The experiences of midwives in integrated maternity care: A qualitative metasynthesis

Abstract

Objectives: To conduct a metasynthesis of eight qualitative studies of the experiences of midwives in integrated maternity practice; to identify common motifs among the eight studies through a thematic interpretive integration known as reciprocal translation; and to explore the effects on midwifery processes of care in the setting of integrated maternity practice.

Design: A qualitative metasynthesis to analyze, synthesize, and interpret eight qualitative studies on the experiences of midwives and the effect on the midwifery processes of care in the setting of integrated maternity practice.

Sample and setting: Participants from the primary studies included a total of 160 midwives providing hospital-based intrapartum care. All primary studies were conducted in settings with midwives and obstetricians working together in an integrated or collaborative manner.

Findings: Three overarching themes emerged from the data: professional dissonance, functioning from a position of risk, and practicing down.

Key conclusions: The findings indicated that integrated maternity practice affects the professional experience of midwives. Through a qualitative exploration, a clear process of deprofessionalization and deviation from the midwifery model of care is detailed. Midwives experienced decreasing opportunity to provide the quality woman-centered physiologic care that evidence shows benefits childbearing women.

Implications for practice: Integrated maternity practice, where low-risk and high-risk pregnancies are managed by midwife/physician teams, have proliferated as a solution to the need for quality, safe, and efficient health care. Insufficient evidence exists detailing the success or failure of this model of care. Qualitative studies suggest that the increasing medicalization occurring in integrated maternity practices minimizes the profession of midwifery and the ability to provide evidence-based quality midwifery care.

Keywords: Collaborative maternity care; Delivery of health care; Integrated; Midwifery; Obstetrics; Qualitative research.