An ethnography of midwifery work patterns during organisational redesign

Abstract

Despite a substantial increase in midwifery research since the early 1990s, there remains alack of available research into the everyday practice of midwives. In general, hospitals arestriving to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, so many hospital-based midwives are beingexposed to hospital restructuring processes. The primary purpose of my research was to learnabout the work patterns of hospital midwives during organisational redesign. A largeBrisbane hospital, as part of its hospital-wide organisational redesign plan, merged twopostnatal wards to create a new, larger unit. With this amalgamation, the ward midwiveswere exposed to several service delivery changes. Midwifery work patterns during thisorganisational change revealed a milieu characterised by a culture of busyness. The impactof change introduced ritual and personal elements that influenced midwifery work patterns.