Abstract
The nature and extent of perinatal health care services to mother and child in the total South
African population are determined by various factors. The quality of the perinatal care that the
midwife provides is influenced by the following factors: geographical variatjons in matema1 and
child deaths, the existing fragmented regime of health care provision. the shortage and
maldistribution of health workers. the composition of the population and various demographic
factors. Another factor is the objective that primary health care should be available to the total
population in South Africa. fn this regard the midwife is seen as the key figure providing this
extensive obstetrical health care.
Various organizations and people involved in perinatal practices expressed their concern about the
midwife's apparent inability to operate professionally. They also questioned the standard of
educational programmes. Several nursing researchers recommend continuing professional education to
improve the training and practices of mjdwives. The importance of continuing professional education
in keeping the midwife mentally alert and well informed on technical developments is repeatedly
emphasized in literature. The South African Council for Nursing accepts the principle of compulsory
continuing professional education for midwives - this also served as motivation for this study.
Due to high costs and the administrative extent of a system of compulsory continuing professional
education for all practising rrudwives in South Africa the researcher conducted the research in an
exploratory, descriptive and interpretable way by using literature analyses
as a refining technique...
D.Cur.