Authors
- Macdonald, Danielle RN BScN, BA
- Campbell-Yeo, Marsha RN, NNP-BC, PhD
- Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna RN PhD
- Aston, Megan RN, PhD
- Helwig, Melissa MLIS
- Baker, Kathy A RN, ACNS-BC, FAAN, PhD
Abstract
Review question/objective: The objective of this review is to identify, appraise, and synthesize the qualitative evidence about the experiences of midwives and nurses collaborating to provide birthing care. This qualitative review aims to answer the following question:
What are the experiences of midwives and nurses collaborating to provide birthing care?
Background: The focus of this systematic review is upon collaboration between midwives and nurses for the provision of birthing care. Collaboration is defined as:
Collaborative woman-centered practice designed to promote the active participation of each discipline in providing quality care. It enhances goals and values for women and their families, provides mechanisms for continuous communication among caregivers, optimizes caregiver participation in clinical decision-making (within and across disciplines), and fosters respect for the contributions of all disciplines.1 (p.15)
Interest in collaboration and the provision of health care, as a means to meet the growing complexity and diversity of patient needs is increasing for clinicians, administrators, politicians and decision makers. Specific to the provision of maternity care, several professional provider organizations in North America have released joint statements indicating their commitment to collaborative maternity care.2,3 Commitment to collaborative practice in maternity care, through joint statements, by national provider groups is commendable. However, the complexities involved in implementing and in sustaining collaborative practice require an understanding of current collaborative experiences.4
Facilitators for and barriers to collaboration have been commonly identified in the literature. Examples of facilitators for collaboration include; communication,5-12 clarity of roles,6-9,11,12 respect,5,6,8,10,12 trust,5,7,8,10,12 supportive institutions/organizations/culture,5-7,10,13,14 shared values or shared vision,9,12,13 and a willingness to collaborate.5,6,10 Examples of barriers include: poor communication,13,15-17 resistance to change,6,16 different philosophies,17,18 perceived threat to professional role,19,20 insurance and liability,18,20 lack of respect,17,20 lack of clearly defined roles,15,19 and lack of knowledge of other health disciplines.13,19 The interdependency of the facilitators and barriers is apparent, where the presence of one facilitator such as a willingness to collaborate often supports the presence of other facilitators such as communication and trust. Similarly, the presence of one barrier, such as poor communication, becomes a challenge to collaboration as a whole. Although these lists are not exhaustive, they do provide insight into the kinds of support and challenges that maternity health care providers may be experiencing in the establishment and maintenance of collaborative practice.
Access to maternity care providers is influenced by geography for women around the world. For example, in New Zealand, midwives are chosen as primary care providers by 75% of women requiring perinatal care,21 and in The Netherlands, midwives provide care to 50% of women at the beginning of delivery.9 However, in Canada, midwives in 2010 attended less than 5% of births.22 The different approaches to maternity care are reflected by the global variations in access to maternity care providers. These global variations of maternity care provision provide an opportunity to explore multiple models of collaborative maternity practice and to understand collaborative experiences from the perspective of numerous maternity care providers.
Collaboration in primary care, of which birthing care is a part, has become a focus for the improvement of the quality and efficiency of health care provided to individuals and families worldwide.13 Improved health outcomes identified as a result of collaborative care have included: lower caesarean section rates,5,23-25 reduction in the use of epidural anesthesia for pain management,6,23,24 reduced rates of episiotomies,24,25 increased breastfeeding rates,23,24 and improved patient satisfaction.5,26 The positive impact of collaboration on health outcomes in maternity care supports the need to explore the collaborative experiences of the professionals providing the care. Such an exploration can inform how best to support collaborative practice with the aim of achieving the best possible health outcomes.
