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Let’s vote for midwives in Singapore

Health care systems are the strongest where doctors and midwives are working together in collaboration, benefiting from each others strong points.

It’s election fever in Singapore this week and I can’t help fantasizing about the year in the future when midwives are voted in as an integral part of the health care system.
Midwives being voted in to aleviate the patient loads from highly qualified surgeons (obstetricians), freeing up their time for the complex cases where their skills are so needed.
I’d vote for that!

The research below is becoming more and more accessible. I wonder if any of the deciders at the MOH have read any of this. What must they be thinking? Surely there’s some inspiration in this direction.
I so appreciate the drive in SG to be at the top of the stats for best in everything.

What about maternal outcomes?

Such a small, wealthy and organized country it could become a model for many others to follow!

‘The researchers reviewed data from 13 trials involving a total of 16,242 women. Eight trials included women at low risk of complications and five trials included women at high risk of complications. They looked at outcomes for mothers and babies when midwives were the main providers of care, compared to medical-led or shared care models. When midwives were the main providers of care throughout, women were less likely to give birth before 37 weeks or lose their babies before 24 weeks. Women were happier with the care they received, had fewer epidurals, fewer assisted births, and fewer episiotomies. An episiotomy involves making a surgical incision to reduce the risk of a tear. In addition, women who received midwife-led care were no more likely to have a caesarean birth, but they were in labour for about half an hour longer on average.

Based on these results, the researchers conclude that all women should be offered midwife-led continuity of care unless they have serious medical or obstetric complications. “Women should be encouraged to ask for this option,” said lead researcher Jane Sandall of the Division of Women’s Health at King’s College London in London, UK, who led an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Sheffield Hallam University, The University of Warwick and National University of Ireland Galway. “Policymakers in areas of the world where health systems do not provide midwife-led care should consider the importance of midwives in improving maternity care and how financing of midwife-led services can be reviewed to support this.”

See the full article here 

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