British Journal Of Midwifery

Professional midwifery advocates are offering their expertise in the form of a consulting service to better support practising midwives grappling with professional challenges

What is a professional midwifery advocate?

Midwives roles are dedicated to their profession, their patients, and giving their time to help women during their pregnancy, childbirth and post-partum period This job can be taxing on the health...

No woman should receive a wrong dose of oxytocin as a result of confusion over the name of a drug

Terminology review: changing culture to reduce risk

Oxytocin (Syntocinon®) and ergometrine with oxytocin (Syntometrine®) are two well-known brands of oxytocics in current use in maternity centres within the UK A recent incident alerted staff at...

Stress from working long hours and coping with workloads cause some midwives to burnout

Exploring problematic substance use among registered midwives

There is a united level of concern for the health and wellbeing of midwives in the UK, where recent research has shown that many of these midwives experience work-related stress and burnout (Hunter et...

It is important to recognise whether a woman has gestational diabetes mellitus early on in order to prevent complication in pregnancy

Gestational diabetes and ethics

According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) around 700 000 women give birth in England and Wales annually; up to 5% of these women have either pre-existing diabetes or...

Learning practical baby care skills can boost the confidence of both parents

Enabling perinatal volunteering

There is overwhelming evidence that volunteering and peer support has a unique and valuable contribution to make to ‘Better Births’ outcomes (Spiby et al, 2015; Parents 1st and Institute for Voluntary...

Why breech birth matters

I was recently teaching a physiological breech birth training day for Breech Birth Network, CIC where I met a wonderful doula with a vast amount of knowledge on physiological birth and supporting...

Does COVID-19 affect pregnant women?

Data released by the NHS has revealed a decrease in the number of women experiencing spontaneous labour

Induction of labour—the debate

Induction of labour is currently a topical issue in midwifery This month, I am risking controversy by discussing my thoughts on the debate over increasing induction of labour Over the past two years,...

Promoting leadership roles in midwifery

From one drama to another

Three years and five months ago, I embarked on what would become the most remarkable journey of my life to date-I started my training to become a midwife