WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

skill mix. Her knowledge regarding unsafe staffing for that night gave her the confidence
to close Women’s Assessment Unit. Despite the busyness of the unit she has the added
challenge of having to provide midwifery care for a woman in a high risk situation.
Jane reveals in her decision making that she knows there is uncertainty with women in
labour and she needs to be prepared to manage the unexpected at any point in time. She is
a part of this environment which is not of her making and bases her preparedness on the
knowledge she has within her. Harman (2007) explains in his interpretation of Heidegger
that “direct presence of the world is never possible” and concealment belongs to the very
nature of the phenomena of ‘being’ (p.33). She knows what might happen, she will never
know everything that could happen, but with this premise Jane reveals how she is
thinking ahead all the time in her story.
The LMC has the right to hand over care just as her client has the right to an epidural but
neither are realities on this shift. Jane knows this and has to manage this reality the best
way she can in trying circumstances. Jane is reliant on the LMC to use her midwifery
skills to get her client through her pain barrier.
Jane knows the midwife caring for six ante natal woman on the ward feels unsafe so she
maintains contact with her for both their reassurance. She knows the consequences of
torrential haemorrhage with a placenta praevia and reveals her team approach to forward
planning the ‘what if’s’ for that woman needing to go to theatre for safe care. She knows
she has no option but to care for the woman who has arrived on delivery suite in the
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