High Tech Tools for Low Tech Providers

Midwives know that technology innovation in maternity care has been a mixed blessing. Fetal monitors provide reassurance while increasing interventions and cesareans. “Better” drugs for pain relief lead to more mothers laboring in hospital beds with no feeling in their lower extremities. Improvements in care of preterm babies mean less motivation to keep babies inside their mothers until they’re ready to come out.

All this makes us ask, “Is there a place for new technologies in a profession that cautiously guards the sanctity of physiologic birth?” Electronic Charting maybe be that place as a form of technology that is not used on the mother, but instead is used to communicate with her and provide resources that support her ability and her right to self-directed care.

This workshop reviews the trends surrounding the EHR adoption in the US and details on how an EHR designed for midwives can support shared decision making and woman-centered maternity care.

Informed Consent Process for Midwives

This session provides an overview of key areas of the Current and New US Health Care laws that are consistent with the Midwives Model of Care. An ethical perspective of Informed Consent as an ongoing process of communication and documentation will dovetail with specific initiatives in the PPACA including “preference sensitive care” and relevant “decision making tools’ for maternity care.

We outline the updated standards of the North American Registry of Midwives for Informed Consent, including Shared Decision Making, a Midwife’s Plan of Care, Informed Disclosure for and Midwifery Care.

We conclude with tools for implementing Informed Consent into practice settings that reflect on social, cultural, and other individualized needs of midwifery patients as well as tools for communicating these new standards to the general public as a tool for midwifery advocacy.

Midwifery Ethics

In today’s maternity services ethical issues are everywhere, and yet there is often a poor understanding of how practitioners deal with them. Many qualified midwives, while believing that they are ethical in their work and lives, might find it difficult to define what this means in practice.

We all have to make decisions everyday with clients, other health care providers and our own families. This workshop explores the ethical issues that face midwives in today’s world, as well as strategies for resolving these issues. Participants will discuss the ethical issues relating to accountability, autonomy, confidentiality, informed consent, and the use of technology.

Preceptor-Apprentice Relationships

This session is designed to meet the needs of both preceptors and apprentices and to help avoid common problems in the preceptor-apprentice relationship. Discussion includes the role and responsibility of the preceptor and apprentice, advantages and disadvantages to the apprenticeship model of education, avoiding common misunderstandings between preceptors and apprentices, and documenting the apprenticeship for the NARM application process.

NARM and the CPM Process

This workshop explains the development of the NARM process and the requirements for CPM certification. The session is designed for apprentices who intend to apply for CPM certification and for the preceptors who will train them to meet these requirements. It is also a very valuable workshop for anyone who is interested in seeking legislation to license midwives using the CPM process as a basis for licensure.

Participants will become familiar with all routes of entry into the CPM process, how the criteria for certification were determined, and how each element of the process contributes to the reliability and validity of the credential.

Charting for Midwives

Midwives often view documentation as a necessary chore, but one that is not as important as providing hands on care. Yet Documentation is one of the most critical skills that a midwife will perform. Although we tend to approach documentation casually, our entire career could depend upon the accuracy and completeness of our charting. How much should be charted and why?

In documenting we need to keep in mind the possible legal and ethical complications, and the legal relevance of malpractice. Documentation is also a key component of verifying apprenticeship training. All preceptors and apprentices should be familiar with NARM requirements for charting and documentation of apprenticeship.

Preparing for Legislation

This workshop is for midwives and consumers who are preparing to lobby for legislation to license midwives in their state. The workshop is an overview of the legislative process and lobbying strategies, and includes actual training for lobbying, including writing fact sheets, giving interviews, making the best use of the 15 minute or 2 minute opportunities for speaking with legislators, giving testimony at public hearings and legislative committee sessions, and answering tough questions spontaneously. Information is drawn from the recent experiences in states that have been working on legislation. An update of the current status of midwifery legislation across the country is included.

For further information please contact me at brynne@getprivatepractice.com.