Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families groups and communities sick and well in all settings.
The General Nursing & Midwifery (GNM) course is basically the diploma course in nursing. The GNM holders are considered as diploma holders and are hired in certain job roles in hospitals and nursing homes.
Roles and Responsibilities of a GNM Nurse
The roles and responsibilities of the nurses varies according to their qualification. The GNM qualified nurses are mainly expected to perform normal nursing functions in maternity hospitals and maternity nursing homes. The job roles are formulated according to their designations.
The GNM nurses are hired at various positions, let's discuss few of them in detail in the present article
Midwife
Midwives provide care and support to women and their families while pregnant, throughout labour and during the period after a baby’s birth. The midwives basically deal with the pregnant women requiring professional support and advice. As a midwife one is likely to be the lead professional and contact for women. She has to provide evidence-based information and help her make informed choices about the options and services available throughout her pregnancy.
As a midwife one will be an expert on child birth and roles of a midwife are:
- Provide full antenatal care, including parenting classes, clinical examinations and screening
- Identify high risk pregnancies
- Monitor women and support them during labour and birthing process
- Teach new and expectant mothers how to feed care for bathing their babies
- The midwife is responsible to support the new mother and baby throughout her stay in hospital
Midwives basically work in:
- Postnatal wards
- Labour wards
- Maternity suites
- Delivery suites
- Midwifery led units
Maternity Support Worker
The Maternity Support Workers assists midwives in caring for women and their babies through the vital stages of pregnancy, childbirth and the first few days of birth. As a maternity support worker, one will work under the supervision of a registered midwife. They are usually known as Maternity healthcare support workers or MSWs.
