The midwife: medical professional, friend in a woman's hour of greatest need, potent social and cultural symbol. Though the role of midwife has existed since time immemorial, it is only since the Victorian era that it has been a recognised and regulated profession. This book, from social history expert Susan Cohen, looks at midwifery in Britain from ancient times up to the present, paying particular attention to its incredible medical and social advances of the last 150 years. It is a fully illustrated tour that takes in fictional midwives such as Dickens' Sarey Gamp, the founding of the Royal College of Midwives in 1881, the Second World War, the forming of the NHS and the Central Midwives Board, and looks at the increasing medicalisation of childbirth and the countervailing trend for giving birth at home.

A Pocket Guide for Student Midwives is an accessible, portable book offering student midwives everything they need to grasp the key elements of midwifery language, knowledge and skills. The new edition of this useful aide-memoire is divided into two parts. The first includes relevant terms, abbreviations and definitions. The second part is a quick A-Z reference guide to common conditions, procedures, emergency situations, and supporting information, enhanced by visual material to aid comprehension of normality and anomalies. The innovative action flow charts enable rapid access to information that logically guides the reader through procedures in potentially life-threatening situations, in both home and hospital settings. A Pocket Guide for Student Midwives is essential reading for the new non-nurse student midwife, the experienced nurse entering the midwifery profession, and senior student midwives.