Midwifery, 1st Edition

Louise Lewis is a Lecturer in Midwifery at the Faculty of Health and Social Care of the University of Hull, England. After qualifying as a registered nurse in 1995 Louise worked in medical, surgical and intensive care nursing in Hull, before qualifying as a re nurse in 1995 Louise worked in medical, surgical and intensive care nursing in Hull, before qualifying as a registered midwife in 1999, with a first class degree. Louise is an experienced midwife and since June 2008 has been a midwifery lecturer at the University of Hull, completing an MSc in Health Professional Studies and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

Liz McNeill became a midwife instead of having a midlife crisis, and therefore still calls herself an ‘old nurse/new midwife’. She is currently an Associate Lecturer in Nursing and Midwifery at Flinders University. Her critical care background and subsequent specialisation in simulation has enabled her creative and innovative sides to come out to play with her teaching, curriculum design and scholarship/research areas in both the nursing and midwifery areas. Liz teaches across the curriculums, including topics in science, clinical skills and research areas. Her focus in simulation is on the integration of a scaffolded approach across the curriculum inclusive of all levels of fidelity and technology, the effectiveness and application of simulation experiences as it related to preparation for clinical placement, and student stress in simulation.

Pauline Costins is the Course Coordinator of the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery and Lecturer at the School of Nursing Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin University. Pauline has completed her Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education, Master of Health Law, and recently completed her Juris Doctor and has been admitted as a lawyer in Western Australia. Pauline has many years’ experience as a midwife working in the UK and Australia in a variety of teaching and clinical roles. She was one of the first Endorsed midwives in Western Australia following government maternity reforms, and has a successful private midwifery group practice for several years.

Dr Jane Warland is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of South Australia (UniSA). She worked as a midwife from 1988 to 2007. Jane gained her PhD from the University of Adelaide in 2007 and has been an academic staff member in the School of Nursing and Midwifery since early 2008. She teaches undergraduate midwifery students a range of topics, including perinatal mental health, grief and loss, complications in pregnancy and childbirth, and research methods. Jane has particular expertise in teaching stillbirth awareness, prevention and management. Jane’s own program of research is STELLAR (stillbirth, teaching, epidemiology, loss, learning, awareness and risks).

Clare Kew qualified as a midwife in the UK in 1992 and has extensive clinical experience across all midwifery disciplines and models of care. She acquired a Bachelor of Midwifery and Master of Midwifery, while maintaining an interest in education. Opportunities arose in clinical facilitation, staff development and lecturing at Curtin University, leading Clare in that direction. For many years, she has provided academic and clinical support to undergraduate students and registered midwives, with a particular focus on high-risk obstetrics, emergency skills, resuscitation assessments and water births.

Zoe Bradfield is a Lecturer in Midwifery at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin University. Zoe’s career as a midwife has led to practise in rural and metropolitan settings in Western Australia. Many of these positions have allowed her to combine her love of working alongside women and their families with formal education roles. Zoe completed a Master in Midwifery, which resulted in opportunities in lecturing and leadership of midwifery students. Zoe’s commitment and excellence in the education of midwifery students has been awarded by Curtin University. She continues to lecture in undergraduate and postgraduate midwifery courses while also conducting research towards a PhD. Zoe’s areas of interest and research are breastfeeding, midwifery education, midwifery theory and philosophy, simulation, midwifery in developing nations, empowering women and their families, and labour and birth care.

Lesley Kuliukas is the Course Coordinator of the Bachelor of Science Midwifery course and Lecturer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin University. Lesley has completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Education for Adults (Midwifery), Master of Midwifery and has recently submitted her PhD for examination. Lesley is an Endorsed Midwife. Her 34-year career in midwifery spans many models and areas of care in Europe and Australia, including home birth, birth centre, midwifery group practice, high-risk referral centres and specialist care, interspersed with posts in midwifery education, both undergraduate and postgraduate. Lesley’s areas of interest and research include breastfeeding, simulation, labour care, childbirth anatomy and physiology and models of care.

