Facilitating safety in midwifery education and practice

This chapter explores the concepts of risk and safety and how managing risk is not the same as facilitating safety. The fears that women and health providers may have about birth are presented along with determination of how midwives can empower women to trust in their ability to give birth and be mothers. The existing research that supports physiological birth, including ways of instilling confidence about normal birth in both women and midwives, is also examined. Exposure to environments in which safe physiological birth is facilitated is an important aspect of midwifery education which will impact on the development of a midwife's individual philosophy and future practice. The place of birth, the impact that various models of care have on birth, and the importance of effective relationships are also critically explored.