201369037407.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3261305.ece
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1 comment:
Wow, interesting post. I happened to stumble across this blog after googling midwifery. I am an RN and going back to university this year to study midwifery. I think the idea of having one on one care with one particular midwife sounds fabulous!
Luv Lil xox
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