Maternity Care Collaboration

This examines the perceptions of interprofessional collaboration from the
perspectives of midwives and obstetricians, and contrasts how these perceptions vary
by the profession. Data was collected in two ways: through an online survey and semistructured
interviews. Midwives and obstetricians were asked about their experiences
with collaboration, their perspectives on the barriers to collaboration and thoughts about
an improved system in Ontario to facilitate enhanced maternity care collaboration. The
results demonstrate the key barriers to collaboration including contentious views on
scope of practice, the definition and interpretation of interprofessional collaboration and
varying philosophies of care. The changing landscape of maternity care in Ontario is
imminent; family doctors who provide obstetrical care are on the decline, increasing the
workload for obstetricians and midwives necessitating the need to eliminate barriers to
achieve successful interprofessional collaboration.