All VIDM 2023 Conference sessions are recorded. Links to the recordings are available on our @VirtualMidwives YouTube channel and linked below in each session listing.
Use the Search CATEGORIES and KEYWORDS (ie. Spanish, Students, or Keynotes) to find sessions of interest.
VIDM 2023 Conference sessions were presented and recorded using Big Blue Button mobile friendly webconferencing technology, thanks to our colleagues at Frontier Nursing University.
Onwards and upwards. Turning a pandemic into midwifery opportunities
Speaker: Sarah Stewart
Facilitator: Deborah Davis
Fifteen years ago I started the Virtual International Day of the Midwife (VIDM) on my kitchen table. The first year I pretty much spent talking to myself. Who could have guessed all these years later that a global pandemic, which would cause such devastation, would also make virtual conferencing an everyday occurrence. And that the organising committee could leverage COVID-19 into an opportunity to grow the VIDM to an audience of thousands across the world. In this presentation I will be reflecting on the lessons I learned over the years I was facilitating the VIDM about leadership, collaboration and innovation which are critical elements we need to influence and shape midwifery and women/people-centred care as we transition out of the pandemic.
Recording: https://youtu.be/TeuD1XwAEU0
Title: Professional Midwifery: Revolutionising Maternal Care in India
Speaker: Indie Kaur
Facilitators: Red Miller and Suman Lata
Research shows that midwife-led care reduces unnecessary interventions, and mothers go on to have better birth experiences. In 2011, Fernandez Hospital piloted an in-house professional midwifery education and training program when such a cadre did not exist in India. Unnecessary interventions like episiotomies and epidurals decreased, and women’s positive feedback increased yearly. Looking at this success, the Government of Telangana and UNICEF partnered with Fernandez Hospital to pilot midwifery training in its public hospitals.
These midwives created a paradigm shift in maternity care, helped increase normal births, and promoted respectful maternity care in the state’s public facilities. This led to the government investing in the need for separate training for midwives in India and launching ‘Guidelines on Midwifery Services’ in 2018. This was a historic moment for midwifery in the country, recognising the need for a separate professional training building on a strong cadre and rolling our midwifery care to women and new-born in the country.
The Foundation has since partnered with The Government of India and Telangana State with the support of The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF to train midwifery educators in India, strengthening midwifery services.
Title: Biomechanics for birth: New learning & insights for practice: The 3 R’s
Speaker: Molly O’Brien
Facilitator: Linda Wylie
Midwifery work is wide ranging. In essence we are public health practitioners, protecting, maintaining and enhancing the health and wellbeing of women and their families. As skilled practitioners we seek to understand and mitigate myriad factors that contribute to ill health while aiming to support and optimise birth physiology as per our code of proficiency.
Specifically, the presentation focuses on labour dystocia and the midwifery skill of recognising when birth goes awry using the art and science of watchful attendance. It looks at ways to support physiology to reduce difficulties during the birth process and seeks to resolve mechanical difficulties by optimising physiology including the use of biomechanical techniques.
This presentation highlights areas of midwifery training and education that hinder understanding of anatomy and physiology in relation to the birth process and the baby’s journey through the pelvis. It examines the impact the dominant biomedical model of care has on midwifery practice, the profession as a whole and the women who use the service.
Recording: youtube.com/watch?v=FVN63zUtXXI
Title: Considering evidence and wisdom in professional reality
Speaker: Céline Lemay
Facilitator: Elisa Segoni
With EBM we also see a proliferation of guidelines and recommendations directed targeting practitioners that are expected to “apply” them and valuing a standardised care. In their daily practice midwives are facing two different important professional orientations: following guidelines/protocols and also providing a woman centered individualized care. How to take the most appropriate decision for the patient then? The reality is complex and often hold ethical tensions. How can we demonstrate a good quality of care? In past years there was a number of publications promoting the importance of more practical wisdom or “phronesis” in health care professional practice. A review of literature on the subject was undertook and 37 papers were selected to answer the main question: how can we understand the meaning of practical wisdom and its place for a good quality of healthcare? Can practical wisdom be learned, taught, developed and cultivated? We will develop the mean findings of our review, highlighting the fundamental place of professional judgement in the profession. It is a question of using discernment and deliberation to decide the best action for the good of a unique person in a context of care. There is also the valorisation of a reflexive practice in clinical places as well as using narratives of experiences to learn discussion and reflection during undergraduate period. In all context of care practical wisdom can help midwives to use the strengths of EBM AND have a woman centered care. It is seen as a mean to flourish as a professional.
Recording: https://youtu.be/Ir1AJXKZVQs
