Professor Jane Sandall
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery
King's College, London
57 Waterloo Road, London
SE1 8WA
Tel: 020 7848 3605
Fax: 020 7848 3506
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
http://www.kcl.ac.uk
home email:[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Devane Declan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: Science or art
> Excellent comment Lesley.
>
> Declan Devane,
> Midwife Teacher,
> School of Midwifery,
> Rotunda Hospital,
> Dublin 1.
> 01 8730700 EXT 1471.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Lesley Hobbs [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 7:53 PM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Science or art
> >
> > Bachelor of Midwifery it is, then.
> > Lesley
> >
> >
> > ----------
> > > From: Ishbel Kargar <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: Science or art
> > > Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2000 10:13
> > >
> > > Sharon wrote:
> > > <Dear Carol, My thoughts are that midwifery is an art, lets get away
> > from
> > > the 'science' model. >
> > >
> > > Susan wrote:
> > > <In some ways, I don't see that it matters. I have one degree that has
a
> > > science attached to it and I did fewer science and research and stats
> > > courses for that degree than I did for another that does not have (but
> > > easily could) science attached to the name of the degree.>
> > >
> > > We have had this debate, on and off, within the Association for many
> > years,
> > > without actually publishing anything strong enough to be put forward
as
> > "Our
> > > view". While the arguments wavered to and fro between the two, the
> > general
> > > feeling within ARM is that midwifery is both an Art and a Science. I
> > know
> > > this isn't helpful as far as designating a specific education course,
> > but
> > to
> > > treat midwifery exclusively as an Art denies the definite body of
> > knowledge
> > > which explains why certain things happen in certain ways. In just the
> > same
> > > way, to treat it exclusively as a Science denies the awareness of the
> > wide
> > > variation of individual differences which both women and their
midwives
> > > bring to the whole body of knowledge. There are extreme dangers in
> > taking
> > > either path exclusively, but great gains to both sides when
> > acknowledging
> > > (AND USING!) the knowledge base of both.
> > >
> > > Then there is the aspect of intuition - many experienced midwives have
> > > written about this on UKMidwifery mailing list - how they acted in a
> > certain
> > > way when the situation and evidence seemed to point in a different
> > > direction, and their intuition proved right. Is this a Science or an
> > Art?
> > >
> > > In general, Science looks for absolutes, and is not satisfied until a
> > > hypothesis has been either proved or disproved. This is fine when the
> > > variables are few, but midwifery deals with human beings, and the
> > variables
> > > can be infinitesimal - this is where the Art comes in.
> > >
> > > Just my thoughts, and I'm not an academic so I may be very wide of the
> > mark.
> > >
> > > In sisterhood
> > > Ishbel
> > >
> > > from
> > > Ishbel Kargar SRN SCM (retired)
> > > Admin. Secretary
> > > Association of Radical Midwives
> > > 62 Greetby Hill, Ormskirk, L39 2DT
> > >
> > > [log in to unmask]
> > > www.midwifery.org.uk
>
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