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Dear Lisa
An interesting study indeed. The most comparable service I believe is that of the Undertaker! I had a student a few years ago who had previously been an undertaker and the conversations we had around the similarities between the two of our services at the start and end of life: the need for compassion, the communication skills (especially with bereaved relatives) but also the washing of the body , the treating of the body with respect, but also the aspects of ‘celebration’, celebrating new life and the life of someone who has lived.
I wonder if this is something you could explore? Not sure there is anything written about it. . Mary Stewart also has an interest in this
Best wishes
Jenny
From: A forum for discussion on midwifery and reproductive health research. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Berglind Hálfdánsdóttir
Sent: 17 January 2014 15:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Comparing midwifery to other industries
Dear Lisa and others!
This is a very interesting subject, and one I have often discussed with my father, who is an airline pilot, and my husband, who designs boats. Both the aviation and nautical industries are highly regulated and I have no doubt that the health care system could learn from their regulation on work hours, work load etc. We could also learn from the way those industries deal with mistakes or accidents, where the primary investigation is not about the individual who actually did the mistake, but the integrity of the systems that were supposed to prevent or minimize human error (including regulation on hours and work load).
Unfortunately I am not aware of any research done on this subject, but I suspect that this is also a very political issue. Measures to optimize safety are expensive, and in my country, Iceland, it is interesting to see how regulation on aviation and sailing, which the government supervises but does not have to fund, seems to be much more stringent than regulation on health care, which is governmentally funded. From what I hear this is also the case in other countries.
I am also doing doctoral research on home birth (in Iceland) and would be very interested in what you will find on this subject. The more I study home birth the more convinced I become that the ICM pillars of midwifery, education, regulation and association, are also vital to successful home birth services.
My best,
Berglind Hálfdánsdóttir
Doctoral student of midwifery
University of Iceland
Ţann 17.1.2014 11:56, skrifađi Lisa Common: