Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women

Each midwife working in Queensland Health has access to two elements within the award
to assist them with professional development: a leave entitlement and a professional
development allowance. Section 8 – Industrial issues covers the award and provides current
links.
The ACM (www.midwives.org.au) has a formal continuing professional development program
(MidPLUS) and a peer review process called Midwifery Practice Review (MPR) providing
a good starting point for midwives and managers to plan professional development.
Queensland Health supports these initiatives and encourages midwives and their
line managers to incorporate the programs within their performance assessment and
development (PAD) processes.
A staged approach to professional capacity-building for MGPs
Midwives preparing for group practice may approach professional development in a number
of stages, starting in the planning phase of the model:
• develop an understanding of the philosophy of midwifery continuity of care models
• examine their own beliefs
• meet with an experienced continuity of care midwife and manager to undertake a clinical
skills assessment using the Australian College of Midwives skills inventory or similar
document
• review non-clinical skills with the support of a mentor. The personal attributes and nonclinical
skills of the midwife are listed under attributes of midwives working in continuity
of care models in Section 10
• write a professional development plan using the ACM professional development plan or
Queensland Health professional development proformas
• spend time with midwives already providing midwifery continuity of care prior to
implementation
• arrange support by a midwifery mentor in a formal mentoring process
• undertake Midwifery Practice Review or equivalent professional review process within a
time frame decided by the midwife and manager
• mentor to encourage the midwife to reflect and evaluate the clinical outcomes in the
continuity of care model after a period of time.
Development of personal beliefs and philosophy
Attributes of a midwife working in this model
The midwife began her regular visits with us, discussing everything with me from the
anatomy of the pelvis to tiredness. She was never prescriptive or judgmental, just kind and
respectful and experienced.
(Review of Maternity Services in Queensland)
A range of attributes of the midwife working in continuity of care models are listed by Pelvin
(2010):
• Empathy • Companionship • Honesty
• Commitment • Integrity • Robustness and resilience
• Decisiveness • Curiosity • Practicality
• Boldness • Reflectiveness • Friendliness
• Generosity
• Positivity
These attributes may come naturally to the midwife. However the midwife may, through
personal development processes, strengthen some of these attributes.
Midwives providing continuity of care develop and maintain skills across the full scope of
midwifery practice. They particularly have expertise in physiological birth and working with
women in partnership. Midwives may not have these skills on entry to continuity of care
models but may need support from managers and colleagues to develop them.
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Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women