A career in midwifery
At one point or another, every learner makes a decision about their career of choice. Choosing a career was found to be a process that does not happen at a certain period in life, but it starts in early childhood when learners start fantasizing about certain jobs.
In addition, there are many documented factors such as personality and interest, cultural background, educational background, economic and social backgrounds that have an influence on the careers of choice for the learners.
It is unfortunate that some learners and their parents still find it a bit challenging to decide or to choose a career because of some factors such as not being too sure of the career which they want, not too sure if they will be good at it or enjoy that particular career or not being sure if the chosen career will make them financially stable.
Even so, some learners are pressurised by their parents or guardians when picking a career and sometimes, such learners are forced to follow careers already mapped out for them because they fear disappointing their families if they do not follow the career expected of them.
As a result, these learners end up not able to pursue their true passion in life. As for the nursing and midwifery career, some people or learners grow up taking care of others, or growing up and seeing someone very sick and the wish was to become a nurse so that you care for your family member. Sometimes, the nurses’ uniform is also a factor that motivated people to pursue a career in nursing and midwifery. In many instances, those who decided to pursue a career in nursing and midwifery had an inborn passion. While fantasies and dreams are good, there is more to what it takes to follow a midwifery career.
It is that time of the year during which institutions of high learning are busy processing application forms for admission for the 2021 academic year. The hope is that the learners who have applied for nursing and midwifery had made time to research and have some background information of what it means to follow a career in nursing and Midwifery. It is unfortunate that in Namibia, there is not a direct career entry into the nursing profession only or the Midwifery profession only.
In many countries, including Namibia, nursing and midwifery are distinct professions, however, the professions are conflated, and because of the conflation, students are left with no option but to be trained as nurse/ midwives and the expectation is that they must meet all the requirements for registration with the regulatory body, even when they only have the passion and interest in either nursing or midwifery. The conflation of nursing and midwifery professions was however found to endanger women’s rights to receive skilled reproductive and sexual healthcare by the appropriate care-provider, a midwife!
Because I associate myself more with midwifery and my passion is on midwives and the midwifery practice, this opinion piece is aimed at educating and informing you and I hope it will assist you to help someone or learners to make future informed choices when applying or thinking about pursuing a career in Midwifery.
Students who are studying midwifery are exposed to theoretical and practical learning and because midwifery is an art, the best way for any artist to get better is through practice, that is why students are placed in the maternity departments to care for pregnant women during the period of antenatal care, intrapartum care and postpartum care in order to gain practical knowledge and expertise. Midwifery is the profession of midwives and only midwives can practise midwifery.
It has a unique body of knowledge, skills and professional attitudes drawn from disciplines shared by other health professions such as science and sociology, but practised by midwives within a professional framework of autonomy, partnership, ethics and accountability.
Thus, a midwife is a professional who is recognised as a responsible and accountable, who works in partnership with women to give the necessary support, care and advice during the period of pregnancy, labour and the postpartum. Midwives have a responsibility to conduct births or to help women to give birth and to provide care for the new-born and the infant. The role of the midwife is to render midwifery care which includes preventative measures, the promotion of normal birth, the detection and management of complications in the mother and child including carrying out of emergency measures.
Indeed, midwives have an important task in health counselling and education, not only for women but also within the family and the community and this work extends to women’s health, sexual or reproductive health and child care. Furthermore, midwives have a role to advocate for women and their needs in both extremes of under-resourced and over-medicalised maternity care systems. A midwife needs to possess the ability to show care and understanding of women and their families.
At times, when pregnant women are in labour, they will be in great distress from labour pains, and hence they require a compassionate midwife who is able to render respectful maternity care services whilst also delivering the baby safely. Midwives work with a wide range of women and families from all kinds of diverse backgrounds, therefore, those wishing to pursue a career in midwifery should have the ability to relate and get on well with people from different background and ethnic groups. Midwives are required to be aware and respectful of the social and cultural contexts of women and their beliefs about birth and the birthing process. It is again thus important that those willing to pursue a career in midwifery should be passionate about women and issues affecting women’s’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Certainly, midwifery is an ancient practice, with old wisdom and it is a very uplifting and a rewarding career, so if you are or you know of a caring person who is fascinated by the birth process, midwifery could just be the career of choice!