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Objectives The 2014 Lancet Series on Midwifery developed the Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care (QMNC) framework outlining care needed for all childbearing people and newborns. Furthermore, this was a global call to action to invest in research capacity building. While evidence-informed care is a cornerstone of midwifery practice, there has been limited exploration of how Canadian midwifery research priorities within the Canadian context align with the global framework. In response to the call from the Lancet series, this scoping review aimed to investigate the current strengths and gaps of midwifery research in Canada. Secondarily, our goal was to map existing Canadian evidence to the QMNC framework to guide future priority setting and build research capacity.Design A scoping review.Data sources We searched nine electronic databases for articles up to 2022, inclusive: AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine), CINAHL, EconLit, EMBASE, HealthSTAR, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EmCare and Web of Science.Eligibility criteria for selecting studies We included research conducted by (a) Canadian midwives on Canadian and non-Canadian populations, (b) international midwives on Canadian midwifery populations or (c) non-midwife researchers on Canadian midwifery populations.Data extraction and synthesis We analysed data using categories from the Lancet Series’ QMNC framework. At least two independent reviewers conducted screening and data extraction.Results We identified 590 articles for inclusion. Most Canadian midwifery research is related to organisation of care and care providers, clinical practice categories including promoting normal physiological processes during pregnancy, research pertaining to prenatal and intrapartum periods, and policy. Research gaps included neonatal and postpartum outcomes, midwifery education, and midwifery values and philosophy. Lastly, there were gaps in the number of randomised trials and systematic reviews, which may impact guidance of clinical decision-making.Conclusions There has been an exponential increase in midwifery-led research in Canada. Assessment against the QMNC framework has highlighted gaps related to research conduct, clinical and non-clinical research focuses. Identifying midwifery research priorities is an important next step of consolidating Canadian research evidence. Future directions may include collaboration with midwifery stakeholders to prioritise research topics related to improving care for clients, strengthening the profession and building research capacity.

Introduction Severe maternal morbidity (SMM)—an unexpected pregnancy-associated maternal outcome resulting in severe illness, prolonged hospitalisation or long-term disability—is recognised by many, as the preferred indicator of the quality of maternity care, especially in high-income countries. Obtaining comprehensive details on events and circumstances leading to SMM, obtained through maternity units, could complement data from large epidemiological studies and enable targeted interventions to improve maternal health. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of gathering such data from maternity units across Canadian provinces and territories, with the goal of establishing a national obstetric survey system for SMM in Canada.Methods and analysis We propose a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. We will first distribute a cross-sectional survey to leads of all maternity units across Canada to gather information on (1) Whether the unit has a system for reviewing SMM and the nature and format of this system, (2) Willingness to share anonymised data on SMM by direct entry using a web-based platform and (3) Respondents’ perception on the definition and leading causes of SMM at a local level. This will be followed by semistructured interviews with respondent groups defined a priori, to identify barriers and facilitators for data sharing. We will perform an integrated analysis to determine feasibility outcomes, a narrative description of barriers and facilitators for data-sharing and resource implications for data acquisition on an annual basis, and variations in top-5 causes of SMM.Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Mount Sinai and Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Boards. The study findings will be presented at annual scientific meetings of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, North American Society of Obstetric Medicine, and International Network of Obstetric Survey Systems and published in an open-access peer-reviewed Obstetrics and Gynaecology or General Internal Medicine journal.