Report Sample on Experiences Working as a Midwife

Introduction

Midwives are professionals who help women to maintain good health before and after pregnancy. Also, they help mothers in giving birth. Working as a midwife is my passion. I find it easy helping women to bring life on earth. Hence, I work in the hospital's labor room unit, where I encounter different pregnant women from diverse communities. In this reflective essay, I have chosen to share my experience with a pregnant lady. Her situation was challenging in terms of communication because she came from a different community, and she did not understand English. I choose to protect her confidentiality, based on Nursing and Midwifery's code of Conduct (NMC 2008). In this case study, I will indetify my client as 'Liam.' In this essay, I will use Gibb's (1988) reflective cycle. The cycle gives a detailed description of the case study, analysis the feelings, and provides an evaluation of the experience (Barksby J, Butcher N, Whysall A). Besides, it allows one to write an action plan that will help in the future, in a similar situation.

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Description of the Event

My work experience as a midwife allows me to help women in the labor room. During this fateful day, a pregnant woman walks in with is a husband to the delivery room. I was on duty, and my mentor was also around the hospital. My mentor and I went to Liam's room, where they were sited with his husband. The couple could not communicate in English, and they only used their local language. Besides, they were Muslims, and Liam had not visited any prenatal clinic earlier on. According to the Muslim community, a woman should not visit a prenatal clinic because it is normal to get pregnant (Al-Awa MS). Liam looked more worried and confused when they saw us because they could not communicate with us. My mentor suggested that it was necessary to have a translator to help us through.

Nevertheless, Liam's husband refused. The only option left for us was to take notes to our office to plan on how to take care of her. Liam was unemployed, and she was in her early thirties.

Moreover, she had five pregnancies before. She had experienced three miscarriages and two successful births, all her deliveries, were done through the caesarian session. Liam could not give birth naturally because she had undergone Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Also, they requested Liam to be handled by female medical practitioners during her delivery because of her religion. Before taking Liam to the delivery room to have a caesarian session, my mentor explained the entire process to the husband, and the husband translated it to his wife. They both signed papers to have the cesarean session done. The wife looks rather worried, and I could tell that she did not understand anything from the doctor's explanation. Later, the husband accompanied his wife to the theatre.

In a short while, the Anesthetist came into the room to give Liam an epidural. Liam's husband was annoyed by seeing the male enter the room to assist his wife. Liam's husband placed his hand on his wife's shoulders and could not let it go. The medical staff became annoyed because the proves had to be completely sterile. At this point, I realized that Liam's husband was irritated by seeing the male attend to his wife. Besides, he could not communicate effectively with the medical staff because of his language barrier. At this point, I stepped in to help Liam's husband and the medical team. I used nonverbal cues to communicate with Liam's husband. He understood and agreed to let the medical staff take down their procedures. Finally, the medical practitioners carried out the process, and Liam delivered safely.

Feelings

This section will express my feelings and thinking surrounding Liam's situation and the care she got from the medical group. I Emphasized with Liam and her husband because of their communication barrier. Also, I felt for Liam because she had endured several pregnancies that resulted in a miscarriage. Liam and her husband's cultural background made it difficult for them to communicate well with the medical staff. Providing their care was more difficult, and the medical group that helped them grew impatient and were annoyed by the situation.

Nevertheless, I stepped in to help both the medical staff and Liam. First, I tried to build confidence with our clients so we could both create a good relationship. I first introduced myself to them and then explained all the procedures to them. Secondly, I explained to the medical team the situation at hand to administer proper care to the patient.

Empathic listening allows one to be a caring partner to others and helps in establishing a healthy relationship. It is the willingness to know the other person and respond to their case (Ménage D, Bailey E, Lees S et al.). Besides, it is non-judgmental and makes use of non-verbal cues. In our case, in the labor ward, I used facial expressions and hand gestures to communicate with our client. The cultural and language barrier that affected Liam's family affected their care from the medical staff attending to them. The staff could not appreciate the need to explain because of the limitation of language for this family. During the entire procedure, I kept close eye contact with Liam and her husband. Eye contact is an expression of interest to the other partner.

Evaluation

Cultural diversity, competence, and sensitivity are critical for medical professionals. We are living in a culturally diverse society. Therefore, medical practitioners ought to be culturally competent for them to provide adequate care to diverse patients. Cultural awareness among health professionals boosts their confidence and adds to their skills to provide holistic care to people from different backgrounds (Purnell LD, Fenkl EA). Moreover, culturally sensitive attitudes and practices, other than simple knowledge, help provide better and quality care to patients and their families.

Analysis

My communication skills were very vital when communicating with Liam. I realized that nonverbal communication played a great r0ole in our communication. Liam grasped a few words, but her language limitation made her not ask any questions. From the case study, I have realized the importance of learning a few words in the second language of the patient to ease communication. Furthermore, Muslim patients need a same-sex health care provider. Also, exposing the patient's body should be limited and seek permission before uncovering the patient's body. More care should be taken when exposing ten private parts of such individuals. Liam's husband asked for a female doctor to cater for his wife, but his request was declined. Liam and her husband might have felt discriminated against.

Conclusion

My plan in the future, in case I came across a pregnant woman with a language barrier and dramatic delivery experience in the past, I would deal with it differently. I have learned to provide culturally competent care as a mid-wife so that the patients will receive the quality health care they deserve. In the future, I will prepare myself adequately by learning a few words in her language and do some reading about their culture and her expectations. Communication plays a key role in building healthy relationships. Therefore, I will ensure I communicate properly using verbal and nonverbal communication to provide quality care to my patients.

Furthermore, empathic listening is critical in providing quality care. After listening to Liam's husband carefully, we communicated, and I acted as an intermediary between the team's husband and the medical staff. I am hence helping them in providing care to Liam. I have learned the need to be an active listener and be non-judgmental when dealing with patients from different cultural backgrounds.

References

Al-Awa MS. FGM in the Context of Islam. Cairo, National. 2019.

Barksby J, Butcher N, Whysall A. A new model of reflection for clinical practice. Nursing Times. 2015 Aug 17;111(34/35):21-3.

Ménage D, Bailey E, Lees S, Coad J. A concept analysis of compassionate midwifery. Journal of advanced nursing. 2017 Mar;73(3):558-73.

Purnell LD, Fenkl EA. Transcultural diversity and health care. Handbook for Culturally Competent Care 2019 (pp. 1-6). Springer, Cham.