A scoping review of how new midwifery practitioners transition to practice in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and The Netherlands

Abstract

Background contemporary knowledge related to the experiences of new midwifery practitioners is limited to countries that run hospital-based transition to practice programmes within an employment contract arrangement, such as the United Kingdom, and Australia. Less is known of the experiences of New Midwifery Practitioners (NMPs) who transition into autonomous private practice in New Zealand, Canada and the Netherlands. Purpose the purpose of this paper is to report on a scoping review of the way NMPs are transitioned to practice in the first year of registered practice across the selected countries. Methods this review accessed literature and government and professional sites to make comparisons between the transition to practice processes within five countries, and discusses the benefits and issues, associated with public hospital employment programs versus community based government funded midwifery group practices. Findings comparison of the way in which NMPs are transitioned to practice in the first year of registered practice between the selected countries shows important differences based on occupational organisation. Funding of maternity services influences how NMPs in each country are orientated and supported in their transition to registered practice. Direct comparisons between countries were difficult. More research is recommended to investigate NMPs’ experiences of transition to practice in private practice.