In a message dated 09/13/1999 8:33:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< My question to you and
others is that, is it crucial that midwives break association with
nursing and why? >>
Dear Helen,
Birthinghand asked some thought provoking questions.
For my own personal philosophy, you have distilled the questions to their
very essence.
Midwifery is believed to have been an independent profession long before
nurses/physicians came around. As an independent profession, the midwife
answers to her client and the clients personal situation allowing the midwife
to act in accordance with the midwifery model of care. The therapuetic
alliance, cornerstone of the midwifery model of care, is a conscious and
caring relationship designed to facilitate the highest level of self care
possible. (To me the therapeutic alliance is the midwifery model of care in a
single phrase!)
The co-mingling of nursing and midwifery produces a risk of divided
loyalties. The midwifery model and the medical model CAN coexist and provide
for different client needs as appropriate.
Can they do so in the same health care provider as the systems of health care
currently exist? When nursing and midwifery combine, the nursing model of
caring for the ill under the direction of physicians and midwives
independently caring for well women who happen to be pregnant (or not).....to
whom does the nurse midwife answer.........her physician or her client?
with an open heart and hope,
midge jolly
home based midwife in the florida keys
just marking time while we wait for the next hurricane floyd advisory.
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