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Maternity Care: Building Relationships Really Does Save Lives

Learn how quality relationships between mothers, midwives and other health professionals transform maternity care and save lives.

8,214 enrolled on this course

Blissful mother and baby cuddling immediately after birth. Copyright Brisbane Birth Photography.
  • Duration

    3 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Build relationships in maternity care and save lives

Research unequivocally shows that providing a woman with the same midwife before, during and after birth, results in less preterm birth, fetal death and other complications.

This course explains why we need relationship-based care in maternity services. You’ll discover how to create successful relationships, and how this produces better outcomes for the mother, baby and midwife.

You’ll learn about organisational healthcare models, and what you and your local community can do to contribute to the transformation of maternity care globally.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 7 seconds What if we told you there’s something simple that can reduce preterm birth by 24%, and it can significantly improve women’s satisfaction around pregnancy, birth, and the post-natal period? It’s not a new technology, but it’s something that could save mothers’ and babies’ lives. It’s not a new medicine, surgery, or scan. And it doesn’t cost millions to implement. It works on a global scale. It works in any culture, in any context, and anywhere in the world. It makes midwives happier, healthier, and gives greater job satisfaction. What if we told you that you can help?

Skip to 0 minutes and 50 seconds I’m Jenny Gamble, professor and Head of Midwifery at Griffith University. It’s the number one place to study midwifery in Australia. We can teach you how to help transform maternity care to save lives and to improve the experience of women and midwives everywhere. How? It’s deceptively simple– through relationships. No matter who you are or how you’re involved in maternity care, as a mother, midwife, doctor, or other health professional, you have the power to make a difference. And we can show you how. If you could really help save lives, why wouldn’t you?

What topics will you cover?

  • The current state of maternity care and its effect on women, babies and families, as well as midwives, other health professionals, and the health service
  • The case for reform – why moving to a relationship-based maternity care model significantly improves outcomes across all areas
  • The evidence behind the efficacy of relationship-based maternity care – it really does save lives
  • What relationship-based care involves - the overarching principles and what it means in the context of maternity care
  • An outline of the relationship framework (organisational model) that best facilitates quality relationship-based care
  • Demonstrations of relationship-based maternity care in practice
  • Affecting change from a grassroots level - the power of individuals and groups
  • How you can help – practical ways to help make relationship-based care available in your area

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Summarise the key problems in the current provision of maternity care
  • Explain what a relationship framework for maternity services is
  • Justify why a relationship framework for maternity services can produce better outcomes for mother, baby, maternity care providers, and society
  • Describe the organisational model that can facilitate relationship-based care for maternity services
  • Develop a plan for action you or your community could implement to begin to affect change in this area

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone interested in improving maternity care, including midwives, doctors, other health professionals, planners and policy makers, and consumers of maternity care (parents).

Who developed the course?

Griffith University

Griffith University was created to be a different kind of university—challenging conventions, responding to trends and pioneering solutions through innovative teaching and research.

  • Established

    1971
  • Location

    Queensland, Australia
  • World ranking

    Top 210Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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