Attitudes of midwives and obstetricians towards midwives practiced roles in hospitals: A national study in Jordan

Aims The aims of this study were to identify midwives' and obstetricians' attitudes towards midwives practised roles in hospitals and to identify the differences in their attitudes towards midwives practiced roles. Materials and Methods A descriptive, cross-sectional, study design was used. A convenience sample of 303 midwives and 143 obstetricians were recruited. Participants were from 12 Ministry of Health (MOH) and Royal Medical Services (RMS) hospitals distributed across seven governorates. Two reliable and valid self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data including socio-demographic data-related characteristics of participants and obstetricians' and midwives' attitudes towards midwives' practiced role in hospitals. Results There were significant differences between obstetricians in the three subscales of attitudes: midwives women relationship attitude subscale, midwives trust and mutual respect subscale and work environment attitudes subscale. A significant difference by the institution was reported: obstetricians and midwives who worked in MOH reported more positive attitudes than those who worked in RMS. Conclusion The results show that obstetricians recognise that midwives are qualified and competent professionals but still lack the competencies/skills to make them independent practitioners. The findings also confirm the need to improve midwives' practices by moving from being able to perform a specific task to possess all three attributes of "competencies," where they can intervene, manage and make decisions with confidence in each situation. Implication for practice Based on the current study findings, parallel cooperation between educational/academic policymakers from both midwives and obstetricians may re-evaluate and upgrade the midwifery curriculum to meet the ICM competencies and health sector needs as a step to graduate competent midwives where their responsibility is recognised and organised.