A shorter path to the midwifery profession? Local government says "no"

The draft, presented two weeks ago by the health ministry and submitted for public consultation, stipulates that professional qualifications can be obtained after completing a bachelor's degree in nursing, followed by a postgraduate internship and additional midwifery training of at least 18 months (a minimum of 3,000 hours). The project immediately caused a gigantic storm: thunder was heaped on the health ministry, but also - on the part of midwives - on their own self-government, which was accused of failing to oversee work on the project at its preliminary stage. Such conclusions were fostered by the position of the Ministry of Health, which suggested that the changes were being made with the consent and even at the request of the community.

Mariola Lodzinska, president of the Supreme Council of Nurses and Midwives, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Group for Nurses and Midwives, however, unequivocally stressed that there is not and will not be any consent for such a solution from the nursing self-government. The chamber wants the law to maintain the full separateness of nursing and midwifery training paths, in accordance with the resolution of the National Congress of Nurses and Midwives of 2023. Lodzinska said that the local government supports the launch and development of the so-called short training path, which would make it possible to become a nurse after studying midwifery. To date, such a path is provided only for nurses (but none of the universities offer it). However, for it to be possible after midwifery studies, changes in the EU directive are needed - efforts on this matter have already begun.

Dr. Barbara Kotlarz, M.D., representing the position of midwives, pointed out back that the ministerial bill calls for reducing the 4,720-hour program to 3,000 hours implemented in 18 months. - This means that about two-thirds of the existing curriculum will have to be completed in time cut in half. Midwifery is already one of the very difficult studies. Reducing them by half while keeping 2/3 of the hours will make them even more difficult," she said, adding that there is also a problem with dual PWZs. A person who has been out of the profession for five years must renew the PWZ. - What will happen to the nursing credentials of those who, after completing additional training, decide to practice only as midwives? - she asked. This doubt raises a big question mark over the "bi-professionalism" which, according to the MZ, is supposed to trump the proposal.

According to the expert, making the training path complicated and difficult could end up with midwives becoming scarce in a few years. - There is a very high risk that midwives will soon be non-existent. In the next few years, retirees will start leaving the profession, which will cause a gap, and there will not be enough new graduates and midwives will be replaced by nurses. And this will unfortunately lead to the degradation of the profession," Dr. Kotlarz pointed out.

This opinion was shared by Professor Grazyna Ivanovich-Palus, national consultant in gynecological-obstetrical nursing, who stressed that among the 13,000 unemployed midwives, as many as 40 percent are those with pension rights. There is also a large group of those pursuing a second degree in this group. - We can't distort reality by saying that these are unemployed midwives," she stressed, adding that also among working midwives, about 40 percent have pension rights. - If we do not ensure an influx of young staff, there will be no replacement of generations and by the end of 2030 active midwives will disappear in some provinces, she warned.