Dear Kathleen and list members It's a really important point you've made Kathleen. I don't think you can compare the horrible stress of shift work with the occupational autonomy associated with caseload practice. The only research I know of that looks at this is Jane Sandall's work where she describes how occupational autonomy, good support from other group practice midwives and at home, frequent meetings and being able to develop meaningful relationships with women are the key factors in midwife satisfaction and successful models. In the UK the models that failed were those where midwives were expected to 'follow women through' and work shifts. (If anyone wants the references for Jane's work please let me know) I summarised how we avoided 'burn out' in our group practice in 'Caseload practice: a recipe for burn out? British Journal of Midwifery Vol 4 No.6 June 1966 pp329-330. My impression is that midwives who've worked in caseload practice find it really hard to contemplate going back to working on 'shifts'. Cheers Nicky Nicky Leap, Senior Research Fellow, Midwifery The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001 Tel: (08) 8201 3442 Fax: (08) 8201 3410 Home: 'Cennednyss', Summertown, SA 5141 Tel/Fax: (08) 8390 1069 -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
