Midwives' Thoughts on Professional Proficiency and Competency: A Qualitative Study

Aim: This study was conducted in a qualitative method in order to determine the thoughts of midwives on professional proficiency and competency. Material and Methods: A preliminary study was conducted and the scores of 278 midwives from The Perceptions Empowerment in Midwifery Scale (PEMS) were determined. Between those individuals, 5 midwives with highest and 5 midwives with lowest PEMS score were chosen. The data were collected with the Midwife Descriptive Information Form and Semi-Structured Interview Form and online face-to-face interview method. The data recorded during the interview were evaluated by making frame analysis. Results: The opinions of the midwives; themes of Proficiency (“Public Health”, “Pregnancy”, “Birth”, “Postpartum”, “Newborn”, “Women”, “Counseling”, and “Research”) and Competency (“General Competencies”, “Pre-pregnancy and Antenatal”, “Care during labor and birth”, “Ongoing care of women and newborns”) was evaluated. It was observed that there was high compatibility in Proficiency for the themes of “Pregnancy”, “Birth” “Postpartum”, “Newborn” and “Counseling” and in Competency for the themes of “General Competencies”, “Antenatal” and “Care during labour and birth”. While it was observed that there was low compatibility in Proficiency for the themes of “Public Health”, “Women”, “Research”, and in Competence for the theme of “Pre-pregnancy”. Conclusion: While midwives consider themselves competent and proficient during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum periods; limited mention of their competencies and proficiencies in community health, pre-pregnancy and research. Improvements can be made in the undergraduate education curriculum for areas where midwives do not feel proficiency and competency.