Perspective - (2022) Volume 10, Issue 2
Received: 20-May-2022, Manuscript No. MACR-22-67963; Editor assigned: 25-May-2022, Pre QC No. MACR-22-67963 (PQ); Reviewed: 14-Jun-2022, QC No. MACR-22-67963; Revised: 22-Jun-2022, Manuscript No. MACR-22-67963 (R); Published: 30-Jun-2022, DOI: 10.51268/2736-1888.22.10.140
A Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) is a nurse who has received a master’s degree in midwifery, and has been trained in many aspects of comprehensive women’s health care. The word “Midwife” originates from the old English word mid “with” wife “Women”. While the profession has changed in many ways through centuries, the concept of being “with women” has remained the same. Midwives pride themselves on women-centered, individualized care for patients and their families. Midwives are specialists in the normal processes of pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Midwives manage many common obstetric complications and work in collaboration with Obstetricians to provide safe care for women.
In addition to working closely with partnering physicians to manage any potential difficulties, midwives are well-versed in a variety of issues. Care for women during pregnancy, childbirth (parturition), and the postpartum period, which frequently involves looking after the newborn, is referred to as midwifery. The midwifery model can be developed to a great amount by increasing their engagement in determining the health requirements of the local population, designing, managing, and evaluating maternal and health services, providing prompt and efficient referrals, and creating family-centered care.
India experiences a shortage of trained birth attendants, much like other developing nations do. The frontline (female) health professional in the rural healthcare system is the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM), who is also the focus of all programmes for reproductive and child health. The role and capabilities of ANM have changed significantly over time due to shifts in programme goals. In contrast to ANMs of the 1960s who were involved in delivery and basic curative services, the function of an ANM has evolved into that of a Multipurpose Worker (MPW) who is primarily involved in executing national health programmes. The evolution of this position had immediate effects on maternal health in India and the delivery of maternal health care there.
Even the quality of nursing and midwifery education has declined over time, which has helped to explain some of the SBA shortage in healthcare facilities.
A multidisciplinary network of consultation and referral with other healthcare professionals is part of midwifery-led continuity of care, in which one or more midwives have primary responsibility for the continuity of care for women who are expecting children. This contrasts with "medical-led care," where a family doctor or obstetrician takes the lead role. A midwife, obstetrician, or family doctor may all share responsibility under "shared-care" arrangements. Intimate interactions between the mother and the midwife occur frequently.
In both Britain and the United States, midwifery has flourished and persisted. It appears that it is still seen as a significant profession that women strongly respect. Although pre-industrial midwives had positions of relative authority, changes throughout the course of the next centuries weakened this authority. The standing of midwifery and the power of midwives have been impacted by the advent of science as a reliable source of knowledge, the involvement of men, and the impact of medicine on childbirth. Other professional bodies have been striving for control of the midwifery field of practise in the UK for the past 200 years. The potential for professional control to be a significant issue in the future of midwifery practise is set by changes in respect to the skill mix in maternity care and in supervision.