On the Road to Collaboration: Nurses and Newly Regulated Midwives in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

This study describes some of the results of a survey conducted shortly after the introduction of midwives as a regulated and publicly funded provider within the British Columbia health care system. The survey asked hospital-based perinatal nurses about their knowledge and attitudes of midwifery and their experiences with midwives. Results suggest that nurses, for the most part, had a negative view of midwives and their practice and that inattention to the necessary conditions for interprofessional collaboration and positive interprofessional relationships have resulted in parallel practice between the professions instead of interdisciplinary practice.