WORKING AS A COORDINATOR MIDWIFE IN A TERTIARY ...

There is almost a sense of love/hate feelings for her job such are the swings of emotions
for Alice. She identifies her work as ‘people management’ in what is often a stressful
environment. At the same time, she is the professional who is central to everything
happening in the delivery suite, which is exhilarating and stimulating for her.
Alice continues:
‘Feeling the peck, peck, peck’
There’s the phone, and then people at you the entire time, peck, peck, peck; its
part of being the pivot. Some days it’s fine but when you’re busy it becomes hard
to deal with and gets frustrating especially when it’s not necessary.
How Alice reacts to people and situations is critical to the smooth running of the shift and
ultimately reflects on safe care for mothers and babies. Her description of being ‘pecked’
is effective and conjures up an unpleasant sense of being worn down by the persistency
of people, each with their own agenda. However there is also a sense that this is an
integral part of her role and something she has to manage. It is how Alice reacts to this
persistent pecking and sustains herself that reveals her leadership skills as a coordinator.
‘Solving the puzzle’
Sally uses a different analogy for describing her work:
I like coordinating because I enjoy being in control and seeing all the mess come
together. I enjoy having a great big puzzle that I can fix and bringing everything
together at the end of a shift, then knowing it all came together really well. Where
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