Overcoming the undersupply—supporting midwives' return to practice

The current critical shortage of midwives is a worldwide phenomenon that has created the need for educational programs that prepare midwives, who have previously left midwifery practice, for return to the contemporary clinical workforce. This paper focuses on the support requirements of midwives involved in a refresher program as determined by a research project conducted at The Northern Hospital in Melbourne during 2001.

The project was a small-scale case study involving eight program participants. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to generate data.

Analysis of the data revealed that the concept of support must be considered from personal and professional perspectives, if successful outcomes are to be achieved.