Introduction. Pregnant and parturient women have been carried for other women since the dawn. Initially, these having experience and widespread respect in the tribe, later educated in that direction midwife. By the end of the nineteenth century, the profession of midwery was independent because of the perception of pregnancy as a physiological process. Later, the society have come to the conclusion, that this process that requires medical intervention. It was a consequence of excessive medicalization of patients care. Midwives have lost their professional independence, and doctors took care on the pregnant and parturient women. According to the ‘Minister of Health of 23 September 2010 on standards of conduct and medical procedures (...) in the field of perinatal care (...)’ midwives are guaranteed the ability to conduct physiological pregnancy. Aim. To recognize the opinion of pregnant on the professional competence of midwives, mainly in terms of the conduct of their physiological pregnancy. Material and methods. The study was conducted among pregnant women hospitalized in a one of hospital of Krakow. The research tool was the original questionnaire. 105 questionnaires have been analyzed. Results. The study showed that 61% of respondents were not aware that a professional midwife can conduct physiological pregnancy. Even after receiving this information, they have indicated that they do not resigned of the pregnancy conduction by the gynecologist (67%). Argued that the conviction of insufficient knowledge of midwives on pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum (41.6%) and their inadequate preparation for the care of pregnant women (36.1%). The interviewee who were aware of this possibility (39%) drew their knowledge mainly from non-professional sources of information such as the Internet or familiar. Conclusions. Despite the existence of relevant legal regulations in the competence of midwives, especially in the context of the pregnancy physiological, to solve the problem remains unfavorable perception of the profession by the public and the resulting restrictions on self-employment.

Key words: physiological pregnancy, professional competence of midwives, maternity care standard.