Profession

In the Netherlands pregnancy is seen as a normal, healthy event. All midwives are trained as medical professionals to oversee normal physiological pregnancies, births and postbirth periods; this is called primary midwifery. Primary midwives supervise approximately 40% of all childbirths in the Netherlands, of which around 75% take place at home and 25% in hospitals. During your midwifery training you learn everything about normal pregnancies, childbirth and the postbirth period, as well as abnormal pregnancies and the complications that sometimes arise. Essentially, you become a specialist in midwifery.

The midwife examines mother and child (or foetus), carefully checking whether everything is physiologically in order or whether there are problems or increased risks of complication. This is also called risk selection, and it involves analysing the nature and severity of the situation. If needed, the midwife personally treats the mother or refers her to a gynaecologist or other specialist.

Of the approximately 2200 midwives in the Netherlands, 60% work in one of the 466 midwifery practices and partnerships, and 20% in hospitals. Increasing career opportunities are available for midwives with various specialisations, for example as sonographers, scientists/researchers, reproductive care counsellors, lecturers and policymakers. In the future, the opportunities for midwives will only increase, partly because midwifery professionals are taking over tasks from GPs and gynaecologists. Higher education institutes support these specialisation opportunities by offering a variety of subprogrammes.

On the websites of the various midwifery programmes you can find many additional accounts of the nature of the profession and the concrete activities of midwives.