Attached
O bjective: To explore midwifery-trained registered nurses’ perceptions of their own
profession as maternity care providers and how they identify their role, tasks, and
responsibilities within a multi-professional team.
D esign: An exploratory qualitative study using focus group discussions and qualitative
content analysis.
Setting: Three selected tertiary care hospitals in the Capital Province in Sri Lanka.
P articipants: Twenty-two midwifery-trained RNs working in intra-partum and postpartum
units.
Findings: The overriding theme o f the analysis was identified as ‘competent but not allowed
to blossom fully in their practice’, based on two main categories: ‘provision o f competent
care’ and ‘working with disappointments’. Each main category had four subcategories:
‘acting with compassion’, ‘cooperation in emergencies’, ‘exceeding one’s boundaries’,
‘taking full responsibility’ and ‘deprived o f utilizing special knowledge and skills’, ‘role
confusion with other professional groups’, ‘lack o f professional identity’, and ‘not being
appreciated by others’, respectively.
Conclusion: Midwifery-trained RNs conveyed a deep sense o f disappointment regarding
their profession as maternity care providers in Sri Lanka. Midwifery-trained RNs’
perceptions of their high proficiency are incongruent with their low sense of identity and
belongingness within the multi-professional hospital-based maternity care team. This phenomenon warrants further study, considering its implications for team work and patient
safety.
