WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

Alice explains what it feels like for her when she arrives at work and the emotions she
masks:
You are in a position where people who are looking at you are quite critical. I
come to work, take a couple of deep breaths. If I’m feeling anxious I try and get
rid of it and I try to be calm. I think about what I did and didn’t like about
coordinators I worked with and I try to use that as a bit of role modeling. I role
model myself on a coordinator who was very good when she came into the room
because she didn’t interact with the woman, she interacted with the midwife. She
said ‘hi’ to the woman but she wasn’t interfering. It’s how you present yourself
when you walk into a room. There are lots of little things to be working on and I
suppose it will all add up but I may never get to the sum total.
Alice’s story is another example of the masking of emotions with her role. What she is
feeling when she arrives on duty and how she portrays herself as the leader of the shift
are different. She conceals her apprehension and positively works on her emotions
because she recognizes her responsibilities being in charge of the shift; she is the leader.
Van Manen (1990) writes “the space in which we find ourselves affects the way we feel”
(p.102). Although the delivery suite unit is Alice’s working ‘lived space’ where she is
familiar and holds a position of power, she has learnt from a senior colleague she trusts
and by her role modeling, how to gain information effectively. Alice has learnt the
importance of upholding respect for the midwife and her client as she enters a room
where dynamics already exist and where she chooses to play the role of a guest in that
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