Women and Birth
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 117-120, September 2010

Advanced midwifery practice or advancing midwifery practice?

  • Rachel Smith
    • ,
  • Nicky Leap
    • ,
  • Caroline Homer

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, UTS, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9514 4834; fax: +61 2 9514 4835.

Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

Received 28 September 2009; received in revised form 11 November 2009; accepted 12 November 2009.

Summary 

Advanced midwifery practice is a controversial notion in midwifery, particularly at present in Australia. The proposed changes in legislation around access to the publicly funded Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in 2009–2010 have meant that the issue of advanced midwifery practice has again taken prominence. Linking midwifery access to MBS and PBS to a safety and quality framework that includes an ‘advanced midwifery credentialling framework’ is particularly challenging. The Haxton and Fahy paper in the December 2009 edition of Women and Birth is timely as it enables a reflection upon these issues and encourages debate and discussion about exactly what is midwifery, what are we educating our students for and is working to the full scope of practice practising at advanced level? This paper seeks to address some of these questions and open up the topic for further debate.

Keywords: Midwifery, Advanced practice

 

PII: S1871-5192(09)00088-2

doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2009.11.002

Women and Birth
Volume 23, Issue 3 , Pages 117-120, September 2010

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