MIDIRS Search Pack of the Month for December reinforces our mission to supply maternity health care professionals with evidence-based resources to develop knowledge and practice.
This year MIDIRS began its ‘Search Pack of the Month’ initiative, releasing a free Search Pack each month connecting to an event, celebration or research priority. Our aim with this initiative is to disseminate relevant and topical evidence-based resources to midwives and maternity professionals. It is therefore fitting that our final Search Pack of the year be ‘M54: Evidence-Based Practice’, a pack highlighting the importance of reinforcing clinical practice with continued development of knowledge through evidence-based resources.
Evidence underscores our mission here at MIDIRS. Since the 1980s, we have striven to be at the forefront of international information for pregnancy, childbirth and infancy, endeavouring to share research widely and champion evidence-based practice. We are proud to have the world’s largest midwifery-specific database, with over 14,000 records added to our Maternity and Infant Care database this year alone. Additionally, our quarterly publication MIDIRS Midwifery Digest contains a variety of in-depth original articles on research and practice, progressing our aim to share new maternity research widely.
What are MIDIRS Search Packs?
Our Search Packs are pre-made literature searches on topics within maternity research. They contain a comprehensive bibliographic list of articles as well as article abstracts. MIDIRS subscribers can find all of our Search Packs on the MIC database by searching for the specific number of a Search Pack. You can find a list of all of our Search Packs (and their corresponding numbers) here. If you require a more specific search, our librarians are also on hand to provide bespoke literature searches. You can order a bespoke search on our Products and Services page.
As we head into our 40th year as an organisation, we look forward to continuing our provision and promotion of evidence-based resources so that all midwives, students and other allied health professionals are supported in their professional development. Learn more about what a MIDIRS subscription can do for you and access our free Search Pack for December, ‘M54: Evidence-Based Practice’, at the links below.
Our 40th Anniversary
Keep an eye out on our website and social media next year as we celebrate MIDIRS turning 40 years old! We have plenty of things planned to mark the occasion, and we can’t wait to share what we have been working on with you. Looking to join in with the celebrations? Fill out our feedback form to let us know what you love about MIDIRS, as well as what you would love to see more of in the future, for the chance to win a MIDIRS goodie bag. The form takes around 5 minutes to complete, and you can choose to keep your responses anonymous. Head to the link below to find out more.
Take a look back at articles discussing evidence-based practice that have featured in past editions of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest:
‘Midwives attitudes to research-based practice.’ R Plumb (June 2002)
This study was designed to explore midwives’ attitudes to research-based practice and to describe the extent to which midwives’ attitudes translate into their feelings, their participation in research and the subsequent effect on their clinical practice. The study was undertaken in partial fulfilment of the MSc in Reproduction and Health at the University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff and was chosen for presentation at the Annual Research in Midwifery Conference in April 2001. In this, the first of a two part article, the author presents the background and methodology of the study. Emergent themes and recommendations will be examined in part two which will be published in September 2002.
‘Research and midwifery – reflecting on how they are joined.’ Donna Jones (June 2023)
In December 2022, I had the opportunity to spend a day shadowing Dr Mary Ross-Davie, Director of Midwifery at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to discuss (among other things) her role in midwifery research. Dr Ross-Davie completed a PhD on intrapartum support and, more recently, was the project lead for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) collaborative Re:Birth project (RCM 2022). This wasn’t the first time I had ‘met’ Mary. During Year 1 of my pre-registration midwifery programme, Mary was a guest speaker on campus to discuss her midwifery career, including her fascinating PhD study (Ross-Davie 2012). I was about to embark on my first clinical placement and I listened intently to Mary’s vast knowledge and experience.
‘Empowering maternity support worker voices through evidence-based practice.’ Robert Moore (June 2024)
Maternity support workers (MSWs) provide invaluable services in maternity care and are undergoing a transformational period with the implementation of Health Education England (HEE)’s framework (2019a). With more MSWs now encouraged into higher education in pursuit of this development, it is important that they are educationally supported in accessing evidence-based information to inform their practice. This article will discuss the introduction of an MSW-focused virtual journal club service as a cost-effective and contemporary resource for the national workforce.
To read these papers in full, plus hundreds more midwifery-related articles, subscribe to MIDIRS and access our full MIC database, as well as our quarterly Digest.
