What is a Registered Midwife? 

Registered Midwives (RMs) are autonomous, primary healthcare providers who provide primary care to client populations with diverse sexual and reproductive health and childbearing needs as well as care to newborns in a variety of practice settings. According to the World Health Organization, midwifery is defined as “skilled, knowledgeable and compassionate care for childbearing women, newborn infants and families across the continuum from pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and the early weeks of life”. The International Confederation of Midwives adds that “the midwife has an important task in health counselling and education, not only for the woman, but also within the family and the community. This work should involve antenatal education and preparation for parenthood and may extend to women’s health, sexual or reproductive health and childcare.” 

What guides the practice of midwifery? 

• Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) 
• Midwives Regulations 
• Standards of Practice for Registered Midwives 
• Code of Ethics 
• PEICNM policies, bylaws, practice directives, and other documents 
• Employer policies, guidelines, and procedures 
• Other provincial and federal legislation 

Reserved Activities 

A reserved activity is a clinical activity that can only be performed by specific regulated health professionals as there is a significant risk of harm to the public. The RHPA decides which professional can perform each reserved activity, which means that other regulated health professionals may also be assigned the same reserved activities. This means that collaborative practice is imperative. 

The Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice also underpin the practice and the performance of reserved activities. As well, practice directives expand on concepts in the regulations and outline specific practice expectations for the performance of reserved activities. 

An RM may only perform a reserved activity if: 

• the reserved activity is listed in the Midwives regulations Section 14. 
• they meet the conditions outlined in Section 14(4) of the regulations. 
• the reserved activity is within the individual RM’s scope of competence. An individual RM’s scope cannot exceed the RM profession’s legislated scope of practice. Each individual RM must be qualified and competent with their own scope of practice. 
• they follow employer’s policies. Employer policies provide further direction on an RM’s practice. An employer may place limits on RMs and their practice. An employer’s policies must be consistent with the RHPA, regulations, bylaws, standards, code of ethics and practice directives.