There has been a focus on the collaborative relationships and attitudes between midwives and physicians in the literature.24-32 Midwives will be defined using the definition of a midwife from the International Confederation of Midwives,
"A midwife is a person who has successfully completed a midwifery education programme that is duly recognized in the country where it is located and that is based on the ICM Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice and the framework of the ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Education; who has acquired the requisite qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practice midwifery and use the title 'midwife'; and who demonstrates competency in the practice of midwifery."34
However, apart from midwives and physicians, other care providers also contribute to collaborative maternity care. For example, nurses work with both midwives and physicians in the provision of birthing care. Nurses will be defined as, "[horizontal ellipsis]self-regulated health-care professionals who work autonomously and in collaboration with others".35(p.6) The International Council of Nurses recognizes that nursing is more broadly defined,
Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles.36
Nurses, like midwives, provide direct care to women and families during labour and delivery. However, despite the similarity of their roles, differences exist.2 In Canada, for example, nurses have a history of providing maternity care within the health care system and midwives have not. The first introduction to regulated midwifery occurred in Canada in the province of Ontario in 1993.37 Health care providers and administrators continue to adjust to the integration of midwives into maternity care teams differently in each province.38 Challenges with collaborative practices amongst midwives and nurses have been identified by several Canadian researchers using qualitative methodology.8,14,39-42 An example of a common theme that was identified was the role confusion experienced by nurses working with recently integrated midwives.8,15,40-42
Despite these similarities and challenges, no comprehensive synthesis of the current evidence related to the experiences of collaboration among midwives and nurses has been conducted. Such a review would provide invaluable information to care providers and families providing or receiving birthing care. This systematic review of existing qualitative data will contribute to a comprehensive understanding about the collaborative experiences of midwives and nurses, and help to identify future directions for researchers and policy makers. A preliminary search of the Joanna Briggs Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports, CINAHL and PubMed has revealed that there is currently no systematic review published about this topic.
Article Content
Inclusion criteria
Types of participants
This review will consider studies that include midwives and nurses. Midwives and nurses with any length of practice will be included. Nurses who work in labor and delivery, post-partum care, pre-natal care, public health, and community health will be included in this systematic review.
Phenomena of interest
This review will consider studies that investigate the experiences of midwives and nurses collaborating during the provision of birthing care. Experiences will include any interactions between midwives and nurses working in collaboration to provide birthing care. Experiences can be any length in duration. Birthing care will refer to (a) supportive care throughout the pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum, (b) administrative tasks throughout the pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum, and (c) clinical skills throughout the pregnancy, labor, delivery and postpartum. The postpartum period will include the six weeks after delivery.
Context
This review will consider qualitative studies that have explored the experiences of collaboration in areas where midwives and nurses work together. Examples of these areas include: hospitals, birth centers, client homes, health clinics, and other public or community health settings. These settings can be located in any country, cultural context, or geographical location.
Types of studies
The review will consider English language studies that focus on qualitative data including, but not limited to, designs such as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, action research and feminist research. In the absence of research studies, other text such as opinion papers, discussion papers, and reports will be considered.
Search strategy
The search strategy aims to find both published and unpublished studies. A three-step search strategy will be utilised in this review. An initial limited search of PubMed and CINAHL will be undertaken followed by an analysis of the text words contained in the title and abstract, and of the index terms used to describe article. A second search using all identified keywords and index terms will then be undertaken across all included databases. Thirdly, the reference list of all identified reports and articles will be searched for additional studies. Studies published in English will be considered for inclusion in this review. Studies published from 1981 until the current date will be considered for inclusion in this review, given that the initiation of collaboration between nurses and midwives in Canada and internationally occurred 25 to 30 years ago.
The databases to be searched include:
Anthrosource
CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library)
CINAHL
EMBASE
PsycINFO
PubMed
Social Services Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts.
Journals deemed relevant but not indexed in databases will be hand searched such as:
Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice.
The search for unpublished studies will include:
New York Academy of Medicine Grey Literature Report
ProQuest Digital Dissertations
GrayLit Network
Conference Proceedings
Institute for Health & Social Care Research (IHSCR)
The Grey Literature Bulletin
Grey Source
SIGLE
Canadian Association of Midwives
Canadian Midwifery Regulators Consortium
Canadian Nurses Association
Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women's Health Nurses
American College of Nurse Midwives
Midwives Alliance of North America
American Midwifery Certification Board
North American Registry of Midwives
American Nurses Association
Association of Women's Health Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses
Royal College of Midwives
Nursing and Midwifery Council (UK)
Royal British Nurses' Association
Australian College of Midwives
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
Australian College of Nurses
New Zealand College of Midwives
Midwifery Council of New Zealand
Nursing Council of New Zealand
New Zealand Nurses' Organisation
Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives
Dutch Nurses Association
International Confederation of Midwives
International Council of Nurses.
