Pregnancy and Labour in the Dutch Maternity Care System: What Is Normal? The Role Division Between Midwives and Obstetricians

Abstract

Multidisciplinary research is urgently needed to better determine the risk status and the optimal type of care and care provider for each individual woman in her specific situation, taking into account the risk of both under- and over-treatment. Safely keeping women in primary care could be considered one of a midwife's interventions, just as a referral to secondary care may be. The art of midwifery and risk selection is to balance both interventions, in order to end up with the optimal result for mother and child.