Australian Private Midwives Association: January 2011

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Congratulations Justine Caines!

Today's Australia Day honors list included the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) being awarded to Justine Maree CAINES, who is well known to APMA as a maternity consumer activist.

Justine Caines, OAM

Citation: For service to the community, particularly in the area of women's health, maternity care and education.

September 2009, Canberra - more than 2000 people protest the government's maternity reforms, which threatened to deny Australian women the right to homebirth with a private midwife.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Eligible Midwives

Notation on the Register of Midwives as an 'eligible midwife' enables that midwife to apply to Medicare for a provider number, thereby providing rebate from the Australian government's Medicare program on certain midwifery services. Eligible midwives will also be able to prescribe certain scheduled medicines, after completion of an approved course of study, and after State and Territory laws have been amended to allow midwives to prescribe.

The national Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia's (NMBA) Guidelines and Assessment Framework for Registration Satandard for Eligible Midwives and Registration Standard for Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines for Eligible Midwives (pictured above) is available for downloading as a .pdf document at the Codes and Guidelines section of the NMBA website.

Resuscitation Guidelines

The Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) has now published its revised resuscitation guidelines for Basic, Advanced, Paediatric and Neonatal Life Support. These changes reflect the most recent scientific evidence which was evaluated and recently published by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) and its member organisations, including the Australian Resuscitation Council.

WHO ARE WE?

The Australian Private Midwives Association represents midwives in private practice. The association is focused on the safety of women, the ability of women to access quality midwifery care across Australia and the partnerships between women and midwives. APMA supports women’s choice in maternity options within a framework of quality and safety and believes in women being able to access midwives in all settings. APMA unites all midwives seeking to provide continuity of care for women.

APMA strives to provide midwives in private practice with information relevant to their practice and advocacy in the political process.

Enquiries:
Joy Johnston joy@aitex.com.au
Marie Heath NSW and National 0407 266004
Clare Lane (Vic) 0416 130219

APMA POSITION STATEMENT on PLANNED HOME BIRTHS WITH A MIDWIFE

1. We support home birth with a midwife in attendance for women who have uncomplicated labours. 2. We support and adopt the International Confederation of Midwives’ (ICM) Definition of the Midwife (2011), which is foundational to all midwifery practice, including homebirth. 3. We support the right of every woman to access a midwife as the primary maternity caregiver who works in partnership with the woman throughout the episode of care, who is able to be the responsible professional in attendance at the birth either at home or hospital, and who is able to make appropriate referral and transfer of care when required. 4. We support the right of a midwife to practise privately in a fee-for-service or funded relationship with the client, or to take up employment. 5. We support only those regulatory restrictions that are able to pass the ‘public interest’ test: “How does this promote health and wellbeing in the mother and baby?” 6. We support an expectation of equity, including equal pay for equal work throughout a midwife’s scope of practice. Midwives who provide primary maternity care are entitled to the same public funding, the same opportunity to charge a fee-for-service, the same access to hospital referral, and publicly supported indemnity insurance, as medical practitioners providing the same maternity services. 7. We support processes by which midwives are able to gain experience and mentoring in order to commence and demonstrate competence in homebirth practice. 8. We support seamless and reliable processes by which midwives are able to make hospital bookings for women planning homebirth, and arrange transfer to the hospital in a timely way when needed.

Australian Private Midwives Association

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Congratulations Justine Caines!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Eligible Midwives

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Resuscitation Guidelines

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