Physcians and Midwives

The Physician and Midwife Collaborative Practice

We discovered collaborative practice while searching for ways to keep safety foremost, decrease unneeded cesarean section and episiotomy, and ways to give our patients maximum flexibility in their birthing choices. This led us to study several European systems, particularly the British. These countries have much lower cesarean section rates yet better perinatal loss records than the United States. Common to each of these is the extensive use of midwifery, and what we call high touch not high tech care.

Our practice uses the educational attributes of diverse professional groups to deliver comprehensive health care to women of all ages. The sum of this collaboration delivers more care more efficiently. Physicians are trained to recognize and manage disease. Midwives are focused on health and uncomplicated birth, dietitians on nutrition, psychologists on life stress, etc.

Using the supportive nature and less interventional training of the midwife, we focus first on the health, education, and motivation of the patient toward the goal of an uncomplicated delivery. We find that a well informed patient can fully participate in her own care. The challenge is to keep the focus on the patient, not on the sonogram or fetal monitor.

Simply put, we deliver more prenatal teaching, more support in labor, and at the same time find less need for cesarean section and episiotomy. In fact our total cesarean section rate for 1996 was a remarkable 9.7%, which is less than half of the national average.

Remember! More caring and more support are the keys to less cesarean, less episiotomy.