The health care team A physician's perspective

Integration of Midwives into the Quebec Health Care System

“…Johanne Collin, PhD, 1,2 Régis Blais, PhD, 3 Deena White, PhD, 2 Andrée Demers, PhD, 2 Francine Desbiens, MSc 2 and L'Équipe d'évaluation des projets-pilotes sages-femmes 4 A particular constraint of the evaluation is that the pilot projects were being evaluated as they were being implemented. Moreover, despite the many regulations set out by the law, each project had its own characteristics.…”

“…The integration of midwives into the health care system and their collaboration with other maternity care providers seem to be keys to quality care, better outcomes, efficiency, and patient and provider satisfaction. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Some Canadian provinces have undertaken to legally recognize midwifery, but the integration of midwives into the health care system is not an easy task. Introducing this "new" professional disrupts the established order among current maternity care providers.…”

What accounts for physician opinions about midwifery in Canada?

“…The renaissance of midwifery in Canada should be accompanied by close collaboration with other maternity care professionals, and especially with physicians (6), as is the case in other countries. Such collaboration is important for provider and family satisfaction, for level of quality, continuity, and cost‐effectiveness of care, and to assure women that medical expertise is at hand when needed (6–11).…”