Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Things I'm excited about

1. My instructor who introduced "evidence-based medicine" with the example of administering IV fluids during labor. She stated it did not improve the mother or child's outcome. (She's also a CNM.) She indicated evidence-based medicine is the best, not relying on tradition or protocol.

2. Atlanta Doula Co-op. A volunteer organization which provides doula services in the Atlanta-metro area. Most of these doulas are nurse-midwifery students. Their informational meeting is this afternoon. Although, they're CAPPA certified...I'm DONA certified --- I hope this won't be a problem. A doula is a doula, right?

3. Feminist Health Center. They have a clinical internship aimed at medical and nursing students. This organization sounds really wonderful. According to my adviser at my alma mater, very few of these centers still exist. I've already emailed them to see what I can do to help out.

4. The weekend. I am swamped with homework, reading, assignments, etc. already. I need to catch up.

2 comments:

Ciarin said...

"She indicated evidence-based medicine is the best, not relying on tradition or protocol."

I wanted to comment on this as a CNM and a nurse educator...

Evidence-based practice (what I prefer to call it) is very important, however there are compnents of midwifery care that can't be researched (ethically). Sometimes what we have found to work in our own practices, and what instincts have shown us, can be valid part of practice. For example, ambulation during labor hasn't been proven effective in speeding labor up. But we encourage it. Why? Because the sense of control, mobility, and decreased awareness of pain likely does cause labor to speed up. It's not the actual walking but the woman instead. Not the best example but it's what came to mind. There are lots of midwifery 'tricks' and nursing 'tricks' that are not evidence-based...but they work. I used to think that evidence-based was the be-all end-all to practice - but it's not. A combination of evidence and intuition and experience is valuable!

Have fun studying - I know it's a grind!

Elise said...

Hi! I just wanna say thanks for starting this blog! I am a 20-something nursing student and doula from MD, living in PA (& hating it) and have been thinking for a few years about moving to ATL after graduation. I also am considering midwifery, so your perspective should give me great insight (into the city and the school)! Sounds like you might be too busy, but have you looked further into the doula co-op? I am DONA trained also and am curious as to whether they discriminate...