Skills for Midwifery Practice

[Extract] Welcome to the first Australia and New Zealand edition of Skills for Midwifery Practice. We sincerely hope you will find this text a useful addition to your bookshelf. Like our UK counterparts, we underpin our chapters with evidence related to midwifery care and we understand knowledge is rapidly superseded as new research emerges. We have attempted to capture a comprehensive range of woman-centred midwifery skills, but we recognise further advances in midwifery practice will continue as midwives strive to improve outcomes for women and babies.

As midwives, we are inspired by and privileged to accompany women, babies and families on their journey through the birth process. Midwives have a strong desire to provide excellent care and we recognise the importance of a midwife’s health, workplace safety and emotional wellbeing. This is your text and we hope it provides helpful information as you continue your midwifery journey.

The chapters have been ordered to reflect the flow through pregnancy, labour and birth, and postnatal care. Each chapter addresses woman and baby, where relevant, and theory and evidence sections precede each skill, explaining the underlying physiology. Australian and New Zealand guidelines, policies, standards, statistics, terminology, models of care and cultural considerations are all reflected.