The explosion of information in midwifery makes it hard for practitioners and students to keep up. This book reviews and analyses the mostimportant topics and key professional issues with which midwives today must be familiar and the underpinning theory and concepts, on which clinical practice must be built. It covers core aspects of their increasingly responsible role, the scope of professional practice, ethical issues, clinical risk management, quality in midwifery and examines issues related to management, autonomy and teamwork, supervisors and managers. The book also reviews underpinning concepts which a midwife has to face in a varietyof ways in practice, accessing information, reflective practice, lifelong learning, cultural issues and ways in which midwives may influence the future of their profession. Covering the crucial theoretical issues, this book looks at their application into contemporary practice.