Interprofessional Partnership

The Health and Social Vanguard (HSV) recognize the importance of and need for
Strong interprofessional partnerships between nurses and midwives in Nigeria.
regard increasing the development of interprofessional and collaborative models
for health service delivery as important for improving access to primary maternity care.
Midwives and nurses Frequently work together, complement and learn from each other, and understand and value each other's roles And experiences. These actions and characteristics foster safe and effective maternity care that responds to the needs of women, families and communities.

supporting the following working definition of collaboration and its guiding principles:
Collaborative woman-centred practice designed to promote the active participation of each discipline in providing quality care. It enhances goals and values for women and their families, provides mechanisms for continuous communication among caregivers, optimizes caregiver participation in clinical decision-making (within and across disciplines), and fosters respect for the contributions of all disciplines.
HSV believe the following:
 Midwifery and nursing are distinct and complementary professions, each providing specialized knowledge and expertise. Nurses and midwives can contribute to safe, satisfying experiences for the women and families for whom they care by encouraging openness, respectful communication and clear use of language, and by fostering a team environment that values all partners.
 As professional care providers sharing a passion for child-bearing and serving the community, nurses and midwives are committed to ethical, quality, client-centred collaborative practice. Nurses and midwives value birth as a normal and significant life process, consider the best interests of women, families and communities in terms of their own goals, and believe that these elements are essential to ensuring an optimal outcome from the birth experience.

In this document, “nurse” refers to registered nurses and nurse practitioners, and “midwife” refers to midwives registered by their province or territory.
Midwives and nurses engage in successful models of woman- and family-centred collaborative birthing practice in maternity care in urban, rural, remote and aboriginal communities that ensure patient safety and the highest standards of care.
 Leadership is a key element in effective collaboration. Nurses and midwives need to take on key positions to provide strong, cohesive leadership and act as advocates for birthing women. They need to break down funding barriers and ensure government support for infrastructure, staffing, interprofessional education (including orientation and mentoring programs), research and informed choice.
 Best practice guidelines, protocols and evidence-informed resources to support collaboration and clinical practice need to continue to be developed. Existing tools need to be more widely distributed, discussed and shared.
Background
The World Health Organization has in recent years discussed the need to “strengthen nursing and midwifery “and “has long acknowledged the crucial contribution of nurses and midwives to improving the health outcomes of individuals, families and communities.”

Midwives are autonomous maternity care providers who work in a variety of settings including hospitals, birth centers, and community and home care. Models of care vary across the country, but all are based on the principles of continuity of care provider and informed choice, which includes choice of place to give birth.