Abstract
Background - Maternity care in Gauteng and South-Africa is at a crossroad: the public sector is overburdened, intervention rates are high in the private sector, and private obstetrician-led care is expensive. Midwife-led care has proven to be a safe model of maternity care, their outcomes and interventions compared well with the rest of the world, and is more affordable (Jordaan, 2015), but midwives need the backup of obstetricians and pediatricians when risk factors or complications arise. Obstetricians and pediatricians in the private sector tend to be ‘risk averse' and have a different philosophy about the ‘normalcy' of pregnancy and birth. To align with the global priorities in maternity care and to ensure quality of care, midwives, obstetricians and pediatricians cannot function optimally in their own silos, but they must collaboratively aim for evidence-based, women-centered care to ensure the safety and quality of care. Outcomes as well as satisfaction of care is thus affected by the way in which midwives, obstetricians and pediatricians communicate and collaborate regarding shared responsibilities.
Purpose - With this presentation the presenter aims to reflect on the barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration and woman-centeredness in the promotion of safe outcomes for mothers and babies in midwife-led private practice.
Methods - This is a personal reflection of the presenter as an independent midwife on the barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration in midwife-led care from seven years' experience. The personal reflection is compared with the evidence reported globally on barriers and facilitators, and how to break the silos down.
Results - Independent midwife-led care is expanding in South Africa, but they need to collaborate with obstetricians and pediatricians when there are complications during birth. Where there is inter-professional collaboration, low risk mothers and babies are referred to a safe, evidence-based, more affordable and women-centered service, while mothers and babies with complications benefit from a more intervention-based service. Important barriers to inter-professional collaboration include breakdown in communication, when midwives are expected to adhere to an intervention prone system of maternity care, and lack of mutual respect. Facilitators include mutual respect and understanding of each other's approach, open communication and learning with and from each other. Conclusions Inter-professional collaboration between independent midwives, obstetricians and pediatrician is important for optimal outcomes of mothers and babies. Implications Strategies should be formulated to establish inter-professional collaboration between midwife-led and obstetrician-led practices to benefit mothers and babies.
Sigma Membership
Tau Lambda at-Large
Lead Author Affiliation
Midwives Exclusive, Pretoria, South Africa
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Quality Improvement
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Mid-wife Led Care, Multidisciplinary Collaboration, Maternity Care
Recommended Citation
Jordaan, Christel, "Reflections on barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration in independent midwife-led care" (2019). Maternal-Child Health Nurse Leadership - Africa. 7.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/mchnla/2019/posters/7
Conference Name
Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice for Africa Conference
Conference Host
Tau Lambda at-Large Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International||Amref International University||WHO-FIC Collaborating Centre for the African region||Africa Interprofessional Education Network (AfrIPEN)||WHO Regional Office for Africa
Conference Location
Nairobi, Kenya
Conference Year
2019
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Faculty/Mentor Approved: Sigma Academy Participant Poster
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Reflections on barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration in independent midwife-led care
Nairobi, Kenya
Background - Maternity care in Gauteng and South-Africa is at a crossroad: the public sector is overburdened, intervention rates are high in the private sector, and private obstetrician-led care is expensive. Midwife-led care has proven to be a safe model of maternity care, their outcomes and interventions compared well with the rest of the world, and is more affordable (Jordaan, 2015), but midwives need the backup of obstetricians and pediatricians when risk factors or complications arise. Obstetricians and pediatricians in the private sector tend to be ‘risk averse' and have a different philosophy about the ‘normalcy' of pregnancy and birth. To align with the global priorities in maternity care and to ensure quality of care, midwives, obstetricians and pediatricians cannot function optimally in their own silos, but they must collaboratively aim for evidence-based, women-centered care to ensure the safety and quality of care. Outcomes as well as satisfaction of care is thus affected by the way in which midwives, obstetricians and pediatricians communicate and collaborate regarding shared responsibilities.
Purpose - With this presentation the presenter aims to reflect on the barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration and woman-centeredness in the promotion of safe outcomes for mothers and babies in midwife-led private practice.
Methods - This is a personal reflection of the presenter as an independent midwife on the barriers and facilitators for inter-professional collaboration in midwife-led care from seven years' experience. The personal reflection is compared with the evidence reported globally on barriers and facilitators, and how to break the silos down.
Results - Independent midwife-led care is expanding in South Africa, but they need to collaborate with obstetricians and pediatricians when there are complications during birth. Where there is inter-professional collaboration, low risk mothers and babies are referred to a safe, evidence-based, more affordable and women-centered service, while mothers and babies with complications benefit from a more intervention-based service. Important barriers to inter-professional collaboration include breakdown in communication, when midwives are expected to adhere to an intervention prone system of maternity care, and lack of mutual respect. Facilitators include mutual respect and understanding of each other's approach, open communication and learning with and from each other. Conclusions Inter-professional collaboration between independent midwives, obstetricians and pediatrician is important for optimal outcomes of mothers and babies. Implications Strategies should be formulated to establish inter-professional collaboration between midwife-led and obstetrician-led practices to benefit mothers and babies.