midwives
Written by Jack Porter - Trainee Underwriter - Casualty
Midwives
A midwife is a registered health professional who works in partnership with women to give the necessary support, care and advice during pregnancy, birth and the first few weeks after birth. Midwifery is a profession grounded in woman-centred and evidence-based maternal health care.
In Australia, midwives must have completed:
An approved course in midwifery through a university.
Register with the Nursing and Midwives Board of Australia.
A midwife is NOT the same as a doula. Their scope of practice includes:
providing health support, care and advice to women before conception, and during pregnancy, labour, birth and the postnatal period
promoting natural childbirth and identifying complications for the woman and child
consulting with other health professionals and referring to medical care or other health professions when required
implementing emergency measures
Midwives are autonomous practitioners who work collaboratively with many other health professionals. A midwife may practice in any setting including:
homes
community health centres
public and private hospitals
birth centres
clinics including Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
Endorsed Midwife
An endorsed midwife has completed extra training to prescribe certain medications.
To become an endorsed midwife, a registered midwife must:
meet the registration standards
successfully complete an NMBA-approved program of study that leads to an endorsement for scheduled medicines, or a substantially equivalent program as determined by the NMBA
register as a midwife in Australia without conditions or unsatisfactory performance
complete the equivalent of 3 years full-time clinical practice (5,000 hours) in the past 6 years. Completed hours can be across the full continuity of midwifery care or in a specified context of practice. Recognised contexts of practice include antenatal, postnatal and antenatal and postnatal combined.
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