March 27, 2023
Patty Lenstra (in blue scrubs), seen here with registered midwife Wendy Wood (in yellow) and two midwifery clients, has led the in-hospital registered midwife program at Rockyview General Hospital since February 2022. Photo by Leah Hennel.
Story by Nathan Downey | Photo by Leah Hennel
For more than a year, an in-hospital registered midwife program at the Rockyview General Hospital has been supporting nearly 100 midwives in Calgary Zone.
The program — the first of its kind in Alberta — was established in February 2022. It’s proven hugely beneficial to community midwives as well as to clients and their families.
Under the new program, a registered midwife is always available at Rockyview. The in-hospital midwife triages midwifery patients who arrive at the hospital. This allows primary-care midwives to send their clients directly to the hospital for assessment. The in-hospital midwife also facilitates obstetric consultations for complex or emergent cases.
“We support all Calgary Zone midwives,” says Patty Lenstra, a registered midwife who’s led the program since its creation. “The in-hospital midwife provides support to the primary-care midwife, who can then focus on providing even better care for their clients.”
Midwives provide care both in a hospital setting and in the community, where they typically juggle home visits, clinic days, an on-call schedule and out-of-hospital births. Prior to the in-hospital program, midwives were required to meet their clients at the hospital to triage them directly. This led to unbalanced workloads and more pressure on community midwives.
When not involved in triage, the in-hospital midwife also provides backup support to primary-care midwives working with clients in labour.
Lori Smith, Labour & Delivery unit manager at Rockyview, says the in-hospital registered midwife helps to support other healthcare providers in the unit.
“If a midwifery patient comes in, it’s a load off the triage nurses, now that they always have that midwife support there,” she adds. Smith says the continuous presence of a registered midwife promotes closer working relationships between care providers and a better understanding of midwifery care.
This increased integration of midwives into the Calgary Zone healthcare system has also translated to improved patient care.
“Our families find it very reassuring to have a registered midwife at Rockyview 24/7, to advocate for them and provide triage support, and to see them in a timely manner,” says Lenstra.
“The in-hospital registered midwife program has expanded the care team for families, who now view the hospital as a welcoming place for themselves and their primary-care midwives.”
Smith agrees. “What we’ve heard from patients is positive. They don’t have to wait for their midwife to come in and assess them. They come in — a midwife is already there — and they’re getting timely care.”
Calgary Zone is home to 97 midwives, 57 per cent of the province’s registered midwives with an AHS appointment. Work is underway to establish a similar in-hospital service in Edmonton Zone.
