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This is the fifth article in a series exploring interprofessional education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article focuses on the experiences and adaptations employed in relation to practice-based learning and placement provision. Forming an integral part of many professional programmes, changes in provision and approaches to practice-based learning and placements will be explored, drawing on theory and findings from existing literature and illustrated with case study reports. Opportunities for innovation, the challenges for incorporating interprofessional practice learning and evidence-informed guidance for future practice will be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) states that midwives should reflect on their practice in order to highlight areas where changes might lead to improvements in future. The NMC Code also states that midwives must be aware of, and mitigate as far as possible, any potential harm associated with practice. The importance of reflection cannot be underestimated in relation to providing high quality, safe and effective care in line with the standards expected by the NMC, employers and service users. A previous article in this series discussed an innovative e-module supporting student midwives' employability, social awareness and preparedness for professional practice on qualification. This article will review the e-module through a different lens: that of the student. Alice will share her experiences from the student's perspective of how she feels engagement with this module will impact on her employment opportunities and future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many tasks in midwifery are learned and taught from a right-handed perspective, meaning they may prove difficult for people who are lefthanded. Experiences of midwives and midwifery students show that there are various barriers to learning and performing certain skills for left-handed people, and they are often forced to choose whether to persist in conforming to the 'norm' and using their right hand, or adapt elements of practice to suit left-hand dominance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nursing and Midwifery Council's Standards for pre-registration midwifery education state that the balance between clinical practice and theory for pre-registration midwifery education should be no less than 50% practice and no less than 40% theory. Time spent in clinical practice should enable students to achieve the required standards to be competent and confident at the point of registration. In September 2020 ‘future proof’ standards of proficiency for registered midwives will ensure student midwives are adequately prepared to deal with the increasingly complex demands of their chosen profession. In the interim, the model of support with students being supervised by sign-off mentors will remain in place. This article will discuss how one Trust has introduced the enhanced role of student support midwife to coordinate student placements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women and their families are entitled to high quality, safe and effective maternity care, yet reports have identified failings in areas of care such as risk assessment and care planning. As a result, there have been fundamental changes in the way midwives are regulated in the UK. With these changes came the development of a new model for midwifery clinical supervision, aligned to the aims of the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to provide a high quality service, delivered by resilient, highly valued, well-supported midwives. This article will consider the role of a Professional Midwifery Advocate in a university setting to explore how the early introduction of the role and implementation of group-based restorative supervision may positively impact on student midwives’ training, reduce attrition rates, encourage the development of resilience and foster an ethos of peer support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal College of Midwives estimates that there is a shortfall of approximately 3500 full-time midwives in England and, with one-third of practising midwives aged 50 or more, it is evident that recruitment and retention are key to the ongoing success of maternity services. The need for high-quality care is especially acute, given that women are presenting with increasingly complex medical, social and obstetric backgrounds. The role of higher education institutions is not only to ensure student midwives meet the requirements of the EU Directive 2005/36/EC and achieve the Nursing and Midwifery Council Standards, but also to support them to apply for jobs, navigate the recruitment process and understand their legal, ethical and professional responsibilities on qualification. This article will discuss an e-module that was introduced at the University of Northampton, entitled ‘Becoming a midwife’. This module adopted an innovative approach to learning, teaching and assessment in relation to student midwives' employability, social awareness and preparedness for professional practice on qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standards for pre-registration midwifery education state that the practice-theory ratio of the programme should be no less than 50% practice and no less than 40% theory, adopting a variety of learning and teaching strategies, including simulation. Simulation for skills teaching has been found to bridge gaps between theory and practice, and to positively affect how prepared and confident the student midwife feels to apply knowledge and skills in the practice setting. With changes in regulation under consultation, and an ever more complex clinical environment, it is timely to revisit learning, teaching and assessment strategies in pre-registration education to ensure that they are fit for purpose. The University of Northampton’s approach to learning and teaching, termed active blended learning, is a student-centred approach to support the development of subject knowledge and understanding, independent learning, and digital fluency. This involved the modification of a traditional, four-stage, step-by-step approach to teaching clinical skills, by introducing video-assisted technology to prepare students for a summative assessment using simulation. It is anticipated that this innovative approach to the teaching of clinical skills will enhance the ‘toolkit’ of learning, teaching, and assessment strategies appropriate to contemporary midwifery preregistration education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current midwifery practice is regulated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), whose primary role is to safeguard the public through setting standards for education and practice and regulating fitness to practise, conduct and performance through rules and codes (NMC, 2012; 2015a). Practice is informed by evidence-based guidelines developed and implemented by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence based on hierarchies of evidence, with meta-analyses and systematic reviews being identified as the 'gold standard'. This positivist epistemological approach as developed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), with scientific evidence at the top of a knowledge hierarchy, fails to acknowledge the 'art of midwifery', where a constructivist paradigm of experiential, intuitive and tacit knowledge is used by reflective practitioners to provide high-quality care. As midwifery pre-registration education is now degree-level, is the essence of midwifery practice being 'with woman' providing holistic care under threat, as the drive for a systematic and analytical approach to decision-making gathers momentum? