Communication skills for midwives : challenges in everyday practice

"This book is easy to read and has relevant content for student midwives, with inclusion of reflective activities which are clear and appropriate. I particularly like the vignette's which are relevant and explore the challenges that midwives face. The script-like format of these adds a further layer to the narratives, and the inclusion of non-verbal communication as well is excellent. This will be an essential text for all student midwives."
Mary Beadle, Midwifery Lecturer, Faculty of Health and Social Care, University of Hull, UK

"Communication Skills for Midwives is a unique book that focuses not only on fundamental communication issues, but goes much further by including the many difficult and tricky issues experienced within contemporary midwifery practice. This much needed text provides detailed and comprehensive information which is reinforced by illustrations, vignettes and activities that engage the reader from the beginning. This is an excellent resource for students, practitioners and educators."
Nicky Clark, Lead Midwife for Education, University of Hull, UK

"This book covers many poignant examples of difficult and challenging communication that midwives face in everyday practice ... It covers both every day aspects of care such as facilitating choice and less common experiences like responding to domestic violence ... This book is unique and would be good bedtime reading for any midwife!"
Tandy Deane-Grey, Senior Midwifery Lecturer, University of Hertfordshire, UK

"This comprehensive and reader friendly text ... utilises a variety of strategies to aid understanding and application to practice. Each chapter has clear aims to address a challenging situation that readers will readily identify with and provides an excellent mix of vignettes, reflective activities, text and diagrams to support the development of knowledge and skills ..."
Heather Passmore, Senior Lecturer, UCS, UK

This is the first book on communication skills to explore the more challenging contexts and circumstances that midwives encounter in practice. As these occur infrequently and often unexpectedly in the daily practice of many midwives, they may find it difficult to communicate effectively to alleviate the situation. Knowing what to say and how to say it is part of this dilemma.

The book uses case vignettes, reflective questions, illustrations, tools and techniques to provide the evidence base needed to cope effectively in a range of situations by offering support to enhance your communication skills.

Communication Skills for Midwives explores challenges relating to:

Negotiating with others within inter-professional and inter-agency teams Working with minority groups Breaking significant news when labour threatens the life of a baby Telling parents that their baby has an abnormality Coping with loss and bereavement Addressing issues of domestic abuse Importantly the book provides information on how thoughts and feelings may be expressed both through body language and in words. Taking a practical and problem solving approach, the book will help you to enhance your learning and improve interaction with your colleagues, the women you care for and their families.

• Introduction p. 1
• Non-verbal communication
• Scope and aims of the book
• Outline of the book
• How to use this book
• References
• 1 Communication challenges in maintaining professional behaviour p. 6
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• The professional midwife
• Quality written records and care plans
• Handover, verbal descriptions, and stereotyping
• Oral reporting and pronunciation of clinical words
• Use of humour
• Inappropriate self-disclosure
• Being a role model
• Legal issues
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Useful websites
• 2 Communication challenges in negotiating with others in multi-professional/disciplinary teams and agencies p. 21
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• The culture of the National Health Service in midwifery
• Leadership and management skills
• Team psychology
• Conflict management
• Appraisal
• Support
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Useful websites
• Glossary
• 3 Communication challenges in the student-mentor relationship p. 39
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• Meeting your mentor on the first clinical placement
• Providing and receiving constructive feedback
• Some suggestions for providing skilled feedback
• The effect of students' ability on the student-mentor relationship
• How student and mentor can work together when the student is struggling to pass her assessments
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Glossary
• 4 Communication challenges in working with minority groups p. 54
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• Communicating with women and their families from different cultural backgrounds
• Working with women who are living outside their dominant culture
• Meeting people from different cultures for the first time
• Non-verbal features of communication in various cultures
• Cultural influences on paralinguistic features of language
• When English is not understood or spoken by the woman
• Working with women who are culturally different through disability
• Cultural challenges when the woman herself is a healthcare professional
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Useful websites
• Glossary
• 5 Communication challenges in breaking significant news p. 72
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• How does neutral news become significant or bad news?
• The breaking news process
• Special considerations in breaking significant news
• Breaking significant news in different clinical contexts
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• 6 Communication challenges associated with loss and bereavement p. 87
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• The loneliness of early pregnancy loss (miscarriage)
• Pregnancy after an early pregnancy loss
• The unpredictable nature of grief and its effects
• The impact of culture on loss
• The skill of absolute listening
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Useful websites
• 7 Communication challenges in acute clinical situations p. 101
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• The acute clinical situation that is not an emergency
• The acute clinical situation that is an emergency
• Resuscitation of the baby at birth
• When a poorly managed interaction becomes an acute clinical situation
• How different groups react and respond to acute clinical situations
• Conclusion
• References
• 8 Communication challenges around domestic abuse p. 116
• Introduction
• Chapter aims
• Professional response
• The midwife's role in domestic abuse
• Types of abuse
• Recognition of abuse
• Effects of domestic abuse on women
• Why midwives find domestic abuse difficult to handle
• Domestic abuse and children
• Disclosure of abuse
• Possible communication problems
• Conclusion
• Summary of key points
• References
• Further reading
• Useful websites
• Glossary
• Index p. 133