Dawley Katy
Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions, Philadelphia, PA 19119, USA.
J Midwifery Womens Health. 2003 Mar-Apr;48(2):86-95. doi: 10.1016/s1526-9523(03)00002-3.
This article reviews the origins of nurse-midwifery in the United States during the early decades of the 20th century and explores professional expansion between 1940 and 1950. Nurse-midwifery emerged from the vision of public health nurses, obstetricians, and social reformers concerned about high maternal and infant mortality rates at the turn of the century. Desirous of promoting child health, they provided prenatal care for pregnant women and assisted physicians, while also supporting women during labor and birth at home. Seeking to expand their specialty by introducing nurse-midwifery, they joined the campaign to eliminate traditional immigrant and African American midwives. By the early 1930s, there were only two sites for the practice of nurse-midwifery in the United States: Frontier Nursing Service and Maternity Center Association. Over the next 20 years, nurse-midwifery expanded in response to physician shortages, the emergence of a childbirth education movement, and women's demands for participation in birth. In the 1940s, the greatest expansion occurred in the South and Southwest in home birth, birthing centers, and an occasional community hospital.
本文回顾了20世纪初几十年间美国助产护理的起源，并探讨了1940年至1950年间该专业的扩张情况。助产护理起源于公共卫生护士、产科医生以及关注世纪之交高孕产妇和婴儿死亡率的社会改革者的愿景。出于促进儿童健康的愿望，他们为孕妇提供产前护理并协助医生，同时也在产妇家中分娩时为其提供支持。为了通过引入助产护理来扩大自己的专业领域，他们加入了消除传统移民和非裔美国助产士的运动。到20世纪30年代初，美国只有两个助产护理执业地点：边疆护理服务组织和产妇中心协会。在接下来的20年里，由于医生短缺、分娩教育运动的兴起以及女性对参与分娩的需求，助产护理得到了扩展。在20世纪40年代，最大规模的扩张发生在南部和西南部的家庭分娩、分娩中心以及偶尔的社区医院。
