Overcoming the undersupply--supporting midwives' return to practice.
UNLABELLED: The current critical shortage of midwives is a worldwide phenomenon that has created the need for educational programs that prepare midwives, who have previously left midwifery practice, for return to the contemporary clinical workforce. This paper focuses on the support requirements of midwives involved in a refresher program as determined by a research project conducted at The Northern Hospital in Melbourne during 2001. The project was a small-scale case study involving eight program participants. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to generate data. Analysis of the data revealed that the concept of support must be considered from personal and professional perspectives, if successful outcomes are to be achieved. INTRODUCTION: The response of the Federal Government to the dire shortage of midwives currently working in public healthcare facilities has been to allocate funding to the states and territories for education and re-skilling programs, with the aim of enticing midwives back to clinical practice (Walsh 2001). In Victoria, refresher programs have been developed to meet the needs of midwives whose level of expertise has diminished due to lack of clinical experience, but who have fulfilled the necessary requirements.