The book I chose is based on a study examining the shift to physician-attended birth. It is called Catching Babies and is written by Charlotte G. Borost. This book examines the effects on gender, culture, and class on transition to physician-attended childbirth in four counties in Wisconsin. This book is the first study to analyze the transition within a particular community. Charlotte Borost analyzes the work from groups of midwives and physicians who all practiced in one of four counties in Wisconsin between 1870 and 1920.The study looks at the professionalization of childbirth in chronological and theoretical terms. The first four chapters are an actual analysis of midwife education, family life, and practice in both rural and urban counties in Wisconsin. Chapters five, six, and seven are examination of how education promoted physicians to become expert birth attendants and the practice of obstetrics (by general practitioners and specialists). In this paper I will be summarizing each chapter of the book. (book)
Chapter one discusses the different trainings of midwives. In Wisconsin between 1870 and 1920 there were three main types of practicing midwives. The three main types were neighbor-women midwives, native-born midwives, and apprentice-trained midwives. “ Although each kind of midwife could be found practicing in Wisconsin during much of the fifty-year period, amount the nearly nine hundred women identified, there was a distinct evolution from primarily neighbor-women to apprentice-trained to school-trained practitioners”(page 15). The most traditional midwifes in late nineteenth century in Wisconsin were neighbor-women midwives. These women were completely self-taught. They general lived in isolated rural areas and pr...
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... together with their social and political position within communities, helps to explain how late nineteenth century general practitioners were able to displace midwives from the birth rooms”(page 128). “Despite the fact that by the end of the nineteenth century educational qualifications were increasingly important for professional success, ties to the community remained an important determent of a successful medical practice”(page 130).
Chapter seven focuses on the progression to the specialization of obstetrics. Many areas of medicine were advancing as a result of the research and study of disease management, leading to growth of medical specialties. This was not the case with obstetrics, “ with obstetrics one is not concerned with finding a new disease …. But the safeguarding and superintending of what should be the most normal of all life functions”(page 131).
Contrary to having doctors deliver babies today, midwives were called upon to deliver babies during the eighteenth century. There were many more midwives than there were doctors during that time. In addition, Martha served as a midwife, nurse, physician, mortician, pharmacist, and attentive wife simultaneously (40). Aside from being able to deliver babies, midwives were also highly experienced in medical care—they tended to wounds, diagnosed illnesses, and made medicine. Midwives were more accessible and abundant when compared to doctors—they did not require any formal training or education. When the medical field was underdeveloped, the midwives were the leading resource when it was related to medical conflicts.
Social medicine was important to the community in eighteenth century Hallowell. Female midwives were a part of a social network. This differed from the traditional way people thought of midwives. “In western tradition, midwives have inspired fear, reverence amusement, and disdain. They have been condemned for witch craft, eulogized for Christian benevolence, and caricatured for bawdy humor and old wives’ tales” (46). This view changed in the eighteenth century because midwives were starting to be seen as a necessary part of the medical community. Midwifes were used for most births during this time, and doctors were only summoned if there was a medical emergency that was out of the midwives medical capabilities. During the delivery of children relatives and neighbors would come together for a social gathering. The most prominent physicians of Hallowell, Maine were Daniel Cony, Samuel Colman, Benjamin Page, and Benjamin Vaughan (48). Physicians believed that midwives were an important part of the medical community. Male physicians relied on more studied mainstream ways to cure diseases. In contrast, Martha believed nature alone offered cures for illnesses. However, she was not ignorant to mainstream medicine and would rely on those cures if one of her family members were in
Strategies were in place to eliminate the "Granny Midwife problem." Although this historical account took place in Georgia, this story is told throughout all of the southern states. And this is what bridges the similarity of the Anglo-American midwife and the African-American midwife 's history. When the first granny midwives volunteered their names in for a license, little did they know there was a plan in store for the discontinuation of their midwifery practice? Like the white midwives in the north, she thought that becoming licensed would legalize and legitimize her lifelong work. She was told that taking classes in midwifery would give her more prestige and status. Whereby, encouraging midwives to enlist their names was a deceiving method of the State Department of Health to track who was practicing and where so they could be closely monitored and eventually retired. This encouraged more (young) women to apply for licenses (between the ages of 25-45). Some were not given a license either because of age, lack of practice, or failure to submit recommendations from two doctors. However, midwives in the most rural areas where there was no threat of competition were allowed to continue their practice without licensure. Of course, these areas were populated by predominantly blacks. Courses were being taught in the county clinic for midwives with the intentions of
Johnson, K. C., & Daviss, B. A. (2005). Outcomes of planned home births with certified professional midwives: large prospective study in North America. Bmj, 330(7505), 1416.
Barbara Melosh examined written and oral accounts of nurses in American from 1920 and through the Second World War in The Physician’s Hand: Work Culture and Conflict in American Nursing. She found that while the reform aim for nurse leaders in this period was professionalization, other nurses resisted or were distant from this process. For these nurses, the shared experience of the changing of the demands and rewards of nursing shaped their work and thinking. [1] Melosh attempts to place nursing within the context of women’s, labor and medical history. She proposes that the growing divisions within nursing itself arose from nurses’ position in the medical hierarchy, and the fight for both legitimate authority and control over the work process itself. She also posits that nurses developed an “occupational culture” that placed manual skill and direct patient contact over theoretical training at the same time that nursing elites were successfully winning a battle for degrees and credentialing over the apprenticeship model of the nineteenth century. [2] Lastly, she finds that while stratification of nursing as paid labor mirrored societal relations of gender, race and class, the experience of both apprenticeship and professionalization contributed to the separation of nursing from pre modern roots.[3]
Starr, P. Medicine, "Economy and Society in Nineteenth century America," Journal of Social History. 1977. pp10, 588-607.
