Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women

Section 9
Professional development and capacity building
Overview
My midwife’s care was holistic. I received:
• nutritional advice for myself and my family
• emotional support and counseling
• evidence-based information relevant to all aspects of pregnancy, birth and post-natal care
as well as information drawn from her own experience.
• standard ‘technical’ midwifery care associated with my physical wellbeing
• breastfeeding advice and support
• respect for my choices and ideas and beliefs
• a carer I respected and trusted
• physical and emotional preparation for the post-natal period and motherhood
• resources and referral for additional support or assistance if I needed it at all stages of the
child-bearing ‘year’.
(submission, Review of Maternity Services in Queensland)
Midwives moving into a continuity model of care have particular professional development
needs. Staff establishing new continuity models need to plan specifically for this.
Midwifery is undergoing a significant transition as a profession. At the professional level,
there is a strong move to providing continuity of care. Equally significant steps include the
separation of midwifery and nursing as two distinctly regulated professions and graduation
of increasing numbers of midwives who are not nurses. For maternity service managers, this
means that development of midwifery models, especially providing continuity of care across
the full scope of practice, will be required to attract and retain their midwifery workforce.
It is important to note that continuity models require staff to maintain competence across the
normal scope of practice for a midwife, which is not advanced practice. For this reason, and
because philosophical orientation is so important, new graduates can be ideal recruits.
Midwives in continuity models have increased autonomy, accountability and competency
requirements in their clinical practice relative to many conventional models. However there
are also professional development needs that relate to the philosophy of care in continuity
models and the different relationship this leads to with women. This is discussed in Section
4 in greater detail. Planning and preparation for midwifery continuity of care models must
include adequate professional development and upskilling. It is not possible to simply rely
on award provisions to provide this level of support.
At the district level, a range of strategies will be needed to ensure that midwives are able to
meet the needs of women accessing the midwifery continuity of care model. A continuing
development plan for the group, as well as for the individuals within the MGP, is essential.
Midwives who have worked in a variety of contexts and across the full scope of midwifery
practice will be more readily able to make the move into a midwifery group practice. However
all midwives can expect a level of upskilling in both clinical and non-clinical
elements. Mentoring programs to assist in the transition to working in a
caseload or team model are pivotal to ensuring midwives can easily
make the adjustment.
All midwives
All midwives are responsible for their own ongoing professional
development and competency. National registration requires all
registered midwives to provide evidence of continuing professional
development (CPD) and provide annual documentation of at least
20 CPD points. For more information refer to the Australian Health
Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) website www.ahpra.gov.au
A guide to implementation
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