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| Improving Maternity Services: Small Is Beautiful - Lessons from a Birth Centre | 
 enlarge | Author: Denis Walsh
Creator: Sheila Kitzinger
Publisher: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £19.95
Buy New: £15.40
You Save: £4.55 (23%)
New (11) Used (3) from £15.40
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 96679
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.2
ISBN: 1846190959
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.1982
EAN: 9781846190957
Publication Date: November 20, 2006
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new - ships immediately
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| Customer Reviews:
A breath of fresh air April 29, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an excellent book in three respects: firstly, because of its fascinating exploration of a maternity unit which truly nurtures women, their families and the staff who care for them; secondly, because of the quality of the ethnographic research that underpins it, and thirdly because Denis Walsh's writing is so readble, notwithstanding its academic authority. Walsh has captured the essence of a unit probably like no other in the country but where caring is the order of the day rather than the technological monitoring which characterises our increasingly centralised maternity facilities.
A sense of wholeness April 27, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Denis Walsh is a Reader in Normal Birth and his work on free-standing birth centres is regularly referenced; as you would expect, this is a terrific book. It draws together issues he has explored in various papers based on his ethnographic research in a small, free-standing birth centre, and adds context, detail and a sense of wholeness.
This book will be invaluable to midwifery leaders and midwives. Those who already practise in a woman-centred way will get affirmation and insight, and those who feel the need to prove their worth by doing things to women will be challenged to do things differently. It is also essential reading for maternity activists who will be taking its messages out to decision-makers and services.
The exploration of the difference between `being' and `doing' is particularly interesting, and gave me added insight into why I reacted so positively to some midwives (those who did the hard work of `being') and so negatively to others (who only knew how to `do') during my pregnancy and birth experiences. It is clear that this has an impact on birth outcomes, so I hope this book inspires others to think about how to do `being' well.
One of the drawbacks of quantitative research is that it mainly tells you how things are or how they could be - not how we get to that point. As this book shows, through qualitative research methods such as ethnography we recognise the sort of changes we need to make. Just as importantly, it helps us realise we have the power to do it.
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