Vaginal birth after caesarean: how NICE guidelines can inform midwifery practice

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence ([NICE], 2019a) published new intrapartum care guidelines for women with existing medical conditions or obstetric complications and their babies...

A new tool to assess understanding of Down syndrome screening information presented by midwives

In England, Wales and Scotland, all pregnant women are routinely offered antenatal screening for Down syndrome (DS) at the booking appointment, according to the UK National Screening Committee...

How do risk management principles fit in with the reality of clinical midwifery?

Risk assessment and management is extremely important in midwifery However, it is unclear how its principles fit with day-to-day clinical midwifery practice While midwives are the inherent leaders of...

Management of first trimester pregnancy loss: mifepristone plus misoprostol versus misoprostol alone

Miscarriage occurs in 20% of all pregnancies (Fernlund et al, 2018) and medical management using misoprostol is now a popular treatment option as opposed to surgical intervention Current research...

Neonatal resuscitation: ‘room side to motherside’

From the moment of birth, around 90% of neonates initiate spontaneous respiration within 30 seconds (Resuscitation Council UK, 2016) For approximately 10% of neonates, this process takes a little...

The SAPlings project: an alternative antenatal care pathway

Antenatal care in Oxfordshire is predominantly a shared-care model based on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) antenatal care pathway Care is based in GP surgeries or...

Breast milk donation and bereavement

Choosing to donate breast milk can be a coping mechanism for grieving mothers

How To Have A Mindful Pregnancy

This handbag-sized wonder is my new favourite go-to as both a mother and midwife I only wish I had found it years ago! ‘How To Have A Mindful Pregnancy’ by Sian Warriner and Mark Pallis is packed full...

Perinatal mental illness and the midwifery role

Fighting flu: what needs to be done

As autumn approaches my thoughts turn, not to the new school term or autumn leaves but to the subject of vaccination Perhaps not what you thought I would say but, as midwives, we have access to a...

Baby Loss Awareness Week: ending the postcode lottery on therapy

In the minutes, hours, days and weeks after a family has learned that their baby has died, the care they receive from health professionals can have long-lasting effects Excellent care cannot remove...

The forgotten women of gynaecology

The atrocities of slavery in the USA in the 1800s have been well documented, but the development of gynaecological techniques using female slaves has not had the same acknowledgement Within midwifery...