ABSTRACT
The Swedish Association for Obstetricians and Gynecologists (SFOG) and the Swedish Federation of Midwives (BF), in a document on common policy (1993)1, stated that the doctor’s and the midwife’s professional knowledge complement each other in the appraisal of pregnancy risk. The document also stated that one category of professional cannot replace the other, and that the supervision of pregnancy should not be carried out by either doctors or midwives exclusively. The principles of this document were incorporated into the clinical guidelines for health-care in pregnancy published by the Swedish Board for Health and Welfare in 19962. The mutual respect for each group’s knowledge and competence is aimed at increasing safety for patients and achieving care at the appropriate level3, as it is quite possible that the level of health-care offered to a county’s population is governed by the number of care professionals available. This in turn becomes a question of priorities in education, which is a political concern. In Sweden in the year 2003, there were 1633 members of SFOG and about 7000 members of BF, who together are responsible for conducting about 100 000 deliveries.
