OPTIMISTIC
OPTIMIzing SusTaInable midwifery Care in line with professional identity
The Dutch maternity care system faces structural capacity issues, primarily due to staff shortages in hospitals. This leads to temporary admission freezes in maternity wards lasting from hours to days. In addition, there is an increasing centralization of care, with maternity wards closing permanently. As a result, women are not always able to give birth within their own region, and travel times to hospitals are increasing. When a midwife has to travel to a hospital outside the region for an outpatient birth, care for other clients in the practice is compromised. This has implications for the safety of care, clients’ experiences and midwives’ job satisfaction.
Midwives are confronted with consequences and solutions over which they have insufficient control. They want to have more control over the organisation of care that aligns with their core values and those of their clients, whilst maintaining the quality of care. Together with midwives, we formulated the research question: In what ways can primary care midwives take control of the regional organisation of their care – in line with their professional identity – to manage the adverse consequences of the centralization of care and admission freezes?
Through participatory action research, we aim t to identify and shape appropriate forms of regional collaboration that contribute to the accessibility of maternity care in the region and have sufficient support for implementation. We are doing this by 1) developing a shared professional identity within the region, involving a reassessment of key values. This provides input for 2) the development of a predictive model that forecasts effects on capacity. This gives midwives a tool with which they can exert a well-founded influence on the organisation of maternity care, to prevent the negative effects of admission freezes and the centralization of care.
The aim is to achieve accessible, high-quality and sustainable midwifery care through forms of collaboration that align with the core values of clients and midwives.
Project partners:
- Zuyd Hogeschool, Bakerraad Verloskundigen Zwolle
- Federatie van VSV's
- Good Work Company B.V.
- Hogeschool Inholland
- Hogeschool Rotterdam
- Koninklijke Nederlandse Organisatie van Verloskundigen
- Maastricht University
- Onroerend Goed Maatschappij de Bakermat
- Patiëntenfederatie Nederland
- Stichting Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek van de Gezondheidszorg
- University of Twente
- Verloskundigen Oosterhout
- Verloskundigen Vida
- Verloskundigenpraktijk Cranendonck
