Multidisciplinary Collaborative Primary Maternity Care Project.

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The ICM took part in the Multidisciplinary Collaborative Primary Maternity Care Project (MC[P.sup.2]), a Canadian initiative launched by six professional associations including the Canadian Association of Midwives and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada.

The project aims to address the human resource shortage crisis in the provision of intrapartum care to women. The goal of MC[P.sup.2] is to remove barriers and facilitate the implementation of national multidisciplinary collaborative primary strategies, thus increasing availability and quality of maternity services for all Canadian women.'

The international portion of the project was completed by Hanneke Kateman and Kathy Herschderfer of the ICM. It consists of a detailed description of collaborative models of maternity care as carried out in five selected European countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) and Australia.

Literature research and internet searches provided information on maternity care models in the selected countries and specifically the satisfaction of professionals and consumers with the different models of care. A key informant was identified in each country to help in finding and understanding specific in-country documents and also facilitating in-country visits.

On these trips...