92925 Models of Midwifery Care

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject enables midwives to critically evaluate the benefits, obstacles and developmental strategies associated with innovative maternity service provision in Australia and internationally, in both public and private health systems. A particular focus of inquiry is the multiple ways midwives work in partnership with women. This includes accessing and critiquing contemporary research findings that inform practice development, ethical decision making, inter-professional collaboration and the implementation of cost-effective changes in maternity service provision. Students identify the personal and professional support and the practice development necessary to engender confidence in all those working to provide new models of maternity care. A framework that addresses the philosophical foundation of midwifery and the construction of midwifery knowledge underpins this subject.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. identify and critique the characteristics, the historical and cultural settings and place of midwifery care models in maternity service provision in Australia and in the international community
2. examine the political, economic and value systems that construct and constrain models of midwifery care
3. develop an understanding of change management processes that support the implementation of models of midwifery care
4. develop a range of personal and professional resources that are required in order to develop midwifery and maternity care in the 21st century.

Content

Subject content is divided into two major but related divisions, the work presented on UTSOnline and that of the workshop. UTSOline will guide you through selected readings and applications while the workshop develops your practical application. The content of the work in UTSOnline will change on a fortnightly basis.

Topics for the workshop may include.

• Philosophical positioning around continuity of care
• Woman-centred care and primary health
• Characteristics and attributes of models, organisations and midwives
• Creating change
• Strategies for creating and supporting change
• Collegial relationships and allegiances
• Consumer activism as a tool for change
• Developing sustainable models/avoiding burnout
• Writing a proposal for designing and implementing change
• Searching the databases for evidence
• Reading the research literature critically