Seminar on Childbirth and pain relief

[Guest guest]

Dear Members,

In continuation with earlier discussion on intervention related

difficulties in childbirth and future of mom and baby, the following

message, with the permission of author (Prof Jane Sandall) is posted

here for interested members.

Bhanu

 

>> Open invitation to public seminar

>> Keeping birth normal: the midwifery skill of being with women in

> pain

>> Thursday 30th June 4pm-5.30pm

>>

>> Room 1.60 Franklin Wilkins Building

>>

>> Stamford Street

>>

>> SE1 9NN

>>

>>

>>

>> Nicky Leap

>>

>> Director of Midwifery Practice, South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra

> Area Health Service

>>

>> Associate Professor of Midwifery, University of Technology, Sydney

> and visiting Senior Research Fellow, Nightingale School of Nursing

> and Midwifery, King's College, London.

>>

>>

>>

>> Throughout the centuries, women have asked midwives to be alongside

> them in labour to keep birth safe and to offer comfort and support

as

> they face pain and uncertainty. In recent years, the western

approach

> has been to offer what I shall call a 'menu' of options for 'pain

> relief' in the interest of promoting 'informed choice'. This paper

> explores how the offering of 'the pain-relief menu' can be

> counterproductive to the midwifery skill of 'keeping birth normal'

> and how such an approach can inadvertently undermine women's

> confidence in their ability to give birth without intervention.

> Respecting physiology and the important role of pain in labour

> enables midwives to be alongside women, encouraging them to find

> their inner strength without resorting to pharmacological pain

> relief. This skill is fundamental to midwifery and is in direct

> opposition to the nursing and medical skills of 'pain relief'.

>>

>>

>>

>> This paper draws on work carried out as part of the author's

> Masters and Professional Doctoral studies in articulating a

midwifery

> perspective on the rationale for being with women in pain in labour

> and not attempting to take away their pain. In interviews and

> workshops, midwives from Australia, the UK, the Netherlands,

Denmark,

> New Zealand and Canada have articulated a midwifery perspective that

> is counter to the dominant approach in Western hospital practice.

> They have described working with women to promote understanding

that,

> in normal labour, pain is something that a woman can cope with,

aided

> by her body's endogenous opiates. Midwives have identified that pain

> has many purposes; that women report a great sense of achievement

and

> satisfaction in coping with labour pain; and that this may have

> profound consequences for their lives.

>>

>>

>>

>> This presentation explores some of the practical, emotional,

> cultural, ethical and philosophical issues related to the midwifery

> skill of engaging with women around pain in labour.

>>

>>

>>

>> Contact details caroline.Kirby-smith@k...

>>

>> Nicky.leap@u...

>> Dr Jane Sandall

>> Professor of Midwifery and Women's Health

>> Women & Family Health Research Group,

>> Health and Social Care Research Division

>> King's College, Waterloo Bridge Wing,

>> 150 Stamford Street,

>> London, SE1 9NH

>> Tel: 020 7848 3605

>> Fax: 020 7848 3764

>> e-mail:jane.sandall@k...

>> http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nursing/research/women.html