Australian Health Review [Vol 27 • No 1] 2004 118 Rethinking midwifery refresher programs as a recruitment strategy KAREN FLOWERS AND AMANDA CARTER Dr Karen Flowers is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Nursing (Queensland), Australian Catholic University. Amanda Carter is a Clinical Lecturer in Midwifery, Mater Misericordiae Health Services, Brisbane and Australian Catholic Univeristy. Abstract This paper presents a case study on an innovative Midwifery Refresher Program in the context of current midwifery workforce issues. The refresher program was developed specifically as a recruitment strategy to address a staffing crisis at the Mater Misericordiae Mothers’ Hospital, a busy tertiary maternity hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Features of the program that contributed to its success include collaboration with an industry partner, high levels of clinical support for participants, flexibility for women with family responsibilities and low financial costs for all stakeholders. This type of recruitment strategy may be useful for health care services experiencing staff shortages. Situational analysis Internationally, health services are experiencing midwifery staff shortages (International Confederation of Midwives [ICM], 2002). This situation is also reflected in Australia as a result of falling numbers of midwifery graduates and changes in the demographics of the health workforce. As midwives are largely drawn from the nursing workforce, they are inextricably linked to and affected by factors influencing the nursing workforce, although there are issues specific to the midwifery workforce (Australian Health Workforce Advisory Committee [AHWAC] 2002). Recent national reviews of nursing (Commonwealth of Australia 2002, MacDonald 2001) confirm that Australia's health workforce is facing similar challenges to those of other countries in meeting the requirements for staff. In Australia, midwives, play a fundamental role in the care of women through the continuum of childbearing. The quality of care delivered to childbearing women and their families requires a highly specialised workforce (AHWAC 2002). Hence, the current acute shortage of midwives presents a crisis that has the potential to compromise the quality and safety of maternity care (Tracy, Barclay & Brodie 2000). A recent review of the midwifery workforce in Australia confirms that there is a national shortage of qualified midwives prepared for work in the various settings for contemporary midwifery practice (Leap & Barclay 2001 in AHWAC 2002). Acknowledging the limitations of data related to the midwifery workforce AHWAC (2002) calculated a current shortfall of 1847 positions within the Australian midwifery workforce. This deficiency is of great concern, especially when considered in conjunction with the declining numbers of midwifery graduates and the ageing nature of the midwifery workforce. In response to this situation the Commonwealth Government and industry partners commissioned an investigation of service delivery, education policy and regulatory environments affecting midwifery in Australia (Australian Midwifery Action Project [AMAP] 2003). Australia is currently educating 550 (AMAP 2003) of the estimated 940 midwives needed to meet clinical service needs (Tracy et al. 2000); less than two thirds of the number required to sustain the current midwifery workforce. However, there is a low demand for post nursing midwifery courses (Leap et al. 2003).