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the point of registration, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2015) requires nurses and midwives to prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety and promote professionalism and trust. Registrants must ‘always practise in line with the best available evidence’ (NMC, 2015: 7), both in terms of their skills and competencies and the evidence on which their practice is based. A key aspect of a university lecturer’s role in teaching on preregistration nursing and midwifery programmes is to ensure students appreciate the link between research and practice. Student midwives and nurses must develop an understanding that gold-standard care is based on best evidence and realise that by studying research methods during their programme of study they are actually developing higher-order skills of critical thinking and decision making. Such skills are highly transferable for safe and effective clinical practice, commensurate with graduate-level programmes of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a busy and exciting time in the academic year, as third-year students come to the end of their programme of study and start to apply for preceptorship posts. While there remains a shortage of midwives (Bonar, 2015), applications for posts are still very competitive and so candidates need to be as thoroughly prepared as possible to ensure they perform at their very best on the day. This article revisits what constitutes 'a good midwife' (Power, 2015) and looks at the recruitment process from the perspectives of the interviewer and the interviewee. Paula Briody, matron for intrapartum care at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, is actively involved in the recruitment process for her Trust and outlines the key characteristics she looks for in candidates. The article also shares the experiences of third-year students who have recently been interviewed for their first midwifery posts. It is hoped that hearing about the process from both perspectives might be useful for all third-year students currently applying for their first jobs, as they get one step nearer to realising their dream of becoming a qualified midwife. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of matron was introduced to give senior midwives and nurses the authority to get the basics right. Midwifery matrons' responsibilities include providing professional leadership; ensuring that care provided on wards, in antenatal clinics and the delivery suite is high-quality and woman-centred; and handling any complaints that arise. Given the nature of this demanding role, matrons are not able to commit to facilitating student learning in the hospital environment; however, at the University of Northampton, pre-registration midwifery students in the third year of their programme have the privilege of attending sessions with a matron. Paula Briody, matron for intrapartum care at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust, facilitates two sessions which give students the opportunity to learn about this key role in midwifery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since publication of the findings from the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry (Francis, 2013), which identified levels of substandard care and failings from staff in exhibiting core values such as care and compassion, it became evident that improvements in levels of care were needed. In response, Health Education England (2014) published its national values-based recruitment (VBR) framework to encourage higher education institutions to complement their existing recruitment processes with VBR, to ensure applicants to undergraduate health-care programmes, such as midwifery, demonstrate values aligning with the principles of the NHS Constitution (Department of Health, 2015). This article will discuss how the University of Northampton piloted the integration of the VBR framework into its interview process through adopting a multiple mini interview approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Midwifery pre-registration education must adopt a range of learning and teaching approaches, including simulation and clinical skills sessions, to ensure that student midwives have the required skills and competencies to be admitted to the register. Simulation and clinical skills sessions, undertaken in the ‘safe’ environment of the classroom, enhance students' understanding, confidence and skills—particularly in managing obstetric emergencies, where in practice the needs of the woman take precedence over students' learning opportunities. The unpredictability of the clinical environment may lead to students not having the opportunity to manage an obstetric emergency until after they qualify. Setting up and facilitating simulation and clinical skills sessions is time-consuming for midwifery lecturers and not best use of their expertise, which is why specialist support in the form of laboratory/clinical skills technicians is critical to the smooth running of sessions and maintenance of costly equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depending on the structure of their curriculum, some first-year midwifery students will already be preparing for their first clinical placements. Each clinical area has its particular demands; however, for many, it is the labour ward that causes the most trepidation as it is a dynamic and unpredictable environment. Theoretical training in the first year focuses on normal birth, but things do not always go to plan and sometimes student midwives are involved in obstetric emergencies that demand prompt, effective management. This guide provides basic information on two common obstetric emergencies: shoulder dystocia and postpartum haemorrhage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC, 2009), pre-registration midwifery programmes of study must be made up of no less than 50% practice and no less than 40% theory. The programme must also include a variety of teaching and learning strategies. Programmes of study are enhanced when midwifery teaching is complemented with input from other experts such as service users, midwives and other members of the multidisciplinary team. This is the first of a series of articles discussing teaching by a range of health professionals, each of which will include the featured professional's role and responsibilities, their motivations to teach, the topics they cover and, where appropriate, how this input is evaluated by student midwives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]