When I first began to search for scholarly articles this article sounded interesting since it
was not about the nursing care and nurse-midwife care that we give in the united states. The whole
purpose of the research that was done for this scholarly article was to see if nurse/ nurse-midwives
helped with good practices in labor and birth and if the nurse/nurse-midwives decreased the
amount of unnecessary interventions such as cesarean sections. The study consisted of 23,894
postpartum women and the study was from February 2011 to October 2012, in 266 healthcare
settings. The first sampling stage consisted of hospitals with 500 or more births per year and was
mainly based on location and type of hospital. In the second sampling, they interviewed 90
postnatal Women in the hospital. In the third sampling, there was postpartum women themselves.
In the first phase they have one-on-one interviews with postpartum women then they extracted
data from those women’s charts and also their newborns. They assessed everything that had to do
with with the obstetric care for the patients to see if there was a correlation. The study showed that
16.2 percent of births had the assistance of a nurse/nurse-midwife. Of the 16.2 percent of births
that used a nurse/nurse-midwife those births seemed to be the most successful ones, with the least
amount of interventions. The results were that when assisted by nurse/ nurse-midwives the
procedure went more smoothly and less interventions were needed. I learned a lot from this article
and it showed me that in some countries nurse/nurse-midwives in labor and birth are still
developing growing more popular due to the proven fact that they help to make labor and delivery
run much more smoothly. Nurse/ nurse-midwives in the future will be very helpful in the labor
Space, place and the midwife: Exploring the relationship between the birth environment,
influenced by the place and space that they work in. The article also states that oxytocin release is
one of the neurobiological responses that is based on the environment. In today’s world they use
imaging technology to understand the responses from space and place that cause the change in
hormonal and chemical signals sent by the brain and other body systems. The article then goes on
to explain space and place based on what famous philosophers say. The article states that the two
concepts are the socio-spatial and geometric views of space. Sociologist Thomas Gieryn identified
three features that signify place: geographic location, material form and investment with meaning
and value. Soja said that space is always filled with social, political and ideological meaning. The
article says that Christine Jonas-Simpson did some research on the theories of these philosophers
and agreed with them and then begun to tie it in with midwifery care. Birth and midwifery practice
happen, like all other human activity, in a particular place located in space, which we refer to as
the birth environment. The role of a midwife can be challenging because environments differ.
When the physical environment does not support the professional, psychological and social needs
of staff there may be negative feedback from midwife and hospital staff. A good midwife is very
knowledgeable, able to work through anything and a warm, loving person. Oxytocin plays a big
part in the midwife's job. It may affect the patient's brain, heart, uterus and gastrointestinal tract.
The article goes on to state that good midwifery care is based on trusting social relationships and
providing emotionally sensitive care. The article concludes that birth environment may play a
direct role in providing quality midwifery care since it helps to trigger the release of oxytocin. The
article states that oxytocin and a good relationship along with a good environment are the keys to
successful midwife’s.
Works Cited
Gama, S. d., Viellas, E. F., Torres, J. A., Bastos, M. H., Brüggemann, O. M., Filha, M. T., & ...
Leal, M. C. (2016). Labor and birth care by nurse with midwifery skills in Brazil. Reproductive
environment, neurobiology and midwifery practice. Women and Birth. Pages 277-281.