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Midwifery in Wales

The Welsh Health agenda continues to provide challenges to midwives in the country In 2014, there was a fall in the birth rate of 06%: from 33 747 in 2013 to 33 544 (Office for National Statistics...

Vaginal breech births: the debate continues

It is not unusual for me to receive a press release or two a day about a new midwifery study with a headline meant to catch my attention. Most of the time I skim read them for importance and file them...

Twenty-two speed humps

Reminiscing about the publication of Changing Childbirth (Department of Health (DH), 1993) over a decade ago and looking forward to the outcome of the national maternity review, midwives continue to...

The ethics surrounding older mothers

In May 2015 a 65-year-old German single mother of 13, Annegret Raunigk, gave birth to quads One might have thought that this qualified Ms Raunigk as the world's oldest mother, but a BBC News report...

Perceptions of risk: How they influence women's and health professionals' choices

Physiologically and culturally, women are programmed and supported to provide an optimum environment for their unborn baby

Women's perceptions of perineal repair as an aspect of normal childbirth

In the UK 85% of vaginal deliveries will result in a woman sustaining some degree of perineal trauma, of which two thirds will require suturing (Bick et al, 2010) Simple perineal trauma is classified...

Routine screening of women having caesarean section for MRSA: Ritual or rational?

Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (also known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA) is a growing problem throughout the world, and although originally associated with...

Attitudes to immunisation in pregnancy among women in the UK targeted by such programmes

The ability to safely and effectively vaccinate in pregnancy offers important protection to both pregnant women and their babies in utero and from birth against potentially serious infectious diseases...

A national online survey of UK maternity unit service provision for women with fear of birth

There is no agreed definition on what fear of birth (FoB) is, largely due to the differences in its diagnostic testing (Haines et al, 2011) However, Areskog (1982: 263) defined severe FoB in women who...

The development of midwifery education in Brunei Darussalam

The contemporary definition of a midwife is greatly influenced by international organisations In 1972, the International Confederation of Midwives' (ICM) definition of a midwife was formally accepted...

Are midwives ready for revalidation?

From April 2016 the only way midwives and nurses will be able to renew their registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) will be through a process called revalidation, the purpose of...

What do service users want and who cares?

The word midwife originates from Middle English: probably from the obsolete preposition mid meaning ‘with’ and wife in the archaic sense of meaning ‘woman’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2015) The current...

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