Sally Tracy Explained

Sally Tracy is an Australian midwife, midwifery researcher, author and activist. She has authored numerous research articles. In 2023, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia.

Career

In the first two decades of the 2000s, Tracy was at the forefront of midwifery politics in Australia. She has challenged the Australian maternity system through research and practice development in a bid to get a better deal for women in childbirth.^[1] She helped set up the Ryde Midwifery Caseload Practice, in Sydney, in 2003. Her research questions the acceptability of the increasing interference of obstetrics with the physiological birth process.^[2]

Tracy is the Professor of Midwifery at the University of Sydney and the Royal Hospital for Women, Sydney and a Conjoint Professor, University of New South Wales, Sydney.^[3] She is based at the Midwifery and Women's Health Research Unit at the Royal Hospital for Women, Randwick, Sydney. Her research projects include the safety of primary level (especially rural) maternity hospitals and Birth Centres in Australia and the evaluation of midwifery led units.^{[4] [5]} She is currently the chief investigator on a large multicentre randomised controlled trial of caseload midwifery care, funded by a project grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.^[6] The findings from this research demonstrated that caseload midwifery is cheaper and safer that fragmented care.^{[7] [8]}

She was a joint author of the National Maternity Action Plan.She is the co-author of the main midwifery textbook in Australia, Midwifery - Preparation for Practice which is now in its third edition.

Honours

Tracy was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for "significant service to tertiary education, and to midwifery".^[9]

Selected bibliography

• Midwifery - Preparation for Practice, 2nd Ed Sally Pairman, Sally Tracy, Carol Thorogood & Jan Pincombe, Elsevier, 2011
• Normal Birth - What are My Chances
• Foreword - With Women - an analysis of the differences between shift work and continuity of care, ed David Vernon, Australian College of Midwives, 2007 pXI
• Rates of Obstetric Intervention among Private and Public patients in Australia - a population based study, Christine Roberts, Sally Tracy and Brian Peat, MJ 2000;321:137-141 (15 July)

External links

• New Birth Centre Prompts Debate - Interview The 7.30 Report

Notes and References

1. News: Carroll. Lucy. Midwife care: Demand for birth program soars as study gives a tick. 16 November 2015. Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 23 Feb 2014.
2. With Women - Midwives Experiences - from shift work to continuity of care, ed David Vernon, Australian College of Midwives, 2007 pXI
3. Web site: Professor Sally Tracey . 16 November 2015 . Sydney Nursing School . University of Sydney.
4. News: 5 Feb 2014 . Call the Midwife: playing catch up with Australia's maternity care . The Conversation . 16 November 2015.
5. News: Satherley . Dan . 18 Sep 2013 . Midwife continuity safer, cheaper - study . Media Works TV . 3 News . 16 November 2015.
6. Tracy . SK . Hartz . DL . Tracy . MB . Allen . J . Forti . A . Hall . B . White . J . Lainchbury . A . Stapleton . H . Beckmann . M . Bisits . A . Homer . C . Foureur . M . Welsh . A . Kildea . S . 17 Sep 2013 . Caseload midwifery care versus standard maternity care for women of any risk; M@NGO, a randomised controlled trial . The Lancet . 382 . 9906 . 1723–1732 . 10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61406-3 . 24050808 . 28889047 . 16 November 2015.
7. News: Donnelly . Laura . 17 Sep 2013 . Women given a 'named midwife' fare better and it costs less . The Telegraph . Telegraph Media Group (United Kingdom) . 16 November 2015.
8. News: AAP . 17 Sep 2013 . Midwife Care Cost Effective . The Australian . News Corporation . 16 November 2015.
9. Web site: 11 June 2023 . King's Birthday 2023 Honours - the full list . 11 June 2023 . Sydney Morning Herald . Nine Entertainment Co.