Abstract
The purpose of the present study is to elucidate matters that are considered necessary for midwives in charge of in-hospital midwife-led care for the continuation of in-hospital midwife- led care. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 18 midwives in charge of in-hospital midwife-led care at four institutions that had introduced in-hospital midwife-led care in prefecture A. The data obtained was qualitatively analyzed by an inductive approach. As a result, we extracted six categories, including “development of a system that pregnant and parturient women can use with ease,” “fulfillment of the responsibilities and roles as a midwife,” “realization of the essential abilities of midwives,” “realization of the level of satisfaction and needs of pregnant and parturient women and their family members,” “conscious mutual understanding among midwives and other professions,” and “the existence of strong support.” It was suggested that a system to foster midwives with management skills be developed to ensure and improve the quality of the system established for in-hospital midwife-led care. Furthermore, it was thought that the midwife in charge should maintain close communication with administrators, related occupations such as midwives and nurses to build a relationship of trust.
