[A study on autonomy in hospital-based midwifery practices in New York].

: The purpose of this study was to identify the reality and understanding of American midwives in hospitals by focusing on autonomy as a profession. The method was conducted by interview and participant observation to 13 nurse-midwives in four hospitals. The data indicated that midwifery services belonged to obstetric and gynecology departments in three hospitals. Nurse-midwives had midwifery clinics and had responsibility to normal women antepartally, intrapartally, and postpartally. They distinguished midwifery as a profession from medicine and nursing. However, some midwives stated conflicts with doctors and nurses. Most of them had been motivate to be a midwife directly. It was said that nurse-midwives in New York City have struggled to gain autonomy in hospital systems.