TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ontario midwives applaud today’s announcement by the provincial government to expand the midwifery scope of practice to better align with patient needs. This exciting new direction has the potential to improve midwives’ ability to provide comprehensive, high-quality, client-centred care.
“Expanding the midwifery scope of practice will help eliminate some of the barriers midwives currently face when ordering lab tests or prescribing certain medications,” says Elizabeth Brandeis, RM, President of the Association of Ontario Midwives. “The clients we care for will really feel the impact when, as midwives, we’re able to prescribe any drug or order any test related to pregnancy, birth or postpartum care.”
Currently, midwives can only prescribe drugs and order tests from a narrow list. An expansion of their scope of practice means that midwives will be even better positioned to provide comprehensive care to clients and babies from conception, through pregnancy, labour, and birth, all the way through to six weeks following birth.
Midwives attend approximately 16% of all births that happen in Ontario, and have a key role to play in Ontario’s primary health-care transformation strategy. Midwives attend births in hospital, at home and in birth centres.
About Midwifery in Ontario
Midwives are a registered health-care professionals who provides primary care to those with low-risk pregnancies. Midwives provide care throughout pregnancy, labour and birth, as well as for the first six weeks following birth. There are more than 800 registered midwives in Ontario, serving communities across the province.
The Association of Ontario Midwives is the professional organization representing midwives and the profession of midwifery in Ontario.
For more information:
Juana Berinstein, Director, Policy and Communications
Association of Ontario Midwives
Cell: 416-371-1468
Elizabeth Brandeis, RM, President
Association of Ontario Midwives
president@aom.on.ca