Why Policies and Procedures Are Good for Your Midwifery Business

Why Policies and Procedures Are Good for Your Midwifery Business

For many people running a midwifery business, policies and procedures are usually not the first thing they think about drafting. They usually draft some form of a business plan to help guide their vision. Then, they simply get to work. Some midwifery business owners don’t see how a policies and procedures manual can benefit their business. After all, can’t you just tell your team members what you expect? While you can verbally express your vision for the business and how you want things done, you won’t always have time to repeat instructions. Your team members are only human. They could forget parts (or all) of what you said and simply do what they thought you said instead of what you actually said. There is no doubt about it: developing and implementing a policies and procedures manual is good for your business.

Policies and Procedures Creates Structure

Many people start a business because they want to set their own priorities. It’s about conducting in the way that you believe it should happen. Yet, when the business expands, you (rightfully) want new employees to follow the procedures that are already in use. Why? Because the you know they work. It’s also likely that you’ve chosen your business methods to reflect the mission of your business.

Writing and implementing a policies and procedures manual is about creating structure in your business. It’s about consistency. Your policies and procedures manual should include every major aspect of your business. For example, marketing, client intake, billing, and customer service. By outlining how you want each of these areas handled in your business, you’re setting guidelines that create structure for your employees.

Preparing for Compliance and Auditing

With being in a higher litigation industry, midwives are subject to compliance and auditing, a written policies and procedures manual can help make the process easier. We have high chance at some point in our careers, especially owning a practice, to be sued and have our policies and scope of care being under investigation. By writing out each step that your employees should follow, you’re working to minimize the likelihood that your midwifery business is not compliant with local or federal laws regulate your scope of practice.

A Training Tool for Your Employees

Policies and procedures help you by acting as a training tool for your employees. The document isn’t a replacement for on the job training, answering questions, or clarifying business practices. It’s a tool that employees and new employees can use as a training reference. A well written policies and procedures manual should online every step in every task that your employee is responsible for doing. When you’re unavailable to answer a question, your employee can consult the manual for an answer.

Helps You Measure Your Employee’s Performance

New employee probation and annual employee reviews are important because it gives you and the employee information on what they’re doing well and what needs to improve. A written policies and procedures manual that your employees are encouraged to use can help you measure their performance.

There are many things to think about when starting a private practice as a midwife, but don’t push off the need to have policies, training manuals, and procedure for staff to reference when caring for families. It will help the team, protect your business during investigation, higher staff and consumer satisfaction, and improve patient safety outcomes. 

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