A global perspective has been emerging over the past decades that reflects a person-centered philosophy of childbirth. 1,2 This perspective expands the domains of responsibilities of practitioners of reproductive health services, including care across the perinatal continuum. The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a series of recommendations for a positive pregnancy experience 3 and, more recently, a model for intrapartum care services. 4 This person-centered
IntroductionThe International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) represents 132 midwifery associations in 113 countries. The ICM disseminates the Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice (EC) that describes the global scope of midwifery practice. The basic (core) and expanded (additional or optional) role of midwives in providing abortion-related care services was first described in 2010. A literature review about three items that are particularly critical to access to abortion services was conducted. Findings that emerged in the recent 2016–2017 update study about these three items are presented.MethodsA modified Delphi study was administered via the Internet in a series of three rounds. Thirty-seven statements of abortion-related knowledge and skill were presented.ResultsA total of 895 individuals participated. The total of respondents across all three rounds represented 90 of the 105 member countries at the time of the study. The role of midwives in providing comprehensive abortion care, including referral for abortion and provision of postabortion family planning, achieved the necessary 85% agreement to be designated as essential (basic) knowledge or skill for the global scope of midwifery practice. The provision of medication abortion and performance of manual vacuum aspiration abortion were designated as optional for midwives who wished to provide these services. Endorsement of these latter practices was highest in both Francophone and Anglophone regions of Africa, Asian Pacific countries, and countries at a lower state of economic development.ConclusionThe role of midwives in provision of abortion-related care services was reaffirmed in the recent Delphi study to inform the update to the EC. The role of midwives as direct providers of medical and vacuum aspiration abortions was reaffirmed for those individual midwives who wish to obtain the requisite competency to provide those services, in jurisdictions where these services are legally authorized.
This paper presents results from a research project focused on group learning as experienced by students enrolled in a new Integrated Engineering programme (IGEN). Data from student survey responses, ethnographic observations of class meetings, and faculty commentary were collected continuously over one semester. Supporting group function and minimising dysfunction emerged as challenges for teachers, thus one research focus was the variance in teamwork function that student teams exhibited. The extent to which functional team-based processes were implicitly and explicitly modelled by teachers and student teams was also assessed. Results demonstrated that students perceived value in team projects, especially when instructors provided adequate support and appropriate role modelling.
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