Caseload Midwifery Model

Research done by Hartz, Foureur, & Tracy (2011) found that caseload midwifery has been an integral part of history, and an important factor that has formed the maternal health care systems in countries such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Despite this, caseload midwifery has only been implemented in Australia in recent years. Caseload Midwifery has many similar aspects as other Midwifery models of care; however it’s most defining characteristic is that a single midwife looks after a small group of women throughout their pregnancy, birth and postpartum period (Hartz et al., 2011). The Midwife is the key health professional in this model of care, and it is up to the midwife to decide if there is need for consultation with other specialist. This …show more content…
Its main difference is that a woman may see several Midwives throughout their pregnancy, however the midwives that she sees share a caseload and information is shared between them as needed (Sandall, Soltani, Gates, Shennan, & Devane, 2013). This means that a woman does not get to build relationship with an individual Midwife, instead she has to build a relationship with several. Ideally the group of Midwives would be around five in number, however this is not always the case. Similarly to Caseload Midwifery, Team Midwifery is designed to provide continuity of care for women throughout pregnancy.
Both Caseload and Team Midwifery have been introduced to the Australian health care system as a recommendation from The World Health Organisation (Sandall, Devane, Soltani, Hatem, & Gates, 2010) The reason for this recommendation was the increase in number of medical interventions throughout pregnancy, as well as the fact that pregnancy has more or less been turned into a medical event rather than a natural process. The experience that women have had in their own pregnancy and how that has impacted them has also influenced the need for Midwives in …show more content…
Biro, Waldenstrom, Brown, & Pannifex (2003) found that there was a higher percentage of satisfaction with midwifery care than that of women receiving Obstetric care. This was attributed to the time spent getting to know the midwife and the information that the midwife provided them with. Despite there being noticeable differences between obstetric care and Midwifery care; there are only a few differences between the two types of Midwifery care in relation to the women’s satisfaction with her child bearing