Initial keywords to be used will be:
CINAHL
MeSH headings: Nurses, Maternal-Child Nursing, American College of Nurse-Midwives, Perinatal Nursing, Obstetric Nursing, "Association of Women's Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses", Midwives, Nurse Midwives, Midwifery Service, Nurse-Midwifery Service, Australian Rural Nurses and Midwives, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Intrapartum care, Obstetric Care, Obstetric Patients, Obstetric Patients, Obstetric Service, "Delivery, Obstetric", Obstetric Emergencies, Maternal-Child Health, Maternal-Child Care, Nurse-Midwifery Service, collaboration, joint practice, multidisciplinary care team, Attitude of Health Personnel, Nurse Attitudes, Midwife Attitudes, Teamwork, Work Environment, Health Facility Environment, Alternative Health Facilities, Alternative Birth Centers, childbirth, home childbirth
Key terms: nurs*, perinatal, obstetric, postpartum, prenatal, postnatal, midwi*, care, intrapartum, service*, patient, deliver, matern*, child*, interdisciplinary, health, team, joint, practice, collaborat*, multidisciplinary, teamwork, environment, home, birth, home visit, home visitors, experience, perception, perspective, qualitative
PubMed
MeSH headings: Nurses, Maternal-Child Nursing, Obstetric Nursing, Nursing, Midwifery, Nurse Midwives, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care, Obstetrics, Maternal-Child Health Centers, parturition, natural childbirth, home childbirth, prenatal education, cooperative behavior, attitude of health personnel, workplace, health facility environment
Key terms: nurs*, perinatal, obstetric, postpartum, prenatal, postnatal, midwi*, care, patient, service, deliver, intrapartum, nurse midwifery services, matern*, child*, service*, birth, home, interdisciplinary, team, health, multidisciplinary, teamwork, work, environment, home visit, home visitors, experience, perception, perspective, qualitative
Assessment of methodological quality
Qualitative papers selected for retrieval will be assessed by two independent reviewers for methodological validity prior to inclusion in the review using standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-QARI) (Appendix I). Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion, or with a third reviewer.
In the absence of research studies, textual papers selected for retrieval will be assessed by two independent reviewers for authenticity prior to inclusion in the review using standardized critical appraisal instruments from the Joanna Briggs Institute Narrative, Opinion and Text Assessment and Review Instrument (JBI-NOTARI) (Appendix I). Any disagreements that arise between the reviewers will be resolved through discussion, or with a third reviewer.
Data collection
Qualitative data will be extracted from papers included in the review using the standardized data extraction tool from JBI-QARI (Appendix II). The data extracted will include specific details about the phenomena of interest, populations, study methods and outcomes of significance to the review question and specific objectives.
In the absence of research studies, textual data will be extracted from papers included in the review using the standardised data extraction tool from JBI-NOTARI (Appendix II). The data extracted will include specific details about the phenomena of interest, populations, study methods and outcomes of significance to the review question and specific objectives.
Data synthesis
Qualitative research findings will, where possible be pooled using JBI-QARI. This will involve the aggregation or synthesis of findings to generate a set of statements that represent that aggregation, through assembling the findings rated according to their quality, and categorizing these findings on the basis of similarity in meaning. These categories are then subjected to a meta-synthesis in order to produce a single comprehensive set of synthesized findings that can be used as a basis for evidence-based practice. Where textual pooling is not possible the findings will be presented in narrative form.
In the absence of research studies, textual papers will, where possible be pooled using JBI-NOTARI. This will involve the aggregation or synthesis of conclusions to generate a set of statements that represent that aggregation, through assembling and categorizing these conclusions on the basis of similarity of meaning. These categories are then subjected to a meta-synthesis in order to produce a single comprehensive set of synthesized findings that can be used as a basis for evidence-based practice. Where textual pooling is not possible the conclusions will be presented in narrative form.
Conflicts of interest
The authors Danielle Macdonald BA BScN RN and Erna Snelgrove-Clarke RN PhD are both obstetrical nurses.
Acknowledgements
This review will contribute to the completion of a Master of Nursing, Dalhousie University.
Funding support has been received from the Master Level Scotia Scholars Award, Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, the Ruby Blois Nursing Scholarship, IWK Health Centre, the Electa MacLennan Memorial Scholarship, Dalhousie University School of Nursing, the New Ventures Fund, Dalhousie University School of Nursing, and the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship (Masters), Dalhousie University Faculty of Graduate Studies.
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Appendix I: Critical appraisal instruments
QARI appraisal instrument
NOTARI appraisal instrument[Context Link]
Appendix II: Data extraction instruments
QARI data extraction instrument
NOTARI data extraction instrument[Context Link]
Keywords: Collaboration; Midwives; Nurses; Obstetrics; Experiences