ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ADDRESSES how to translate evidence into practice. A tale related to me by a midwife about attendance at an active birth workshop demonstrates some of the difficulties in this area.
The midwife was responsible for training and development and ran the workshops three years in a row. The first year she had no trouble filling it, mostly with midwives already signed up to active birth as a philosophy of care. The second year she got all those who were unsure about its merits but were curious after good feedback from the first workshop. The third year she had her own list of midwives she wanted to send but none of them were really interested. Eventually she sent two midwives who she thought would be really challenged by the event and filled the other places from external enquiries. At the end of the two days of intensive discussion and practical skill demonstration, she was interested to find out what impact the workshop had had on the two midwives. One was working on the birth suite the next day and she saw her at the end of the shift and asked whether she was able to apply any of the ideas. Without hesitation, the midwife replied, ‘Oh Sue, these women are not interested in active birth, positions and the like . . . they just want to come in and get their labours over as quickly as possible.’
