Midwifery Care Model wins award!
September 29 , 2009
An innovative midwifery care model which Hamilton nurse Pauline Kearns helped set up, has received state recognition.Mrs Kearns received an excellence in midwifery practice award at the State Nursing and Midwifery Excellence Awards last week.
Health Minister Daniel Andrews and Mental Health and Aged Care Minister Lisa Neville presented the awards which highlighted outstanding work in the field. Mrs Kearns is the program co-ordinator of the Hamilton Model Midwifery Care and has been the driving force behind its development and implementation.
Since arriving at the hospital five years ago, she has worked to set up the model which was launched to help solve the lack of midwifery staff at the hospital. Their initial goal is to recruit and retain staff by making it a more attractive field to work in.
"Over the last number of years midwives worked in a traditional role of rotating shifts and workloads which was generally combined with general surgical patients," Mrs Kearns said.
"These days it is not necessarily a satisfying way of working, particularly for the younger ones who are studying and want to move into other areas," Mrs Kearns said.
"What we do now is have seven who only work in midwifery. It's not a traditional roster (as) the working time is flexible and the work is based on the number of women allocated in a year rather than the number of shifts a year. The work is according to demand not according to time or task. It actually suits maternity services really well because midwifery is very unpredictable."
Midwives at Hamilton work on average with 40 to 45 women over a 12 month period. Hamilton has recruited two new midwives to work in the program since it was implemented.
Mrs Kearns has received a monetary award for her efforts which she said she would use to allow the service to reach women in outlying areas.
Information courtesy Hamilton Spectator.
Families requiring further information can phone 5551 8222.
Photo: Pauline Kearns