More and more clinics close to their delivery rooms. For many midwives, the work is no longer worthwhile due to poor working conditions. This has especially dire consequences for expectant mothers who, increasingly, are Stress, a good care in birth assistance and aftercare.
“Searching desperately for a midwife,” writes a Userin on Facebook, other reports, long in vain sought to have a number of Cancellations. On social networks or forums and entries from expectant are mothers, not infrequently, the questions are in urgent need of a midwife, because they were already too late. Too late is, apparently, sometimes, the Pregnant women only after the 10. Week of pregnancy have been reported.
Other mothers share their traumatic experiences with the birth. “I was left in the delivery room again and again, alone, because the midwife had to look after three other births, even when I have to blow drops of pain to help scream and also during the Preßwehen, although we have always asked drum that someone is there,” writes a woman on Twitter.
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Obstetrics for many clinics is not financially attractive
In German hospitals there is a lack of midwives. For years, the number of delivery rooms goes back solid. The German midwife Association, it was in the year 1991, 1186 hospitals with obstetrics, in the year 2014, there were 725 – a decline of about 40 percent.
Since 2015 have been closed according to the Association for more 83, the delivery rooms, or is threatened with closure. This has, according to Susanne Steppat by the German midwife Association, often for economic reasons, for the birth of help is available for some clinics is not financially attractive. And even if the do not want hospitals, the delivery rooms, they are forced sometimes, however temporarily. Because you can’t find enough qualified staff willing to work under these conditions.
“The under-supply in Germany,” says Steppat. The sun even not necessarily the fact that there are too few midwives-Junior. On the contrary: “Every year, more people will be trained to become midwives,” says the expert, but many do not remain due to the high workload in the hospitals.
A midwife reported: “There were times where I was on the edge of my powers”
Andrea Hagen-Herpay has worked for 35 years as a midwife in the hospital as the delivery room management. Although she has experienced her career as a very meaningful, too, was sometimes all too much: “There were times where I was on the edge of my powers.”
From the point of view of Hagen-Herpay of the midwife shortage has several causes. To have been born in the last years, more and more children. While in the 2000-ies the number of births declined in Germany steadily rose since 2012, continuously – 673.544 on 792.131 in the year 2016. Only in the year 2017, it decreased compared to the previous year.
“A local baby boom I’ve seen in the 35 years that I have been working as a midwife, from time to time,” says Hagen-Herpay. In these cases, but was for reasons of cost, it’s not necessary to hire more staff.
In some hospitals, the midwives clean at the end of their shift
As a further reason for the midwife shortage, the difficult working conditions apply. In hospitals, midwives work in shifts. They often care for multiple births at the same time. Hagen-Herpay told of a clinic where “in the chord”, where two midwives on duty time, eight women serve at the same time at the birth and after the delivery room to clean. It may also happen, especially in smaller houses that other services, such as outpatient treatment or zunehemend documentation tasks added to the tasks of the midwives.
“It is similar to that of the care – there is a Madness cost is now, what you have to of documentation and papers to do, it actually makes everything twice and three times,” explains the midwife. Overtime hours are not uncommon, breaks often possible.
“I can be so hard to break, because I’m not used to, me to put. If there is a lot to do, running around it and a piece of sugar is not plugged in to the Distress in the mouth, because you get to eat,“ says the midwife. There are also other days to do that which is less, but a 1:1 care from a midwife and spawning wife had, however, hardly possible. “We often run from one door to the next. The is no care,“ says Hagen-Herpay.
Midwives in German hospitals serve three times as many women as in other European countries
The midwives in Germany are supervised for approximately three to five times as many women as in other European countries, confirms Susanne Steppat: “It has almost a conveyor belt of character.” However, women would take today, often even more benefits. Therefore, a midwife is able to supervise fewer women than in the past and it will inevitably require more midwives.
The reason: “lack of role models and caregivers,” says Steppat. Many young families have their relatives or friends in the vicinity and, therefore, no one can help you with the Situation on the ground. “I believe that today many people are unsettled because of a lack of family cohesion. This is a chaos condition in the first place to suddenly have a child. Since the women need help because they have no big sisters, which you see when you are breast-feeding.“
The consequences of the midwives-in the absence of women seek help, not find them and need to be alone to cope. “We have to assume that there are women, the traumatic experiences, because they were left in the difficult Situation of the birth alone and thus had to cope with,” says Steppat. Could improve the Situation of the expert is that, if the working conditions in the hospitals were better, it would give reasonable people measurements. Until then, women will remain to advise to look around right at the start of pregnancy to a maternity hospital and a week of bed-midwife.