News tagged with midwives
The terror of childbirth under siege
One Abstract published Online by The Lancet gives the harrowing accounts of women who had to give birth during the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip in December 2008 and January 2009. The paper is by Sahar Hassan and La ...
Jul 01, 2010 |
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Surge in births after deadly New Zealand quake
As many as 240 people likely died in New Zealand's devastating earthquake, but health services have also been stretched coping with a different problem -- a surge in new life.
Mar 01, 2011 |
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Emotions should be taken seriously
Health workers trained to take emotions more seriously may prevent depression among patients, a recent study at the University of Stavanger finds.
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jan 20, 2010 |
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Two studies present new data on effects of alcohol during pregnancy
Scientific data continue to indicate that higher intake of alcohol during pregnancy adversely affects the fetus, and could lead to very severe developmental or other problems in the child. However, most recent publications ...
Oct 15, 2010 |
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Doulas may indicate failings in patient care, warns doctor
The presence of doulas (paid birth assistants) during labour may alter the doctor-patient dynamic and can compromise communication and therefore patient care, warns a doctor in the British Medical Journal today.
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Midwifery
Midwifery is a health care profession in which providers offer care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labour and birth, and during the postpartum period. They also help care for the newborn and assist the mother with breastfeeding.
A practitioner of midwifery is known as a midwife, a term used in reference to both women and men, although the majority of midwives are female. In addition to providing care to women during pregnancy and birth, many midwives also provide primary care to women, well-woman care related to reproductive health, annual gynecological exams, family planning, and menopausal care.
In the term midwife, the morpheme -wife is pronounced as expected (/waɪf/), but midwifery is normally pronounced /mɪdˈwɪf(ə)ri/ (mid-wif-(ə)ree).
Midwives are specialists in low-risk pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, although they are trained to recognize and deal with deviations from the normal. Obstetricians, in contrast, are specialists in illness related to childbearing and in surgery. The two professions can be complementary, but may be at odds in some countries, where obstetricians are taught to "actively manage" labor, while midwives are taught not to intervene unless necessary.
Midwives refer women to general practitioners or obstetricians when a pregnant woman requires care beyond the midwives' area of expertise. In many parts of the world, these professions work together to provide care to childbearing women. In others, only the midwife is available to provide care. Midwives are trained to handle certain more difficult deliveries, including breech births, twin births and births where the baby is in a posterior position, using non-invasive techniques.
Compared with obstetricians, midwives offer lower maternity care cost, and midwife-led births are associated with lower intervention rates, reduced mortality and morbidity related to interventions, and fewer recovery complications, though this is largely due to the fact that they work with women who have low-risk pregnancies compare to obstetricians, not because there are lower risks to midwife deliveries.
For more information about Midwifery, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
