A clinical update on hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome during pregnancy, birth and beyond
New estimates suggest that cases of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) along with the related hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) affect approximately 1 in 20 pregnancies globally per year. As such, cases in maternity services should no longer be considered rare, only rarely diagnosed. Read more...
Autonomy and its impact on midwifery practice
Autonomy is not a new concept in midwifery. Although not explicit, the term autonomy has been embedded in the definition of a midwife. Despite this, exercising autonomy in midwifery remains a global challenge. Read more...
Exploring informed consent in midwifery care
One of the single most important tenets of healthcare ethics is that of informed consent. Situated in ethical, legal and human rights frameworks, informed consent at its core represents the ability to retain autonomy over one's bodily integrity and to decide freely who can and cannot touch them. This article focuses on what ‘informed’ means in relation to consent and, importantly, aims to dispel myths around receiving informed consent in contemporary midwifery practice. Read more...
Ethnic health inequalities in the UK's maternity services
Maternal and infant mortality and morbidity have progressively declined in the last decade throughout the world, and there have been many improvements in the quality of maternity care in the UK. However, disparities remain between ethnic groups. Read more...
Midwives' role in screening for antenatal depression and postnatal depression
This is educational paper informs midwives of tools available to help them make appropriate provisional diagnosis of perinatal depression. A second aim of the paper is to increase midwives' awareness of the relatively newer diagnosis of antenatal depression. Read more...
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