Safety netting in midwifery

Abstract

Providing clear, accurate and timely information to women and their families is central to the role of the midwife. It is key to empowering women to make informed decisions and promotes both safety and quality of care. The term ‘safety netting’ has been described as sharing information to help people identify the need to seek further help if their condition fails to improve, changes or if they have concerns about their health. While safety netting is a familiar term in some fields of medicine, it is rarely used in midwifery. This article discusses how safety netting could be a useful concept for midwifery and proposes a framework for providing safety net information. The article includes a clinical scenario that considers how the framework supports clear and comprehensive communication, and a student midwife perspective that reflects on different aspects of safety netting, its teaching and the practice experience. Clear teaching of safety netting has potential advantages for midwifery education and practice.