Professional Behaviour within Midwifery

Date of this document June 2006

The Australian College of Midwives believes that it is the responsibility of each midwife to respect, support and sustain other midwives and midwifery students in their professional roles, and actively promote their own and others sense of self worth and self-esteem.

Rationale:

The Australian College of Midwives asserts that intimidation and bullying, and/or any other form of unethical and hurtful personal behaviour are unacceptable and unprofessional.

Guidelines:

Professional midwifery behaviour is guided by the following values:

• The codes of ethics and conduct and midwifery competency standards
• The elimination of harassment, victimisation and bullying in the workplace
• Working cooperatively, respecting the professional knowledge, skills and attributes each individual offers
• Engaging in respectful and professional communication
• Fostering trustworthy and respectful relationships with each other and in partnership with women
• Recognition of diversity in gender, culture, religion, spirituality, sexual orientation and opinion without judgement or prejudice
• Acknowledge innovation and originality by remaining open to new ideas and ways of thinking

References:

ACM Code of Ethics, 2001

ACM Philosophy and Position Statement Horizontal Violence in Midwifery, 2002.

NSWMA Position Statement on Horizontal Violence, 2000 prepared by Carolyn Hastie

ANMC National Competency Standards for the Midwife, 2006

This College statement is intended to provide midwives, women and maternity services with the profession’s position on given situations.
Statements are designed to educate and support best practice and should never be relied on as a substitute for full assessment with respect to an individual woman or her baby. It is the responsibility of each provider to be fully aware of the individual circumstances of each case with regard to the application of this statement.
Whilst the College endeavours to ensure that statements are accurate and current at the time of their preparation, each provider must have regard to relevant information, research or literature which may have been published or become available subsequently.