Abstract
Background
Efforts to resolve the longstanding and growing staffing crisis in midwifery in the
United Kingdom have been hampered by very poor retention rates, with early career
midwives the most likely to report burnout and intention to leave the profession.
Aims
To establish the key, self-described factors of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at
work for early career midwives in the United Kingdom, and suggest appropriate and
effective retention strategies.
Methods
Thematic analysis was undertaken on a subset of free text responses from midwives
who had been qualified for five years or less, collected as part of the United Kingdom
arm of the Work, Health and Emotional Lives of Midwives project.
Findings
Midwives described feeling immense pressure caused by an unremittingly heavy workload
and poor staffing. Where relationships with colleagues were strong, they were described
as a protective factor against stress; conversely, negative working relationships
compounded pressures. Despite the challenges, many of the midwives reported taking
great pleasure in their work, describing it as a source of pride and self-esteem.
Midwives valued being treated as individuals and having some control over their shift
pattern and area of work.
Discussion
These results, which reveal the strain on early career midwives, are consistent with
the findings of other large studies on midwives’ wellbeing. All available levers should
be used to retain and motivate existing staff, and recruit new staff; in the meantime,
considerable creativity and effort should be exercised to improve working conditions.
Conclusion
This analysis provides a ‘roadmap’ for improving staff wellbeing and potentially retention.
Abbreviations:
WHELM (Work, Health and Emotional lives of Midwives), UK (United Kingdom), NHS (National Health Service), RCM (Royal College of Midwives), MW (Midwife)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 21, 2020
Accepted:
January 4,
2020
Received in revised form:
December 20,
2019
Received:
October 5,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
