Week 2 summary

This week

It’s often the simplest things that make the difference. This week, we went back to basics and explored why relationships matter. Although their importance is often overlooked, relationships are integral to human connection. Almost everything we do comes back to interacting with people. We talked about what makes up a strong relationship with a shared power balance – in any context, and in maternity care specifically.

We looked at the different types of relationships making up the maternity care system, between women, midwives, doctors, management and other healthcare professionals. Think back to what the key messages were in each case – what do we need to do to improve the relationships between the different types of people providing care for women and babies? How is the system helping or hindering, and what can we do to change things?

You saw how relationship-based care can be implemented using the Integrality Framework. In Amani’s case, for example, even though she didn’t have much support from family or friends, and her pregnancy was medically complex, with her midwife wrapping care around her – maintaining a continuous relationship and facilitating relationships with other professionals – she and her baby experienced a good outcome.

Next week

Join us next week as we put what you’ve learned into practice. We’ll show you what relationship-based care looks like in real settings around the world, and guide you through creating your own action plan to effect change.

Over to you

What did you find most interesting or useful this week? Did something stand out to you?