Meeting the needs of rural and regional families: educating midwives

Recent claims that Australian midwifery is at a crossroads (Newhnam, 2010), and related debate centred upon women-centred versus medical models of care, requires urgent attention to ensure the future of midwifery practice. Less apparent in the public sphere is a current move by some Universities away from postgraduate midwifery programs in favour of direct entry undergraduate programs, alongside the Australian College of Midwives' apparent criticism of the alternative undergraduate model of joint Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Midwifery undergraduate degrees. We contend that the time has come for public debate regarding these two contentious issues. As nurses, midwives and academics practising in regional Australia, we take issue with the notion that an undergraduate Bachelor of Midwifery degree alone will meet the health workforce needs, and thus the needs of women and families, of regional, rural and remote Australia into the future. We argue that the Bachelor of Midwifery degree should be one of several ways in which midwives are educationally prepared to practice across a country as diverse as ours