Midwife or obstetric nurse? Some perceptions of midwives and obstetricians of the role of the midwife

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Accepted defintions of the midwife suggest that she is a woman trained to care for other women during the normal childbirth process; a complementary role to that of the obstetrician who is concerned primarily with the application of scientific knowledge to ensure as far as possible the physical wellbeing of mother and infant. In this paper the relationship between midwives and the medical profession is examined, with particular reference to their perception of the role of the midwife and her responsibility in maternity care. It is argued that the claim of midwives to be practitioners in their own right within a limited field is rarely recognized in practice and some implications of this finding are discussed.