Student Spotlight – Kayla
Kayla is studying nursing/midwifery at The University of Queensland. 1.What inspired you to choose a career in nursing/midwifery? I have always had a passion for healthcare. My dad worked for Snowy Hydro Southcare, which was an aeromedical rescue helicopter in Canberra and Southern NSW, and I grew up listening to his stories of medical rescues […]
Culturally safe maternity care for Indigenous women: Bridging gaps for health equity
An international, pan-Indigenous, and cross-cultural research team has examined Indigenous women’s dissatisfaction with birthing experiences across both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. A recently published scoping review includes data from 1,437 women, 36 Elders, 14 fathers and family members, and 91 healthcare professionals, highlighting widespread dissatisfaction with birthing in mainstream maternity hospitals in Australia, Aotearoa […]
‘Moulds are for pottery, not for midwives’. Exploring the career of an academic midiwfe
With two nurses for parents, Liz McNeill once swore she would never follow in their footsteps. “I heard all the stories growing up, my Dad was a psychiatric nurse and my mother worked in aged care, and I thought, no thanks,” she recalls. But fate had other ideas. From a young age, Liz was drawn […]
NSW midwives rally over maternity service cuts
NSW midwives working across maternity services at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Camperdown held a snap rally yesterday to draw attention to their grave concerns regarding planned staffing cuts. A review of the major tertiary hospital’s midwifery staffing profile will see up to 15 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions deleted at the Women and Babies […]
Brick by brick: LEGO helps bridge gap between midwifery and medical students
Normally a staple of the childhood toybox, new research has found LEGO bricks can be an effective ice breaker between midwifery and medical students. Led by midwifery teaching specialists Liz McNeill from Flinders University and Dr Lyn Gum from the University of South Australia, the study found using the ubiquitous coloured blocks made the students […]
Colostrum alternative to formula feeding in hospital
Antenatal colostrum expression is on the rise, with Western Australian research showing that around half of pregnant mums in Perth are giving it a go. Antenatal colostrum expression (ACE) involves hand expressing of colostrum in the last few weeks of pregnancy. Any colostrum that can be expressed can be stored and frozen and used in […]
From RN to Nurse Practitioner: Scholarship paves the way for Teagan to improve women’s healthcare
Despite over 14 years of experience working across a range of healthcare settings, Tasmanian registered nurse and midwife Teagan Atkins often encounters situations where she is unable to work to her full scope of practice. One such example is in her current role as the lead triage nurse at Medicare Urgent Clinics in Hobart and […]
Student spotlight – Tallulah
Tallulah McCarthy-Huxley is a third-year Bachelor of Midwifery student at Griffith University. 1 What inspired you to choose a career in nursing/midwifery? From a young age, I was deeply passionate about healthy and sustainable ways of living. I always envisioned a career in healthcare, but I felt that my holistic beliefs didn’t align with the […]
Calling all midwives and midwifery students: Take part in a nationwide study shaping future of breastfeeding support
Where do Australian midwives and midwifery students gain critical breastfeeding knowledge and support skills? It’s a question that researchers from the University of Notre Dame’s School of Nursing and Midwifery are currently investigating in a bid to enhance best practices. Exclusive breastfeeding is the optimal nutritional food for newborns and babies under six months and […]
Collaborative arrangements abolished, enabling NPs and endorsed midwives to work to full scope
Nurse Practitioners and Endorsed Midwives will finally be able to work to their full scope of practice following the removal of restrictive ‘collaborative arrangements’.