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Biomedical subjects

H P Kennedy

Publications and source records attributed to H P Kennedy.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

The essence of nurse-midwifery care. The woman's story.

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to discover the experience of the woman cared for by a nurse-midwife. Six variously situated and ethnically diverse women were interviewed about their experience with nurse-midwifery care. Using Colaizzi's phenomenological method, the data were analyzed extracting 151 significant statements that were clustered into nine themes. A picture of the essential structure of the women's experience of nurse-midwifery care unfolded and was returned to them for their comments and confirmation. Women talked about a relationship built on respect, trust, and alliance. It was the nurse-midwife herself, her qualities and behaviors, her concern and caring, and her respect for women that laid the foundation for how the women in this study perceived the experience. Repeatedly, women articulated the respect for their time, their families, their fears, and their need for information. Ultimately, it was this respect from the nurse-midwife that empowered the women to determine and direct their care.

Adult↗

Enabling conception and pregnancy. Midwifery care of women experiencing infertility.

This article provides a comprehensive and thoughtful overview of primary midwifery care of the woman experiencing infertility. Midwifery assessment and management strategies that can assist women and their partners experiencing infertility to achieve a successful pregnancy are reviewed. In addition to physiologic considerations, the article addresses psychosocial, spiritual, legal, and financial issues essential to understanding the ramifications of infertility care. The authors frame their approach in a feminist perspective that enables the woman to achieve control of fertility and self-determination of care.

Female↗

Science and midwifery: paradigms and paradoxes.

The everyday world of clinical practice is filled with paradigms and paradoxes that stem from the issues of who defines knowledge, how it is generated, and how the individual midwife applies it when providing care for women and families. Research useful for clinical practice should provide evidence to support scientific approaches (models) or strategies (interventions) in caring for women. In a clinical discipline, the answers to research questions should eventually inform clinical decision-making by providing practical clinical knowledge. This article presents an application of Stevenson's research steps for the development of clinically applicable knowledge that the midwife can use to analyze and evaluate research findings as a basis for practice decisions. Specific examples of midwifery research are used to illustrate each stage in the process and the circular nature of knowledge development. The challenge is to prepare midwives who can apply research findings skillfully using the best evidence to support clinical practice, as well as to groom midwife researchers who will develop systematic programs of relevant research about midwifery practice and outcomes.

Clinical Competence↗

Fostering evidence-based care in clinical teaching.

Understanding scientific research evidence and applying it to clinical practice is a focus in today's health care arena. Fostering evidence-based care (EBC) in clinical teaching is an effective way to help students learn to think critically, search for, evaluate, and incorporate the best research evidence into their clinical practice. For example, helping a student plan care for a woman creates a "teaching moment" for the application of scientific evidence to clinical practice. Essentially, EBC is a learned skill for both the student and the clinical teacher. It requires intellectual curiosity and a willingness to explore beyond "the way it has always been done." This article presents a review of the goals of clinical teaching, strategies to foster EBC, and tools to assess the readiness of the teacher, the student, and the clinical setting for EBC. By aligning the goals of clinical teaching with evidence-based strategies, both the educator and student strive together to provide midwifery care that is supported by available research.

Clinical Competence↗

Postpartum depression.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Attitude to Health↗

A model of exemplary midwifery practice: results of a Delphi study.

What is unique and exemplary about the midwifery model of care? Does exemplary midwifery care result in improved outcomes for the recipient(s) of that care? These are the questions that the profession of midwifery grapples with today within the context of a changing health care arena. Exemplary midwives, and women who had received their care, came to consensus about these issues in a Delphi study. A model of exemplary midwifery care is presented based on the identification of essential elements aligned within three dimensions: therapeutics, caring, and the profession of midwifery. Supporting the normalcy of pregnancy and birth, vigilance and attention to detail, and respecting the uniqueness of the woman, were several of many processes of care identified. The critical difference that emerged was the art of doing "nothing" well. By ensuring that normalcy continued through vigilant and attentive care, the midwives were content to foster the normal processes of labor and birth, intervening and using technology only when the individual situation required. Health care, whether in the gynecologic setting or during pregnancy, was geared to help the woman achieve a level of control of the process and outcome. The ultimate outcomes were optimal health in the given situation, and the experience of health care that is both respectful and empowering. The model provides structure for future research on the unique aspects of midwifery care to support its correlation with excellent outcomes and value in health care economics.

Delphi Technique↗