This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
Introduction
In 2010, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia introduced its registration
standard: Endorsement for scheduled medicines for midwives. A midwife holding this endorsement can apply to Medicare Australia for both a Medicare
provider number under the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and a prescriber number
under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Allocation of these numbers enables
midwives to provide women with Medicare-rebatable episodes of care, prescribe relevant
medications and order relevant Medicare-rebatable diagnostics. Uptake for the endorsement
has been slow, indicating that potential barriers affect midwives’ ability to make
use of the service provisions it enables.
Aim
To discover the mechanisms that help and/or hinder midwives to work to their full
scope of practice when they have completed a program of study leading to endorsement.
Methods
An observational (non-experimental) design in the form of an online web-based survey
was used. Most survey questions were quantitative, using closed questions with free
text options to provide any additional responses. Descriptive statistics were used
to analyse the survey results and content analysis was conducted on the qualitative
data collected in the free text boxes.
Results
Results indicated that barriers—such as the limitations of MBS and PBS provisions
for endorsed midwives and a general lack of support for the role—restrict endorsed
midwives’ ability to provide quality maternity services. Support for the role may
act as an enabler; however, midwives stated that personal determination and confidence
in their ability also promoted endorsement use. Recommendations for practice to strengthen
the endorsed midwife’s role include facilitating endorsement use in the public sector,
relaxing MBS and PBS restrictions, raising awareness of the role and scope and improving
midwives’ pre-endorsement preparation.
Conclusion
This study has highlighted the need for a holistic approach to support and develop
the role of the endorsed midwife.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Women and BirthAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.