Midwives in Maine will have access to certain medications, thanks to a new law. The law allows pharmacists to give the drugs to certified professional midwives for use in home birth. The legislation will help midwives and their patients.
The drugs included under the law are vitamin K injections used to help in blood clotting, antibiotic eye drops and medication to numb the skin for suturing tears after the baby is born. The first two medications are routinely used in hospital births, but often not used in home births. The state is hoping this will change after the law is in effect.
Until this time, midwives wanting to provide these medications had to find other means of obtaining them. According to a report in The Bangor Daily News, midwives were getting the medications from either doctors or pharmacists sympathetic to women wanting a home birth.
However, pharmacists and doctors worried about going outside the law to help a fellow professional. This is no longer a worry, since midwives are legally allowed to obtain the medicines.
Midwives hope this legislation will help in their quest to be recognized as professionals. Midwives associations in the state were lobbying for a more inclusive law which would include the ability to bring additional medications and oxygen to deliveries.
For this reason, many are lobbying for a licensing system for certified professional midwives. Currently, Maine like many states only licenses certified nurse midwives. The main difference between these two groups of professionals is certified nurse midwives go to nursing school and then midwifery school.
Certified professional midwives are not nurses first, but go right to midwifery school and apprentice with an experienced midwife. These midwives are most often present for out of hospital births. Certified nurse midwives usually deliver in the hospital and work under a doctor.
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