Speaker: Lia Brigante
Facilitator: Caroline Maringa
Midwifery continuity of care (MCoC) has been associated with improved maternal outcomes and with lower levels of preterm births and stillbirths. The majority of MCoC studies have focused on women without risk factors and little has been published on women with obstetric complexities. The aim of this study is to explore the views and experiences of women identified as a higher risk of preterm birth who have had continuity of care from midwives.
Design: Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with 16 women identified as at increased risk of preterm birth and experienced continuity of midwifery care across pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. Care had been provided by the pilot intervention group for the pilot study of midwifery practice in preterm birth including women’s experiences (POPPIE) trial.
Findings: Women valued continuity of midwifery care across the care pathway and described the reassurance provided by having 24 h a day, seven days a week access to known midwives. Consistency of care, advocacy and accessibility to the team were described as the main factors contributing to their feelings of safety and control.
Key conclusions: Recognising that known midwives were ‘there all the time’ made women feel listened to and actively involved in clinical decision making, which contributed to women feeling less stressed and anxious during their pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. When developing MCoC models for women with obstetric complexities: access, advocacy and time should be embedded to ensure women can build trusting relationships and reduce anxiety levels.
Recording: https://youtu.be/iK-Cr2puBZg
Title: When art and science collide: towards a political philosophy of humanised birth
Speaker: Elizabeth Newnham
Facilitator: Red Miller
In this presentation I draw together the various threads of my work to propose a political philosophy of birth space and practice. I first examine how the ‘science’ (of knowledge production) affects the ‘art’ (of midwifery practice) using the example of epidural analgesia, water immersion and constructions of ‘safety’ in obstetric discourse. From this, I introduce the conceptual framework of the ‘institutional paradox’ – the framing of particular practices as safe or risky, the effects of ‘institutional momentum’, and the precarious positioning of midwives as ‘guardians of normal’ within a system that views birth as, at best, risky, at worst, pathological. I then show how the influence of this institutional paradox leads to a form of rhetorical informed consent that enables dehumanising birth practices, before using the lens of care ethics to turn to the work of humanising birth, with a focus on relationality and the concept of attentiveness.
Recording: https://youtu.be/AshmJUtO7nI
Speaker: Ginger García Portocarrero
Facilitator: Susana Ku
El Colegio Regional de Obstetras III Lima – Callao, ha venido desarrollando un voluntariado en ayuda a la Maternidad Segura brindando temas en: consejería, telemedicina y campañas de salud reproductiva para los lugares más precarios de la ciudad.
Para este 2023, estamos relanzando voluntariado con el nombre de Brigada PRO (Primera Respuesta Obstétrica), que incluye temas de: soporte básico de vida, atención prehospitalaria de emergencias ginecoobstétricas y Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres; para asegurar una buena atención en los lugares menos accesibles de nuestra región. También, pretendemos contagiar y compartir el voluntariado para formar la organización: Obstetras Sin Fronteras.
En esta renovación se les dotará de un traje táctico especial para el trabajo de campo que las pueda identificar y desempeñarse mejor en sus actividades.
English:
The Regional College of Midwives III Lima – Callao, has been developing a volunteer program in support of Safe Motherhood providing counseling, telemedicine and reproductive health campaigns for the most precarious places in the city.
For this 2023, we are relaunching volunteering under the name of “Brigada PRO (First Obstetric Response)”, which includes topics such as: basic life support, pre-hospital care of gynecological and obstetric emergencies and Disaster Risk Management, to ensure good care in the least accessible places in our region. Also, we intend to spread and share volunteering to form the organization: “Midwives Without Borders”.
For this project, midwives will be provided with a special tactical suit for field work that will help them to identify and perform better in their activities.
Recording: https://youtu.be/zfwrQxweOwA
Speaker: Ally Anderson
Facilitator(s): Kate Frith
Abstract:
Background: Midwives are the foundation to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. Midwives facilitate physiological birth processes to support and enable women to have an optimal birth. Maternity care in the Czech Republic is obstetric led, medicalised and patriarchal. The Midwifery Unit Network collaborated with a Czech hospital to provide training for midwives on optimal birth techniques as part of a wider initiative to develop the first midwife-led unit in Prague. Aim: To explore the facilitators and barriers for implementing the learning objectives of a bespoke ‘Optimal Birth’ Programme into practice in a state hospital in Prague, Czech Republic. Method: A qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach was followed. Purposive sampling was used to select nine participants who met the selection criteria, were willing to participate, and signed the consent form. Data collection was via two participation observations and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was carried out on the data retrieved. Results: Six main themes emerged: politics and society, organisational culture, supporting physiology, models of care and technology use, resources to support practice shift and supporting the practice shift. Discussion: Many facilitators and barriers were discussed, ranging from the political and organisational level to the funding and resources available and the confidence of the individual practitioners.
Recording: https://youtu.be/VUdhypSe8B4
