The midwife's role in the care of babies of substance-misuse mothers

Abstract

In Malta, as well as in other countries, substance-misuse has been on the increase these last few decades. This relatively 'new' problem is inflicting a need for midwives to be adequately trained and prepared for this 'modem' situation. Hence, this study will highlight issues with regards to the care of babies of substance-misuse women. A small scale explorative study was undertaken to explore the midwife's knowledge and care, given to babies suffering from withdrawal symptoms of methadone or heroin addiction whilst in utero. A convenience sample of 20 midwives from the Nursery of the Postnatal Ward and the Special Care Baby Unit at Karen Grech Hospital in Malta was used. The research instrument used for this study was a self-administered questionnaire. Such tool was applied in order to explore the midwife's knowledge in diagnosing opiate withdrawal symptoms, to investigate the type of care given to babies suffering from withdrawal symptoms and to investigate follow up procedures of these babies. Findings revealed that not all midwives were confident when caring for these babies; and that midwives would appreciate more formal teaching when it comes to caring for these babies. However most of them showed sensitivity when asked about these babies' follow up care. It is therefore recommended that midwives should continue to develop professionally through continuing education. Thus, it is of utmost importance that midwives keep up to date with this topic by reading research based midwifery journals frequently, and attend courses that meet the particular learning needs. There is also need for better organizing and managing of midwifery clinical practice.