Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Obstetrics and Midwifery

The Five Attributes of a Supportive Midwifery Practice Climate: A Review of the Literature

“…Finally, 29 articles were applied to the analysis. Of those 29 articles, 9 were commentaries, reports, or reviews; 10 applied qualitative methods; 7 applied quantitative methods; and 3 applied a mixed methodology . Ten specifically addressed CNMs/CMs in the United States, and 19 investigated midwives in high‐ and middle‐income countries outside of the United States (see Tables and ).…”

“…Two common styles of leadership were identified in the midwifery literature: situational and transformational. Situational leadership refers to adapting one's leadership style to the individual context . An example of situational leadership is giving concrete direction to a novice midwife regarding how to do a procedure, but gaining consensus from all team members when adopting a new treatment guideline.…”

“…Finally, role clarity is the extent to which providers understand their own function and the function of other team members, including specific responsibilities, objectives, and expectations, within the context of the work environment . In a health care setting, this includes all team members understanding the scope of practice of the other team members and assuming or relinquishing care as appropriate . In addition to being a key component of effective collaboration, poor role clarity is associated with burnout .…”

“…Maintaining control over midwives’ practice requires education, agreement, and documentation within the practice. Educating physicians and other team members on the training and scope of practice of midwives prevents misinformed restriction of practice . Formal practice policies, guidelines, and collaborative practice agreements have the power to protect or interfere with the ability of midwives to practice independently.…”

Student midwives’ perceptions on the organisation of maternity care and alternative maternity care models in the Netherlands - a qualitative study

“…A perceived power imbalance could harm inter-professional collaboration and may cause the experienced lack of trust [34]. The negative effect of the perceived power imbalance might be exacerbated by the obstetricians’ reported lack of knowledge about the midwives’ responsibilities and activities [10, 35]. Midwifery students in the Netherlands have some knowledge of the obstetrician’s and clinical midwives’ roles, yet medical students are rarely introduced to the roles of primary care midwives before they are required to work with them.…”