Place of work and colleagues: 

Doulas can work independently or with a midwife, hospital, other doulas, and organizations.

Place of work:

• Private & public hospitals
• Birthing houses/units/centers
• Clients' homes
• From your own home

When a doula has to assist a hospital birth, she first needs to obtain a written permission slip from the hospital's HR unit and her client's primary caregiver (including public hospitals).

Doulas can do voluntary work in public hospitals as well, but they need to prove themselves and gain the hospital's trust. Building trust can take a while, but once faith has is established, the benefits for doulas are great.

Colleagues:

For the most part, doulas work independently with a backup doula. Backup doulas assure the continuance of service. 

During birth doulas have a few people to work as a team with, namely:

• Primary caregiver (midwife or gynecologist)
• Hospital staff such as nurses and cleaners
• Theater team (if a doula has permission to join a c-section)
• Other doulas

Sometimes clients have needs that are out of a doula's scope of practice, and referrals have to be made. Here is a list of a few practitioners a doula might suggest to clients according to their needs :

• Chiropractor
• Physiotherapist
• Dietitian
• Lactation consultant
• etc.

Doulas must remember that when a client hires them as doulas that they can practice as a doula ONLY....

You will learn more about the scope of practice and code of ethics in the main course....