The effect of professional socialisation on midwives' practice.

This article discusses the influence that professional socialisation can have on midwifery practice. Differences in beliefs and practices regarding the oral intake of labouring women were the basis for this paper's discussion. Midwives should be aware of the problems that may be caused by the socialisation processes experienced during the training and subsequent working life of a midwife which aim to procure obedience and unquestioning conformity.

A comparative study of the effect of food consumption on labour and birth outcomes in Australia.

Objective: to explore the effect of volitional food consumption by women during labour on labour and birth outcomes.

Design: a comparative design using concurrent controls.

Setting: four public hospitals in Sydney, Australia.

Natural eating behavior in latent labor and its effect on outcomes in active labor.

This study examined the effect of eating during the latent phase of labor on the hospital-estimated labor duration and birth outcomes for the mother and baby. A prospective, comparative trial with concurrent controls compared labor duration and outcomes of 176 low-risk, nulliparous women who birthed at four hospitals in Sydney, Australia. Food was voluntarily consumed by 82 women, whereas 94 consumed clear fluids only.

Royal Rehabilitation Centre Sydney: towards Clinical Development Units (Nursing).

Clinical Development Units (Nursing), also known as Practice Development Units and Nursing Development Units, are nursing units that continually strive for excellence in nursing practice. Nursing units endeavouring to attain, or having achieved, the standards required of a Clinical Development Unit (Nursing)--CDU(N)--provide a very motivating and stimulating environment for nursing professional development. This paper provides readers with an understanding of the underpinnings of a CDU(N) along with why and how a nursing unit would strive for this status.

Midwifery dilemma: to fast or feed the labouring woman. Part 2: The case supporting oral intake in labour.

This article has, so far, explored the phenomenon of aspiration associated with obstetric general anaesthesia (see Part 1). Part 2 examines the literature pertaining to the history of dietary regimes for labour and the physiological and psychological effect of restricting or allowing food and fluids during labour. The increasing trend among some health professionals to allow food and fluids during labour and research conducted to investigate the effect of the labouring woman's oral intake on the labour and birth outcomes is also discussed.

A midwifery practice dichotomy on oral intake in labour.

Objective: to assess the views and practices of midwives regarding oral intake in labour for women with low-risk pregnancies.

Design: an exploratory survey design including open- and closed-ended questions.

Setting: four hospitals in Sydney, Australia.

Midwifery dilemma: to fast or feed the labouring woman. Part I: The case for restricting oral intake in labour.

This paper presents a literature review which pursues both sides of the labouring woman's oral intake debate--to fast or to feed the labouring woman. Part 1 provides an exploration of the phenomenon of gastric content aspiration associated with general anaesthesia and its historical and physiological underpinnings. Part 2 provides an examination of the literature concerning the benefits of fasting labouring women.

The evaluation of a clinical development unit leadership preparation program by focus group interviews - part 2: negative aspects.

In Western Sydney, Australia, in 1996, the Area Health Service and the University of Western Sydney entered a strategic alliance to develop a nursing research culture in the health services. One of the strategies implemented to achieve this was the establishment of a network of research-receptive environments known as Clinical Development Units (CDUs). In terms of research receptivity, evidence at the time suggested that it could only be developed in units where the leadership style is democratic and participatory.

The evaluation of a clinical development unit leadership preparation program by focus group interviews - part I: positive aspects.

In 1996, in Western Sydney, Australia, the Area Health Service and the University of Western Sydney entered a strategic alliance to develop a nursing research culture in the health services. One of the strategies implemented to achieve this was the establishment of a network of research-receptive environments known as Clinical Development Units (CDUs). At the time, however, evidence suggested that research receptivity will only develop in units where the leadership style is permissive and participatory; evidence also suggested that the successful establishment of CDUs hinged critically on the effective management of CDU leadership stressors.