Dear Celine, Jenny and Ellen,
Thanks for your thoughts; they are truly inspiring. I talked with somebody
else, and I really like the idea of directing at an own body of knowledge.
Celine, maybe we'll get back to you as this journey is starting in the
French speaking part, but the decision will affect the Germanspeaking area.
I do agree with Ellen on obstetrics ( if we solely look at the word, not its
current meaning). Having Dutch roots, I certainly do not agree that
gynaecologists do "obstetrics", as this got nothing to do with the illness
orientation that medicine has.
So according to that view, an obstetrician is a king without a kingdom. But
how can you change cultural traditions ??
Please don't stop the discussion...
Ans
-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health
research. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]Namens Ellen Blix
Verzonden: Samstag, 17. Dezember 2005 21:55
Aan: [log in to unmask]
Onderwerp: The midwife has many names and what is wrong with obstetrix?
Dear Celine and all others
Sage-femme in French and "jordmor" in Norwegian and Danish. "Jord" is earth
and "mor" is mother, it means the person lifting the newborn baby from the
earth (the floor). Another term for giging birth was "laying on the earth"
In the good old days the midwife had the responsibility of bringing the
newborn from to the (presumed) father, he would take the baby in his lap,
look at it and accept it or not. If he accepted the baby the midwife would
bring it back to the mother, if not she would arrange that someone took the
baby outside and left it there for the wolfs and ravens. In German the
midwife is called Hebamme, from "heben" which means lifting up, so it
probably has the same meaning as the Norwegian/Danish term. The Swedish term
is "barnmorska" which comes from "badermoderche" which again means the woman
who is giving the newborn its first bath. Another old Nordic term for
midwife is ljosmodir, it is used in Iceland. "Ljos" means light and "modir"
mother. I guess it points to the term "ljosbarn" (barn= child), it means the
newborn baby. Another Nordic term for women helping with childbirth is
"nærkone", it means a (married) woman being close. The latin "obstetrix"
means "who is standing close to", and "obstetrices" were the Roman midwives.
Anyway, MARRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!
Greetings from Ellen (jordmor)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Céline lemay" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: Bachelors of what ?
> Dear Ans,
>
> In Québec (Canada), we finaly chose "Bachelor in practice of midwifery".
> ( Baccalauréat en pratique sage-femme), in 1999. I like this contribution
> to the visibility of the fact that midwifery is essentially a practice. To
> be exact, I found that it is a "praxis", but forget it. I just like to be
> inspired silently by that.
> Science is a trap to fall in the medical model of practice quite fast.
> Art doesn't look too serious, even if midwifery is a real art.
> For us, bacc is a 4 years of formation and a master degree would mean the
> addition of 2 more years. How can we justified to have a 4-6 years of
> training to be able to deal with healthy clients and physiological process
> most of the time? Only the medical model would justify that: just about
> the same as medicine. Midwives are not a kind of doctor or a kind of
> nurse. It is a distinct profession.
> I think that I am doing midwifery, not obstetrics. Obstétrics is but a
> small part of my job. It would be too reductionist and confusing to use a
> name that means "obstetrics". The name will strongly color the identity
> and the orientations of the program.
> I don't know the german language but I am proud to use "sage-femme", wise
> woman. We need so much to be connected to wisdom. Sage-femme is different
> than "accoucheur" which is only related to childbirth.
>
> those are my thoughts,
>
> Céline Lemay
>
> Original Message -----
> From: "Ans Luyben" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 6:51 AM
> Subject: Bachelors of what ?
>
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> As due to Bologna most midwifery programmes in Switzerland are changing to
> Bachelors and Masters programmes we experienced having difficulties with
> deciding for an appropriate title.
> The possibilities are:
> - Bachelors of Science in...............
> - Bachelors of Arts in.................
> - Bachelors of ...................... ( equivalent of midwifery)
> Can anybody provide me arguments for one of them and share their thoughts
> with me ????
>
> Important considerations to me are:
> - Equivalent to midwifery programmes in other countries
> - The Novice to Expert model of Benner's, which has implications for
> further
> study: masters etc.
> - having an own body of knowledge
> - coherence to the masters' titles; several midwives preferred a master of
> science
>
> One of the issues certainly is that we in the germanspeaking and french
> speaking countries have a professional title, but are lacking a defined
> professional area ( such as "midwifery"). It should be "geburtshilfe" (
> obstetrics), but that was taken over by the medical profession in earlier
> days, as in most other countries.
>
> Thanks !!
> ¨
> Ans Luyben
>
> Ans Luyben
> Lagerstrasse 9
> 7000 Chur
> E- mail: [log in to unmask]
> Tel.p. 081- 2840810
> Tel.w. 081- 3540951
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