Exit Interview

(1) Essential Question: What knowledge most affects a midwife's ability to best serve her patients? Answers:

• If a midwife has an extensive knowledge in maternity care, then she can prevent her patients from having a caesarean section.
• If a midwife is knowledgeable and experienced in primary care, then she can provide her patients with more cost effective health care.
• If a midwife knows how to be empathetic and supportive, then she will build a strong relationship with her patient and will make them feel comfortable and safe.

Best answer: My best answer is "If a midwife knows how to be empathetic and supportive, then she will build a strong relationship with her patient and will make them feel comfortable and safe. I chose this as my best answer because ultimately this is what midwifery revolves around. Midwifes can't be cold, stern, and distant. If she doesn't have those characteristics then her patients won't feel a close bond in order to trust them fully. When a midwife is personable it makes her patient feel safe and important and helps the midwife makes the experience all the more better because she is catering to that woman's personal needs. Doing this is what essentially makes women lean towards getting a midwife rather than physician.
(2) To arrive to this answer I had to research thoroughly and work with trained professionals in the field. I interviewed and observed midwives to be able to understand that the characteristics a midwife holds are key to the service she will be providing. After doing my summer mentorship at a birth center with Simona Istrate and interviewing and working with Deborah Nakielski I concluded that being empathetic and supportive is like the cherry on top of the sundae. A midwife might be able to be very good at maternity care, primary care, and basic gynecological care but those characteristics are what will keep their patients, bring them more, and make their services more preferable. If they don't possess this women would just recruit to physicians, this is what ultimately differentiates the two.
(3) A problem I faced was that I couldn't find a path in which to aim my research towards. At the very beginning of my senior project I was all over the place, I didn't really have a main focus. I was able to resolve my issue by showing Mrs. Ortega the sort of research I was doing and sharing with her what I thought was an important key point in midwifery, she gave me a few tips and I went from there. Once talking with Mrs. Ortega I took what she told me and discussed it with my mentor, Deborah Nakielski. She then gave me a share of her information and gave me some books that I could use to guide my search and that's how I formulated my essential questions along with my answers.
(4) The two most significant sources I used were Varney's Midwifery and Deborah Nakielski. They are the most significant because that is the two places where I pulled most of my information from. Varney's Midwifery provided me with all the information from maternity care, primary care, gynecological care, to family planning services and Deborah provided me with first hand experiences and hands on learning that backed up the information I was learning.