Endorsed midwives in Western Australia (WA)

Endorsed midwives integrate women-centred care with a holistic family centred approach and provide continuity of antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care. They can work within the public health system or as a private practitioner, with the ability to admit women into supporting maternity hospitals and continue to provide ongoing continuity of care to their clients.

Endorsed midwives can order pathology tests and medical imaging relevant to the care of women and their babies during pregnancy, birth and up to 6 weeks postnatal. They also prescribe, administer, and supply scheduled medicines in accordance with state and territory legislation making them autonomous practitioners.

Endorsed midwives work in close partnership with general practitioners, obstetricians, and other allied health professionals to ensure continuity of safe, supportive, and effective maternity care.

In addition to the core activities of a midwife, Endorsed midwives core activities include:

• provision of screening that includes ordering and interpreting diagnostic tests (pathology and medical imaging) relevant to the care of women and babies during pregnancy, labour, and newborn period
• prescribing, administering, and supplying scheduled pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions
• comprehensive antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care including the ability to admit women into hospital and provide care on their own authority
• referral to obstetricians, paediatricians and other allied health professionals
• access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

To become an Endorsed midwife, you will need to undertake an NMBA-approved program of study. Many universities throughout Australia offer appropriate study pathways. If you are an Australian Registered Midwife looking to extend your scope of practice, there are WA based training courses that will provide you with the detailed specialised knowledge and skills required to undertake midwifery diagnostics and prescribing, including the ordering and interpreting of investigative tests for childbearing women, as well as the safe and effective prescribing of scheduled medicines for your clients.

Course currently available, specific to Western Australia include, Graduate Certificate in Midwifery Screening Diagnostics and Prescribing (external site) | Graduate Certificate in Midwifery Diagnostics and Prescribing (external site).

For more information Australia wide, visit Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency - Approved Programs of Study (external site).

To practise in Western Australia, an Endorsed midwife has to have completed extra training and can then prescribe certain medications. The Endorsement means that the midwife has met the requirements of the NMBA Registration standard: Endorsement for scheduled medicines for midwives and is qualified to prescribe scheduled medicines and to provide associated services required for midwifery practice in accordance with relevant state and territory legislation.

The following must be demonstrated by a midwife seeking endorsement;

1. Current general registration as a midwife in Australia with no conditions or undertakings relating to unsatisfactory professional performance or unprofessional conduct.
2. Registration as a midwife that is the equivalent of three years’ full-time clinical practice (5,000 hours) in the past six years that is either:
• across the continuum of care, or
• in a specified context of practice* from the date when the complete application seeking endorsement for scheduled medicines is received by the NMBA.
3. Successful completion of:
• an NMBA-approved program of study leading to endorsement for scheduled medicines, or
• a program that is substantially equivalent to an NMBA-approved program of study leading to endorsement for scheduled medicines as determined by the NMBA.

*for the purpose of this registration standard, the NMBA recognises three contexts of practice: antenatal or postnatal or ante and postnatal.

More information on the endorsement process can be obtained from the NMBA website (external site).

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