Perinatal midwifery care demand in a tertiary hospital: A time-series analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The chronic shortage of registered midwives and nurses is a serious global problem. However, current recommendations regarding midwifery staffing do not address operational staffing difficulties that arise from wide variations in care demand. The aim of this study was to describe shift-level care demand and available staffing resources in a tertiary hospital's maternity department.

Methods

This single-centre retrospective longitudinal study investigated a four-year timeframe (2019-2022). All registered midwives and nurses working a three-shift pattern in the prenatal unit, labour ward, or postnatal unit were included. To determine care demand, we approached it in a novel way, accounting for both the number of women on each unit and each case's expected complexit

SUBMITTER: Eggenschwiler LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11802361 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature