Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death for middle-aged women in the developing world, yet it is almost completely preventable, if precancerous lesions are identified and treated in a timely manner. Cervical cancer screening based on cytologic examination is largely unavailable in developing countries or made available to a small, select group of women in private facilities, maternal child health sites, or family-planning clinics, missing the age groups at highest risk for precancerous lesions. Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) can be used to screen women. It can be done by nurses or midwives with appropriate training. Although still under investigation, research results show that VIA is simple, accurate, cost-effective, and acceptable to most women. This article reviews the natural history of cervical cancer and important aspects to consider related to cervical cancer screening in low resource settings. The VIA technique is described in detail.

As more US states recognize and license midwives of all credentials and in every practice setting, we can envision a time when equity, informed choice, safety, and seamless access to quality midwifery care will be the right of every birthing family.

One of the challenges in teaching clinicians is helping health care provider students, including midwives, develop the critical thinking and clinical decision-making skills needed for various situations encountered in practice. Health care provider students need to master the required core knowledge and skills but also need to assess, analyze, judge, decide on action, act, and evaluate their actions. Lecture-heavy classroom teaching, which is usually delivered separately from clinical experiences in health care education, focuses on knowledge acquisition, often leaving knowledge application to trial and error. Case studies are commonly used by faculty with a problem-based learning approach, which is more analytic but sometimes static. The unfolding case study presents students with a patient scenario that changes over time and allows for discussion; lecture points as needed; and decision making as the situation or condition changes, reflecting what happens in real-life clinical practice. The use of the unfolding case study moves health care provider education from fact-based lecturing to situation-based discussion and decision making as a person's condition or situation changes. Use of the unfolding case facilitates collaborative learning, covers necessary content, and assists students to think beyond the facts and use their clinical imagination. Unfolding case studies require students to begin to grasp the nature of a clinical situation and adjust interventions as the clinical situation unfolds. Steps in developing and using an unfolding case study for midwifery students are presented, including 2 examples. This article is part of a special series of articles that address midwifery innovations in clinical practice, education, interprofessional collaboration, health policy, and global health.