Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women

– on-call arrangements
– relief
– (See appendix 3.07 for sample orientation program).
• Advertise and recruit.
• Implement orientation plan.
• Project officer coordinates professional development planning and mentoring for
midwives (see Section 9).
• Facilitate partnership arrangements among the caseload midwives. Support midwives to
determine their practice partners, considering factors such as personality, geographical
location, like strategies and practice philosophies.
• The project officer and/or midwives source and obtain equipment for the model (see
Appendix 3.08).
• The project officer obtains pagers, telephones, arrangements and agreement for car usage
(hospital or personal vehicles).
• In rural services, the project officer and midwives should consider if accommodation is
required for midwives in the town where intrapartum care is provided.
• The project officer, Midwifery Unit Manager and midwives (referred to as the ‘project
team’) will review (or develop if necessary) multidisciplinary workplace guidelines
including:
– criteria to determine who receives continuity of midwifery care (see Section 2)
– consultation and referral pathways to be used with ACM Consultation and Referral
Guidelines (2008)
– processes that provide for informed choice (including where women make decisions
outside of agreed pathways)
– ensure case review pathway is developed and agreed
– internal and external communication tools and pathways including regular case
conferencing with obstetric staff (internal or external to service)
– pathways to order and access pathology and diagnostic imaging.
• The project officer and Nursing/Midwifery Unit Manager will identify and resource office
and meeting space for caseload/group practice midwives or for the team.
• Communication pathways with tertiary services will be developed and provided to the
tertiary service.
• Communication and referral pathways with allied health staff will be developed, including
hospital and community-based social workers, physiotherapists, dieticians, etc.
• The project team will develop or secure consumer-friendly information resources.
• The project team adopts the statewide KPIs for midwifery models of care.
• Senior staff will ensure that an administration officer (AO) is recruited or deployed to
manage ongoing administration, information technology (IT), develop letter templates for
referral, wait list process, phone enquiries, etc.
References
Resources available for Phase 3 include industrial agreements and local midwifery agreements.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) standards should be followed and are
accessible from www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au
The Australian College of Midwives (ACM) Skills inventory is the appropriate tool to identify
any up-skilling requirements and is available via ACM’s MidPLUS program.
Use the principles outlined in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
National Guidance on Collaborative Maternity Care 2010. Available from:
www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/cp124
24
Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women