In this episode we had the opportunity to welcome Dr Mimi Niles, PhD, CNM, MPH in for a lengthy conversation about the state of birth care.
We’re talking about what’s missing at present, the improvements we need to make with midwifery, nursing, and medical education to put person-centered care and a health equity lens at the forefront, practice changes to increase client comfort and autonomy, and what we hope for the future!
One of the themes highlighted throughout this episode is how difficult it can be to change birth care due to the power dynamics and hierarchical structure of the health system. However, the “production line” model of perinatal care is not working. It’s hard to create change when the old way has become deeply ingrained, but we have to keep pushing forward or nothing will ever change. We need to call out racism, structural inequalities, and abuse of power. We’d love to hear from you on the ways you’ve stepped up to call out issues in your work, and the impact that’s had on you as a birth professional.
Music from https://filmmusic.io
“Gonna Start” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)