While the concept of the profession began in the 17th century, our paper will focus more on the contemporary American history starting in the 1940s. Dr. Amos Johnson, a founder of the American Board of Family Practice, hired a hospital orderly named Henry Treadwell to assist in the daily activities of his office. Dr. Johnson’s practice in Garland, North Carolina, initiated the spread of the physician assistant model across the state. Dr. Eugene Stead and his general medicine residents at Duke University took interest in this idea. In 1942, due to the lack of adequate medical care during World War II, Dr. Stead created a three year medical doctorate fast-track program. This sparked the idea that perhaps one day he could implement a similar program to alleviate the physician shortage in the United States.
Throughout history mankind has come up with some wonderful inventions and innovations, but out of all the creations by far the most beautiful and precious is human birth. I first developed an interest in nursing and in particular midwifery years ago. I believe it is a great service within the health profession because of the privileged position to assist in human childbirth. The word midwife means with woman. Centuries before obstetricians delivered babies, midwifes assisted women in having at home births. But it was only formally established as a profession in the early 1900’s. A nurse-midwife is a registered nurse that specializes in midwifery. The job of midwife is to assist in family planning and birth control advice, provide general gynecological services (such as pap smears and breast exams), aid women in childbirth, and help women by providing prenatal and postpartum care. Nurse-midwives are required to have a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree and pass the American College of Nurse Midwifery (ACNM) board examination to obtain certification.
Paine, Lisa L. "Midwifery, Childbirth, Politics, and Religion: Lessons from the Case of Anne Hutchinson, Colonial Midwife." Midwifery, Childbirth, Politics, and Religion: Lessons from the Case of Anne Hutchinson, Colonial Midwife. 13 Nov. 2000. Web. 17 Oct. 2010. .
Sorensen, J., & Abbott, E. (2004). The Maternity and Infancy Revolution. Maternal & Child Health Jounal, 8(3), 107-110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14089739&site=ehost-live
Birth is a normal, physiological process, in which a woman’s body naturally prepares to expel the fetus within. It has occurred since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, childbirth has gradually evolved into what it is today - a highly managed whirlwind of unwarranted interventions. Jennifer Block, a journalist with over twelve years experience, has devoted herself to raising awareness regarding the authenticity of the Americanized standard of care in obstetrics, while guiding others to discover the truth behind the medical approach to birth in this country. In her book, Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, Jennifer Block brings forth startling truths concerning this country’s management of birth.
Chances are that terms such as “midwife” and “home birth” conjure up for you old-fashioned images of childbirth. These words may bring to mind scenes from old movies, but you’re not likely to associate them with the modern image of childbirth. Do you know anyone who has had a midwife-assisted birth or a home birth? Would you consider one?
future career, that is to be an obstetrician, also known as an OB/GYN. Some of the topics that will be discussed in my paper are those pertaining to exactly what an obstetrician is and the requirements that are needed in order to become an obstetrition. These requirements will include the pyhsical and phsyschological personality traits of a potential obstetrician. The type of schooling that is nessecary, including the preperation that is available at Middlesex County College, and the average number of years that it takes in order to become an obstetrician. The demand for obstetricians will also be researched, along with the different promotional ranks that are available. Starting salaries, as well as potential salaries will be explained. The reasons as to why a career in obstetrics appeals to me and the other possible career choices that I may decide to persuade in the future.
In the 1980's, the nursing profession was transformed by World War two. The first known nurse during the early years of the Christian church was Phoebe a deaconess. Phoebe took care of both men and woman, in 323 A.D construction of a hospital has begun in every cathedral town. Nursing professionalized in the late 19th century. Larger hospitals set up nursing schools that attracted ambitious women from working-class back grounds. Till the early 1900s, nursing schools came to an end and was controlled by hospitals. The hospitals took control and no longer need book learning just experience, training and used the student nurses as cheap labor. In the late 1920s the women’s specialities in health care included 294,000 trained nurses, 150,000 untrained nurses, 550,000 other hospital workers most women and 47,000 midwives. The nation’s 3.1 million nurses work in diverse settings and fields and are frontline providers of health care services. Most nurses prefer to work in acute care settings. Nurses fill a wide variety of positions in healthcare. Florence Nightingale was not the first to put these principles into action it was a corp of educated women who informed and promoted it. Throughout the history, most sick care took place in the home and was the family, friends, and neighbors with knowledge of healing practices responsibility. In the 19th century, hospitals began to proliferate to serve those who were without the resources to provide their own care. Nursing care in these institutions differed enormously. The first physician was Valentine Seaman from New York. Seaman organized an early course of lectures for nurses who cared for maternity mothers. The outbreak of the civil war created an immediate need for nurses. About 20,000 wo...
Pediatric nursing did not develop in the United States until the nineteenth century. Most children were delivered with the help of midwives and cared for by their families, using folk medicine. Only the wealthy were attended by physicians, who were limited in what they could actually do for their patients. (mary)