The role of the midwife in Australia: views of women and midwives.

Objective: to research the role of midwives in Australia from the perspectives of women and midwives. This study was part of a commissioned national research project to articulate the scope of practice of Australian midwives and to develop national competency standards to assist midwives to deliver safe and competent midwifery care.

Design: a multi-method approach with qualitative data collected from surveys with women and interviews with midwives.

The development of national competency standards for the midwife in Australia.

Objective: to develop and validate national competency standards for midwives in Australia. This study was part of a commissioned national research project to articulate the scope of practice of Australian midwives and to develop national competency standards to assist midwives to deliver safe and competent midwifery care.

Design: a multi-method, staged approach was used to collect data through a literature review, workshop consultations, interviews, surveys and written submissions in order to develop national competency standards for Australian midwives.

From student to midwife: the experiences of newly graduated midwives working in an innovative model of midwifery care.

In 2001, a new model of midwifery care was established in the Birth Centre at St George Hospital, a metropolitan hospital in NSW. The new model was designed to encompass the principles and recommendations from numerous government reports and research. The model also build on the previous successful implementation of a team midwifery program (Homer et al 2001b; Homer et al 2001a).