Controversies in Maternity Care: Where Do Physicians, Nurses, and Midwives Stand?

  1. Régis Blais PhD*,
  2. Jean Lambert PhD,
  3. Brigitte Maheux MD, PhD,
  4. Jacinthe Loiselle MSc,
  5. Nathalie Gauthier MSc,
  6. Alicia Framarin MD, MSc

Article first published online: 2 APR 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-536X.1994.tb00237.x

Issue

Birth

Birth

Volume 21, Issue 2, pages 63–70, June 1994

Additional Information

How to Cite

Blais, R., Lambert, J., Maheux, B., Loiselle, J., Gauthier, N. and Framarin, A. (1994), Controversies in Maternity Care: Where Do Physicians, Nurses, and Midwives Stand?. Birth, 21: 63–70. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-536X.1994.tb00237.x

Author Information

  1. Régis Blais is in the Department of Health Administration and the Interdisciplinary Health Research Group; Jean Lambert is in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine; Brigitte Maheux is in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine and the Interdisciplinary Health Research Group; Jacinthe Loiselle is in the Interdisciplinary Health Research Group; Nathalie Gauthier is in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine; and Alicia Framarin is in the Interdisciplinary Health Research Group, University of Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

*Address correspondence to Régis Blais, Ph.D., Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé, Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, station A, Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 3J7.

  1. This study was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the National Health Research and Development Program (Health and Welfare Canada), and u National Health Research Scholar Award to Dr. Régis Blais.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 2 APR 2007
  2. Article first published online: 2 APR 2007

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ABSTRACT:

Through a mail survey in 1991, we compared the opinions of 597 physicians practicing obstetrics, 723 maternity care nurses, and 70 midwives from the province of Quebec, Canada, about selected maternity care issues, including the practice of midwifery. Results showed that divergent points of view existed between and within the three groups on many maternity care issues. Physicians were more divided over the routine use of obstetric intervention than the approach to care or their opinion about midwives. Midwives held more client-centered and less interventionist attitudes than nurses or physicians. Nurses were much more open to midwives than physicians, but 20 to 30 percent of physicians saw some advantages in legalizing the practice of midwifery. Physicians and nurses generally considered midwives as a greater professional threat to the other group than to themselves. The fact that many physicians were critical of current maternity care is difjcult to reconcile with their general opposition to midwives. How and to what extent physicians will respond to women's desire for more humanized and less interventionist care remains an open question. Given the problems facing maternity care in North America, expanding midwifery services is an alternative to examine seriously. (BIRTH 21:2, June 1994)

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