A review of the definition and scope of practice of midwives in five representative countries

Objective： To review the definition and scope of the practice of midwives in Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia to find models and make suggestions for reforms in the midwifery policies of China. Methods： This article reviewed the midwifery policies published by authorities, organizations, and governments of these countries and relevant literature in the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature （CINAHL）, China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）, and Wanfang database. Results： The definition and scope of practice of midwives in five representative countries and China were reviewed. The similarities and differences in midwifery policies among them show that most countries set standards based on the definition and scope of practice of midwives recommended by International Confederation of Midwives. Conclusions： The definition of midwives should include registration, midwifery education, and acceptance standards. The scope of practice of midwives should specify an autonomous environment, the objective of care, the period of care involved, prescribing rights, emergency treatment, and health counseling.

Challenges at the early stages of the environmental licensing procedure and potential contributions from geomorphology

Defining impact significance is the main technical task that influences decision-making during the Environmental Licensing Procedure(ELP).The ELP begins with screening to determine potentially significant impacts of the proposed project.Scoping then follows to address any interventions deemed worthy of attention in the production of an Environmental Impact Assessment(EIA).This will include consideration of relevant landforms and geomorphological processes.However,preliminary assessments of environmental impacts often lack the scientific robustness to procure substantive and transactive effectiveness.This review presents an examination of the established practices of screening and scoping while highlighting the foremost challenges to improve the technical grounds of the ELP.The analysis of screening and scoping practices stresses the need for novel methods that ensure the sequential reasoning between their criteria while improving the preliminary evaluation of impact significance.Reducing the inherent subjectivity of discretionary judgment requires scientific methodologies that acknowledge the interaction between the natural system and human interventions,which has been addressed by geomorphological research.The knowledge consolidated in this review opens the gate to explore the compatibility between the United Nations strategy of Ecosystem Approach(EA)with the ELP through a novel geomorphological interpretation of the EIA.Therefore,this diagnosis demonstrate that screening and scoping practices would benefit from reliable methods that balance the precautionary principle with the efficient character required in the ELP.