Last week The Denver Post published an article that an iphone app was helping OBs monitor mamas' labors. www.denverpost.com/frontpage/ci_15690581 We posted the link to the article on our Facebook page yesterday asking for thoughts on this model of care vs. midwifery model of care. These were the responses...
L.K.K. - Midwifery ROCKS!
N.W. - This model of care stinks. It makes everything so hands off, which is NOT what pregnant women need. They need an awesome, supportive midwife who's supporting them every step of the way! I think it won't help the C-section rate either.
J.W. - I think if you have to rely strictly on the monitor to notice that something is "seriously wrong" with your patient, you aren't paying attention. As a consumer, if I found out that my doctor was using this technology, I would seriously consider switching providers.
S.C.H. - Wow, I think that if a doctor was going to rely on this over actually being there in person and interacting with me, I'll stay with the midwives, thanks! At least I know that I'm being taken care of and supported by someone who I know cares about me, and isn't out having lunch or is somewhere else when I need to be supported during birthing time.
M.H. - just another way for bull**** Drz 2get paid is all
A.J.L. - As a nurse i was taught to look at the patient first and monitors second. these apps put technology first, and a technology that has led to too many unneeded cesareans.
J.G. - I think it's great! Now women will read this information and run, not walk, to the nearest midwife ;-)
D.M. - I'm frustrated by the comment made by the Dr. that they interviewed, that with this new app she has "a lot more freedom to have a life". If you wanted to have a "life" maybe you should have been an accountant. I was under the impression that being in the medical field meant that you cared for your patients in person, not from a phone while on the golf course. I think that while technology has its place, too much is not a good thing as is illustrated in this example. Instead of choosing to be involved with the miracle of birth and supporting momma and babe, doctors can medically manage the process even more....from their living room couch. Thank you to my midwives and the entire staff at MMC for their mission and deep-seated desire to not distance themselves from their patients but to support and truly care for us!!!
D.M. - OH and OMG....hasn't any of these Drs or the journalist taken a look at the research regarding the fetal heart monitors??? There goes the C-section/induction rate...
J.S.M. - I HEART MMC!!!!!!! I feel soooooooooo blessed to have had the opportunity to birth my baby girl there.
A.V. - Those poor ob’s that would have had to wait for a nurse to page them can now just look at their phones. Their lives are so much more simple now. Too bad there isn't an iphone app to make them more aware of how to adequately care for the patient. Maybe soon they can just send a holographic image of the doctor to help deliver the baby.
E.A. - Just one more reason why I am in school to me a midwife and not a doctor
J.H.R. - It's great the docs want to be in the know about their patients' stats, but not care enough to be there. I chose MMC so that my provider would be with me when I needed her to be there the most!
E.M. - When I had my first in the hospital, there were frequent "decels" that kept turning out to be the baby moving away from the monitor. I hate to think of a doctor making a decision about a c-section based on seeing those "decels" from his or her iPhone. The sad thing is, most people will never even think to ask their doctor if he or she uses this technology, and the doctors who do will try to reassure anyone who asks that it's actually in the patient's best interest, as opposed to the best interest of the doctor's personal life.
K.J.W. - This makes me sad. As a transfer from the birth center to the hospital, I experienced the hospital setting vs. midwives and the birthing center. I went from an environment that was full of midwives and women who embrace pregnancy and birth, who are warm and encouraging, who h...ad gotten to know me personally and who were excited when we called to tell them “it was time,” to an environment where the nurses didn’t know my name, or even care to, to the staff I was just another “patient,” they weren’t excited to meet my baby, they never called me “mama,” and I didn’t receive any helpful guidance or support when complications were arising (thankfully I had my amazing hub and a fantastic doula on my side). This app doesn’t even exist yet and it sure didn’t seem I was of much importance even. The doc never even came into my room to talk to me about what was going on; instead I received phone calls. The one thing this app would have helped with, had it already existed, is that while I was being prepped for my emotional cesarean and mourning the loss of my hopes to naturally birth my baby, I wouldn’t have had to hear about how the doctor’s wife was upset he had cancel dinner plans because I hadn’t had my baby yet. Women and babies need midwives more than ever right now! I wish the world would awaken from its insanity and see this.
S.G. - Perceived "convenience" always seems to be the motivator behind technology such as this. Such a shame, but also such a blessings to have midwives who believe in a woman's body to birth naturally and recognize the importance of being fully present to serve a laboring woman and her family.