1991 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 21-27
A questionnaire was sent to 83 midwives to evaluate their assessment of their ability to provide care to their patients. Fifty three valid questionnaires were analyzed. All midwives had been working more than 3 years. The purpose of this study was to identify what skills the midwives felt they were deficient in so that they could be improved by continuing education. The following points were identified: 1. All midwives worked as the junior class managers and were eager to improve their educational and administrational ability.
2. Good maternity care was recognized as a total care requiring skilled technique and relaxed attitude. Although most midwives had experienced more than 100 deliveries, only 17 midwives (28.3%) expressed confidence. The midwives who did not have confidence in maternity careevaluated their technique as poor.
3. Two weakness were identified. One was coping with an emergency or abnormal situation requiring immediate and accurate judgement. The other was the mental and social attitude required to accept the client in an empathetic manner.
These results suggest that two types of continuing education courses should be held for young midwives. One of them is a simulation training of emergency and abnormal situations. The other is using case studies for educational review.
