Women's Experiences of Consultation: Negotiating Conflicting Models of Birth

Beth Murray Davis, RM, MA

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to understand how midwifery client experiences are affected by interprofessional interactions during consultation between physicians and midwives. Ten midwifery clients from Southern Ontario who had experienced at least one consultation during their midwifery care participated in semi-structured interviews. The findings from the interviews suggest that women experience a conflict between biomedical knowledge and embodied knowledge, and between the hierarchy of physician-centred care and woman-centred care during the act of consultation. The interviews demonstrate that divergent professional philosophies may represent a significant barrier to interprofessional practice.

KEYWORDS
models of practice, woman-centred care, interprofessional relations