Lynne has been a practising midwife for 33 years, during which time she has worked in the public and private sectors across all areas of maternity care. She established a private midwifery practice caring for women in the community. Lynne helped to set up an innovative maternity unit in a private hospital in Queensland, which she subsequently managed for several years. She has taught midwifery in hospital-based programs and in the tertiary setting. She completed a Bachelor of Health Science, a Master of Midwifery and undertook an Honours year. Lynne has been a midwifery consultant for the Health Rights Commission (Qld), the Queensland Nursing and Midwifery Council and has been an expert member of many panels working on issues relevant to maternity care. She was elected as member of the Risk Management Working Party. Lynne is currently the Course Coordinator for the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery at the University of Tasmania, is a practising midwife and a Practitioner Member of the Tasmanian Board of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia. Until mid-2015, she also lectured and facilitated midwifery skills workshops for Birth International both nationally and internationally. Lynne currently co-facilitates Better Birth Workshops® in metropolitan, rural and remote areas.

Virginia Burns is a Lecturer and Unit Coordinator for the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery at the School of Nursing Midwifery and Paramedicine at Curtin University. Virginia is also a Clinical Midwifery Facilitator for the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery, working alongside the students in their employing maternity units. Virginia is a Registered Midwife and Nurse and has completed her Graduate Certificate in Health Science (Clinical Education) and Master of Midwifery. As an Endorsed midwife, Virginia has also worked privately in a one of the first midwifery group practices in Perth. Having many years’ experience as a midwife working in Western Australia and New South Wales in a variety of teaching and clinical roles, Virginia remains passionate about the education of student midwives. Of particular interest to her is the clinical support and welfare of midwifery students.

Dr Trudi Mannix is a Registered Nurse and Midwife with qualifications in neonatal intensive care nursing. Trudi holds a Doctorate in Education, and has a long history of teaching both special care and neonatal intensive care nursing in major hospital settings. For the last decade, she has held a Lecturer position at Flinders University teaching care of the newborn to undergraduate midwives. Trudi is a Past President of the Australian College of Neonatal Nurses, and past Chairperson of the Journal Management Board of the Neonatal, Paediatric and Child Health Nursing journal. In 2013, Trudi won a Churchill Fellowship and toured the United Kingdom, United States and Canada investigating programs to reduce stress in parents whose babies were in neonatal units. Trudi has volunteered in Vietnam and Papua New Guinea teaching in the ‘Helping Babies Breathe’ program. She is a past executive member of the Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN), and is a current member of the Expert Topic Group developing standards for education for health professionals working with neonates, for the European Foundation for the Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI).

Ann Taylor is a sociology lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle. Ann’s research and writing has been around the organisation of health work, in particular the sociology of midwifery and childbirth. Ann is originally from the United Kingdom where she studied Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She has a longstanding interest in social aspects of gender and health, including justice and inequality, and changing health professions and practices around childbirth and parenting. Prior to returning to academia in 1992, she was an advocate for women and supported women giving birth in public hospitals who had no partner or family support. She has been part of the health consumer movement and represented consumers on the New South Wales Health Practitioner Committee and Nurses and Midwives Accreditation committee.

Nigel is a lecturer/researcher with the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work and the Midwifery Research Unit at the University of Queensland. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow with the Mater Research Institute — UQ. He is a midwife with clinical, education, research and policy experience encompassing a broad range of midwifery care provision including birth suite, continuity of care and community midwifery. Nigel is an effective clinical leader with a track record for linking research with clinical practice and effecting practice change. He completed a PhD in 2013 researching different techniques for the administration of sterile water injections for the management of back pain in labour. His research in this field is ongoing with two multicentre trials underway. Nigel’s other areas of research interest include the duration and management of normal labour. Nigel has expertise in conducting randomised controlled trials and mixed methods design. He is a strong collaborative researcher with projects involving fellow academics from Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the US.

Susannah is the Midwifery Lead for the Undergraduate Bachelor of Midwifery and Dual Degree at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland. She is a midwife and is focused on women-centred care.