Birth attendant

A birth attendant, also known as skilled birth attendant, is a health professional who provides basic and emergency care to women and their newborns during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. A birth attendant, who may be a midwife, physician, obstetrician, or nurse, is trained to be present at ("attend") childbirth, whether the delivery takes place in a health care institution or at home, to recognize and respond appropriately to medical complications, and to implement interventions to help prevent them in the first place, including through prenatal care. Different birth attendants are able to provide different levels of care. There are three different types of midwives. There is a nurse-midwife who must obtain a high level of education, either bachelors or masters in midwifery, after becoming a nurse. Nurse-midwives can serve in most birthing centers, hospitals, and can have a private home birth practice. Then there is a Certified Professional Midwife. This midwife can obtain a license by following an apprenticeship/internship style of learning, along with other certifications. She must pass a board exam through states/countries that allow for this license and can only be available in a home birth setting. Lastly there are Direct Entry Midwives. These midwives are trained through an apprenticeship/internship process and are only allowed in home birth settings as well. They do not hold a professional license but rather serve as lay midwives wherever they are needed. A distinction must be made between "birth attendant" and others who may provide support and care during pregnancy and childbirth, based on professional training and skills, practice regulations, as well as nature of care delivered. Birth attendants are typically trained to perform clinical functions for basic and emergency obstetric and neonatal care, including administration of parenteral antibiotics, oxytocics and anticonvulsants; manual removal of placenta; removal of retained products of placenta; assisted vaginal delivery; and newborn resuscitation.