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Working with private hospital midwives in Victoria, Australia to identify practice change priorities : Outcomes of a Delphi study
Dawson, Kate Bayes, Sara Gilbert, Stacey Sayers, Kylie Kelly, Isabella
Dawson, Kate
Bayes, Sara
Gilbert, Stacey
Sayers, Kylie
Kelly, Isabella
Abstract
Objective/aim
In this study, we invited midwives working at one metropolitan private hospital in Victoria, Australia to identify their workplace change needs and priorities for research.
Methods
In this two-round Delphi study, all midwifery staff within the maternity unit of a private hospital in Melbourne, Australia were invited to participate. In round one, participants joined face-to-face focus groups to put forward their ideas for workplace change and research ideas, and these data were developed into themes. In round two, participants ranked the themes in priority order.
Findings
The top four themes identified by this cohort of midwives were: ‘Ways of working – investigating alternate ways of working to enable greater flexibility and opportunities’; ‘Understanding midwifery – working with the executive team to highlight the nuances of maternity care’; ‘Education – increase in staff in the education team to provide a greater presence and opportunity for education’; and ‘Postnatal specific – review ways of working in postnatal areas’.
Key conclusions
A number of priority research and change areas were identified which, if implemented, would strengthen both midwifery practice and midwife retention in this workplace. The findings will be of interest to midwife managers. Further research to evaluate the process and success of implementing the actions identified in this study would be valuable
Keywords
midwifery workforce, Delphi study, research priorities, midwife well-being
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Midwifery
Book
Volume
124
Issue
Page Range
1-5
Article Number
Article 103767
ACU Department
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).