Bhanumati Gheewala – India’s Own Florence Nightingale

It is impossible for a midwife to work without pouring her heart and soul into the job

A google search on “Bhanumati Gheewala” will flood you with news coverage featuring the rockstar midwife. Hailing from Vadodara – Gujarat, the Nurse Practitioner Midwife at Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital has a story worth sharing. No wonder the media houses were flocking around her as she proudly received the Florence Nightingale award in 2020.

Without taking a single day off during the early months of the pandemic, Bhanumati was the first midwife to help a Covid positive mother birth. She continued to support the mother and her newborn after they were separated in isolation. Whenever she went to tend to the mother, she saw her pining for her baby. The mother did not own a smartphone, so Bhanumati used her own to connect them over video calls. As the days progressed, she unfailingly helped birth many babies. But this was not the first time she managed to maintain a steadfast enthusiasm amid the mayhem.

In 2019, during Vadodara’s floods, the area surrounding SSG Hospital was waterlogged. Bhanumati was far from being disheartened. She was glad that the soon-to-be mothers were making it to the hospital walking through neck deep waters. For her, they had already won half the battle. It was up to her to help them win it all. No holidays and relentless work ensured that all births were handled with undivided attention. “Missing your days off is the least you can do for mothers in need,” she adds.

The Florence Nightingale award was a culmination of a journey that started in 1988 when Bhanumati was a trainee in nursing in gynaecology at Chandigarh. In 2010, she completed her Nurse Practitioner Midwifery (NPM) training in Gujarat. President Ramnath Kovind conferred the prestigious award for her exceptional courage and devotion – virtues that the award recognises.

“Why are we forcing the mothers to lie down and birth against gravity?” asks Bhanumati as she explains different birth positions. For over two decades of her nursing career, she had dealt with pregnant women in a very conventional way. “It was the usual story, day in and day out. My NPM training brought in the revolution. The change!” Midwifery opened the doors to a whole new avenue of respectful care.

She thanks her family as well as the doctors and support staff at SSG for supporting her. She says that it is impossible for a midwife to work without pouring her heart and soul into the job. All midwives are heroes. All of them are extremely devoted. There is no other way to do the job.

4-1-1229/1, Bogulkunta, Hyderabad – 500001. Telangana, India.

Job Title: International Clinical Midwifery Educator, Fernandez Foundation

Accountable to: Director of Midwifery Services, Fernandez Foundation

Mission

We are committed to providing access to excellent, equitable, evidence-based and respectful healthcare for women and the new-born. We believe that life is sacred and precious, and we do our best to affirm and preserve it always.

Vision

A world in which every woman and child has access to high-quality, compassionate care, that enables a life of respect and dignity.

1. Teaching and Training

Provide clinical supervision and leadership working alongside the national midwifery educators (NMEs) team, monitoring, and coaching, during pre-planned sessions, ensuring midwives attain their clinical competencies, by participating in their clinical assessment process.
Participate in the preparation of Personal Development Plans for staff and contribute to annual appraisals.
Working closely with the NME team to support development of teaching and training.
Professional Midwifery Training: Contribute to teaching midwifery subjects and women centred care in the twelve months nurse midwife practitioner education recognised by the Indian Nursing Council (INC).
Training and development-Support the delivery of Midwifery care. Reflective learning and journal clubs encouraging midwives to use the sessions in reading evidence-based articles and translating to clinical practice
Establishing and maintaining systems to record education, training, and development activities.
Evaluation of education, training, and development activities
Ensuring that education, training and development activities are evidence based.
Assist the Fernandez Foundation with training and development strategy for the professional development of midwives, doulas, additional birth support staff

2. Clinical Mentorship

Provide clinical mentoring by providing 80% clinical leadership working alongside our students and qualified midwives encouraging and promoting best practice.
Leading by clinical expertise in developing midwifery confidence caring for mothers in the midwife led centre.
Providing clinical leadership and communicating with women birth options promoting midwife led care in the midwife led unit

3. Professional Knowledge

Demonstrate practitioner competence and professionalism.
Demonstrate a high level of knowledge and expertise relevant to the post.
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant legislation and standards.
Demonstrate an understanding of key issues and priorities in the Indian context.
Demonstrate commitment to educational and professional development issues.
Demonstrate skills in teaching and facilitation.

4. Research and Audit

Demonstrates strong knowledge of research methods and knowledge of the challenges and opportunities to develop research, audit and evidence-based practice.
Encouraging and supporting the research agenda at local and national level
Encouraging research and audit development in the activities of the midwife led unit
Developing Research and clinical tools sharing the outcomes of the MLU

The above job specification is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her from time to time and to contribute to the development of the post while in office.

Job Title: National Midwifery Educator, Fernandez Foundation

Accountable to: Director of Midwifery Services, Fernandez Foundation

Mission
We are committed to providing access to excellent, equitable, evidence-based and respectful healthcare for women and the new-born. We believe that life is sacred and precious and we do our best to affirm and preserve it always.

Vision
A world in which every woman and child has access to high-quality, compassionate care, that enables a life of respect and dignity.

1. Teaching and Training

Provide clinical supervision and leadership working alongside the midwifery team, monitoring and coaching, during pre-planned sessions, ensuring midwives attain their clinical competencies, by participating in their clinical assessment process.
Participate in the preparation of Personal Development Plans for staff and contribute to annual appraisals.
Professional Midwifery Training: Contribute to teaching midwifery subjects and women centred care in the twelve months nurse midwife practitioner education recognised by the Indian Nursing Council (INC).
Training and development-Support the delivery of Midwifery care. Reflective learning and journal clubs encouraging midwives to use the sessions in reading evidence-based articles and translating to clinical practice
Establishing and maintaining systems to record education, training and development activities.
Evaluation of education, training and development activities
Ensuring that education, training and development activities are evidence based.
Assist the Fernandez Foundation with training and development strategy for the professional development of midwives, doulas, additional birth support staff

2. Clinical Mentorship

Provide clinical mentoring by providing 80% clinical leadership working alongside our students and qualified midwives encouraging and promoting best practice.
Leading by clinical expertise in developing midwifery confidence caring for mothers in the midwife led centre.
Providing clinical leadership and communicating with women birth options promoting midwife led care in the midwife led unit

3. Professional Knowledge

Demonstrate practitioner competence and professionalism.
Demonstrate a high level of knowledge and expertise relevant to the post.
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant legislation and standards.
Demonstrate an understanding of key issues and priorities in the Indian context.
Demonstrate commitment to educational and professional development issues.
Demonstrate skills in teaching and facilitation.

4. Research and Audit

Demonstrates strong knowledge of research methods and knowledge of the challenges and opportunities to develop research, audit and evidence-based practice.
Encouraging and supporting the research agenda at local and national level
Encouraging research and audit development in the activities of the midwife led unit
Developing Research and clinical tools sharing the outcomes of the MLU

Who is a Midwife

A midwife is a person who has completed a midwifery education programme that is based on the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice and the framework of the ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Education. They provide care for women during pregnancy, labour, postpartum period as well as the care of the newborn baby.