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Midwives and bullying

The ozmidwifery email discussion list always opens up the most interesting issues. One of the strengths of the list is that everyone is welcome - there is no “moderation” of the list (that is, screening of who can join or contribute) and as a result we have a wide assortment of subscribers, from midwives, to educators, doulas and parents, with many from overseas countries as well. Their input offers a wide range of insights that helps broaden our views and enables wider insights.

A recent thread has been the bullying and horizontal violence that goes on between midwives. A comment about hospital based midwives began the discussion and there was lively debate about the different qualities of midwives that work in the hospital setting. Some contributors felt that they were being denigrated for working in a hospital setting, when they were really trying (often against great odds) to provide quality care for women despite high levels of stress resulting from pressures from the system and some colleagues. Others commented that hospitals are staffed by midwives of varying quality, with some who could make everyone’s life miserable (both the labouring women and their workmates).

The discussion widened to include the home birth midwives, several of whom contributed comments about how they were received when they needed to transfer and the difficulties of working in an environment where there was little support from hospital based colleagues.

Some parents reported that they were bullied when they gave birth in hospitals, by some midwives who made critical comments or snide remarks. Women are very emotionally sensitive immediately after giving birth and can be easily upset by even well meant remarks.

As th thread came to a close, it was generally agreed that no-one was “picking on” individual midwives on the list, either those working in hospitals or those working independently. Several contributors who had felt miffed were reassured they were not being singled out (we are a polite lot!) but the issue needs to be raised and canvassed. Sweeping these problems under the carpet will never solve them, and open, productive discussion is necessary if we are to ever stop the bullying that goes on.

I was recently approached by a woman in the UK who is setting up a bullying website, and who was looking to link to our site. I checked it out, but found that so far, her site is mainly concerned with school bullying. I suggested that if she extended her area of interest to include the health professions (very fertile ground!), then I would include a link on our site.

She had found us through the excellent articles by Carolyn Hastie on the subject of bullying amongst midwives and horizontal violence in the workplace. If this is an issue that has bothered you, you might want to check it out. I know that Carolyn welcomes emails too, and her contact details are at the end of the article.

Posted by andrea at November 10, 2005 09:44 AM