Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women

Section 11
Collaborative maternity care
It is clear the best outcomes in maternity care occur when there is
effective collaboration between health practitioners. In cases of
poor outcomes, the great majority are found to have problems in
communication as a root cause while only a small minority result
from inadequate skills.
The NHMRC Collaborative Guidance for Maternity Care (2010) provides
direction to Australian clinicians providing maternity care. This guide,
endorsed by Queensland Health, should be referred to by those providing maternity care and
used to guide collaboration between all caregivers, both within and outside the service. The
NHMRC Guidance may be found at: www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/cp124
In Chapter 5 of Midwifery Continuity of Care, Homer, Brodie and Leap (2008) describe and
explore how midwives and obstetricians can successfully work together.
Good collaboration does not require every practitioner to be involved in every woman’s
pregnancy. It is about women and their babies accessing the care they need, when needed,
from caregivers who communicate and work effectively together.
Definition of maternity care collaboration
In maternity care, collaboration is a dynamic process of facilitating communication, trust
and pathways that enable health professionals to provide safe, woman-centred care.
Collaborative maternity care enables women to be active participants in their care.
Collaboration includes clearly defined roles and responsibilities for everyone involved in the
woman’s care, especially for the person the woman sees as her maternity care coordinator.
(NHMRC 2010)
Communication as the first stage of collaboration
Collaborative maternity care needs to be consciously built by service leaders. There is a long
process of developing pathways of communication and trust prior to collaborative maternity
care working well. There are some processes to fast track this communication that can be
undertaken as a part of the planning and development of midwifery models of care. Section
3 outlines the steps to commence processes of engaging stakeholders. Section 5 outlines
cultural change and Section 9 outlines professional development for midwives. These are
important elements of building collaboration.
Collaborative maternity care may start with communication with internal stakeholders and
additionally in engaging external stakeholders.
Networking to develop communication pathways
It is extremely important that effective networking provide an opportunity for all interested
parties to contribute and participate in the development of the midwifery continuity of care
model. Steps to provide a path for effective networking include:
• identifying individuals and groups who have an interest in maternity care and inviting
them to participate in developing a local continuity model
• identifying these groups may be by word of mouth, through other organisations with
whom relationships exist or through social and other media
• an invitation for external stakeholders to attend an information session, a brainstorming
exercise or focus groups could be the first stage
• consideration of the local context needs to be the focus for the development of
partnerships (new or ongoing) that are required and suited to the local population and
geography
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Delivering continuity of midwifery care to Queensland women