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    Keeping Birth Normal: Position Statement

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    Catur Erty
    The document discusses keeping birth normal and supporting midwives' role in normal childbirth. It defines normal birth as spontaneous and without medical intervention. It acknowledges factors like culture, lack of information, and fear that can influence women's decisions away from normal birth. The document recommends midwives be the primary caregivers for normal birth and that their education emphasize supporting normal physiology. It encourages promoting normal birth within healthcare systems and increasing midwives' skills to enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

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    Keeping Birth Normal: Position Statement

    Uploaded by

    Catur Erty
    80 views3 pages
    The document discusses keeping birth normal and supporting midwives' role in normal childbirth. It defines normal birth as spontaneous and without medical intervention. It acknowledges factors like culture, lack of information, and fear that can influence women's decisions away from normal birth. The document recommends midwives be the primary caregivers for normal birth and that their education emphasize supporting normal physiology. It encourages promoting normal birth within healthcare systems and increasing midwives' skills to enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

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    The document discusses keeping birth normal and supporting midwives' role in normal childbirth. It defines normal birth as spontaneous and without medical intervention. It acknowledges factors like culture, lack of information, and fear that can influence women's decisions away from normal birth. The document recommends midwives be the primary caregivers for normal birth and that their education emphasize supporting normal physiology. It encourages promoting normal birth within healthcare systems and increasing midwives' skills to enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    80 views3 pages

    Keeping Birth Normal: Position Statement

    Uploaded by

    Catur Erty
    The document discusses keeping birth normal and supporting midwives' role in normal childbirth. It defines normal birth as spontaneous and without medical intervention. It acknowledges factors like culture, lack of information, and fear that can influence women's decisions away from normal birth. The document recommends midwives be the primary caregivers for normal birth and that their education emphasize supporting normal physiology. It encourages promoting normal birth within healthcare systems and increasing midwives' skills to enhance maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    PS2008_007 V2014

    Position Statement

    Keeping Birth Normal

    Background
    Midwives’ practice must be informed by evidence-based knowledge to improve the quality
    and outcomes of midwifery care. ‘Keeping birth normal’ is an area of ICM strategy
    associated with women’s health, midwives’ education and practice, and existing health care
    systems.

    Midwives are advocates of normal childbirth. They can provide evidence to support the
    advantages of normal birth but women’s decisions are affected by factors such as:
     Culture
     Socio-economic issues and health care systems
     Lack of information about the benefits of normal birth
     A fear of normal birth
     An inability to trust their innate ability to give birth

    When midwifery education is limited solely to hospitals and medicalised clinical


    environments it may prevent midwives from practicing the full scope of midwifery practice
    as outlined in the ICM International Definition of the Midwife and the ICM Essential
    Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice. Such experience may impact on the ability of
    midwives to support women in achieving normal birth.

    ICM supports the following definition of normal childbirth:


     A unique dynamic process in which fetal and maternal physiologies and
    psychosocial contexts.
     Normal birth is where the woman commences, continues and completes labour with
    the infant being born spontaneously at term, in the vertex position at term, without
    any surgical, medical, or pharmaceutical intervention.

    Laan van Meerdervoort 70, 2517AN, The Hague, The Netherlands


    tel: +31 70 3060 520 www.internationalmidwives.org 1
    PS2008_007 V2014

    Position
    ICM supports normal childbirth, since for the majority of women, pregnancy and childbirth
    are physiological life events. The promotion of normal childbirth is included in the ICM
    Scope of Practice; therefore midwives should be competent in all means of supporting the
    physiology of childbirth. Women should have access to midwifery-led care, one-to-one
    support, including the choice of a home birth and immersion in water.

    Note: the term childbirth encompasses pregnancy, birth and postnatal period.

    Recommendations
    Member Associations are encouraged, in partnership with women, to:
     Promote normal childbirth within the maternity service.
     Confirm midwives as the primary caregiver and expert in normal childbirth.
     Enrich midwives’ education in order to enhance skills and competencies in normal
    childbirth.
     Organise educational courses to enhance midwives’ practice in normal childbirth.
     Increase midwives’ awareness of the benefits of normal childbirth in terms of
    maternal and neonatal health.
     Establish and use health care indicators and evaluate the results of midwives’
    practice in normal childbirth.
     Carry out research to demonstrate the effectiveness of midwifery care in normal
    childbirth.
     Influence and work in collaboration with Ministries of Health and other
    organisations.
     Participate in the strategic planning and decision making process related to
    maternity services thereby encouraging politicians to support normal birth.

    Related ICM Documents


    ICM. 2004. WHO/ICM/FIGO Joint Statement: Making Pregnancy Safer: The Critical Role of
    the Skilled Attendant.
    ICM.2008. Core Document.Vision Statement.

    Laan van Meerdervoort 70, 2517AN, The Hague, The Netherlands


    tel: +31 70 3060 520 www.internationalmidwives.org 2
    PS2008_007 V2014

    ICM.2011. Core Document. International Definition of the Midwife.


    ICM.2010. Core Document. Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice.
    Amended 2013.

    Other Relevant Documents


    Maternity Care Working Party. 2007. Consensus statement-Making normal birth a reality.
    National Childbirth Trust/Royal College of Midwives/ Royal College of Obstetricians
    and Gynaecologists, UK,
    WHO. 2011. Keeping birth normal.
    http://www.int/chd/publications/newslet/dialog/8/keeping_birth_normal.htm

    Adopted at Glasgow Council meeting, 2008


    Reviewed and adopted at Prague Council meeting, 2014
    Due for next review 2020

    Laan van Meerdervoort 70, 2517AN, The Hague, The Netherlands


    tel: +31 70 3060 520 www.internationalmidwives.org 3

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