High River Maternity Clinic - A Model for Collaborative Practice

In our new blog segment, the Alberta Association of Midwives is sitting down with midwives throughout the province for an inside look at midwifery in Alberta and the important topics that make this profession unique, personal and powerful.

Interprofessional collaboration between midwives and other healthcare professionals ensures clients are kept at the centre of their care. Recently, we connected with Deepa Upadhyaya and Krysta Sears from Foothills Midwifery to learn more about their experience in a collaborative practice model, benefiting clients and families in southern Alberta.

Deepa is an associate professor and interim academic program director of the Mount Royal University Bachelor of Midwifery program and a registered midwife at the High River Maternity Clinic. Krysta is a trained nurse and midwife who recently took over the Foothills Midwifery practice in 2021.

Fostering Collaboration in Maternity Care

When it comes to collaborative care and interprofessional relationships, High River Maternity Clinic is in a unique position. The clinic is comprised of an innovative, interdisciplinary team of doctors, nurses and midwives that provide comprehensive prenatal, labour and delivery, and postnatal care to low-risk patients from High River and surrounding rural communities. The clinic is also supported by consultant obstetricians, anesthetists, lactation consultants, and unit clerks.

The clinic was founded on the principle that midwives and physicians are equal players in the care of birthing people. “There is a mutual respect, and although traditionally family doctors and midwives have cared for the same low-risk population, in this setting we can work together collaboratively,” says Krysta. “There are long-standing relationships in this community that have established trust in our collaborative practice, and the trust goes both ways.”

This lack of hierarchy in the clinic team allows unique perspectives and valuable insights to be shared across specialties, leading to a more comprehensive, holistic experience for birthing people and their families.

Sharing Skills and Knowledge Across Professions

Maternity care delivery is inherently independent, but if we look to High River Maternity Clinic, we can begin to see how important teamwork is to the quality and safety of care.

“We follow a model of collaborative care in High River. The midwives and doctors in our practice have mutual respect and understanding of the differences and similarities between midwifery and medical models of perinatal care. Our clinic positions interdisciplinary team members as equal players in decision-making alongside individuals and families. This is somewhat a unique entity in Alberta,” says Deepa. “Specifically in High River, we practice solely in the clinic and hospital, as such, we don’t provide out-of-hospital births. However, we offer water births and a chance for a group educational visit in the third trimester.”

High River Maternity Clinic’s collaborative culture has created a sense of community and camaraderie where the desire to learn from each other is strong. To accommodate water births, maternity care providers need appropriate training. As experts, the local midwives created a water birth training course for family doctors. Now, when a birthing person expresses the desire to use one of the three birthing pools at High River Hospital, a water birth can almost always be accommodated with a trained staff member.

“Providing water births in a rural community is something that sets High River Maternity apart from other clinics in Alberta. “says Krysta. “In addition, our practice also offers postpartum support like lactation education, alternative treatments, support for traumatic birth experiences and providing prenatal classes, which is also unique for a rural setting.”

Improving Outcomes for Pregnant People and Their Families

The team in High River catches an average of 350 babies each year and they agree keeping birth local wouldn’t be possible without the cooperative interprofessional relationships in the clinic and the community.

Collaboration means less intervention, less travel for birthing people and more focus on physiologic birth. The team at High River is proud of their unique approach to midwifery care, where continuous learning is possible for midwives, nurses and physicians working alongside one another.

The Alberta Association of Midwives aims to promote the growth and sustainability of midwives and midwifery services in Alberta. We tell the stories of midwives in our province so that the profession of midwifery is understood, respected and valued in our communities.

 If you have a story to share about midwifery in Alberta, connect with us to be featured in a future blog post. Email us marketing@alberta-midwives.ca