Midwifery Course Research Articles

Midwifery education: Part 1 The West Midlands region

In 1987, within the West Midlands region there were 18 schools of nursing and 17 schools of midwifery. There were 376 student midwives undertaking the 18-month postregistration midwifery course. All preregistration courses (long) for midwives ceased in the 1970s until 1990. Midwifery schools provided post-basic courses for continuing professional education and maternity care for student nurses.

A midwifery course case study — Research in progress

A midwifery course case study — Research in progress

An investigation ofthe components used to calculate staff:student ratios in nursing and midwife education

This article describes the results of a census questionnaire sent to all colleges of nursing and midwifery and institutions of further and higher education undertaking English National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (ENB) validated pre- and post-registration nursing and midwifery courses. The questionnaire was designed to identify the range of components, incorporated into formulae, used by the colleges and institutions to calculate staff:student ratios (SSRs), for each type of course. The results indicate that the majority of colleges and institutions use: SSR = Total number of staff/Total number of students The definitions of staff and student within the formulae were either assumed or variously defined. A total of 17 different formulae for calculating SSRs were identified and 10 different formulae for calculating whole time equivalents. Each of these formulae are given in the article. The advantages and disadvantages for resourcing nurse education arising from the lack of definition surrounding the standardisation of formulae and the components within formulae are discussed. The discussion reflects both the responses given in the open-ended questions in the questionnaire and the debates surrounding the use of SSRs highlighted in the literature.

Cultural Safety in Nursing: the New Zealand Experience

The concept of cultural safety arose from the colonial context of New Zealand society. In response to the poor health status of Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and their insistence that service delivery change profoundly, nursing has begun a process of self examination and change in nursing education, prompted by Maori nurses. Nursing and midwifery organizations moved to support this initiative as something which spoke truly of nursing and New Zealand society. Cultural safety became a requirement for nursing and midwifery courses in 1992. But its introduction into nursing education has been controversial. It became highly publicized in the national media, and the role and function of the Nursing Council of New Zealand was questioned. This paper discusses the New Zealand experience of introducing cultural safety into nursing education.

All change?

While preparing a session entitled Change in Practice recently, I had cause to reflect upon the days when I was a ‘pupil midwife’ in 1967, undertaking part two of the midwifery course on the way to becoming a qualified midwife. Although many things have changed for the better since then, some things haven't.

Learning from the preregistration midwifery experience

The article by Stark and Elzubeir, ‘Effects of the lack of nurse training on preregistration midwifery students’ (British Journal of Midwifery Vol. 2(4) 1994, pp. 182–6), stimulated a great deal of lively discussion in this College, among students, teachers and midwives (see also this month's Letters, p.291). The authors are to be congratulated on opening up this area for long awaited debate. Some of the points that were made in the article were useful, although, from my perspective as a course director for a preregistration midwifery course, I would also take issue with some of the views expressed. It is possible that the researchers may find very different data as the course they were examining matures.

Effects of the lack of nurse training on preregistration midwifery students

This article discusses the preliminary evaluation of a preregistration midwifery course and the effects of the lack of a previous nursing qualification on the education and training of students. The feelings of the students, tutors and practice supervisors who participated in the study are described, and there are suggestions for further research.

Towards an epistemological basis for andragogy in midwifery education

In designing the curriculum for pre and post registration midwifery courses, the author has utilised an andragogical model. This term refers to the art and science of teaching adults (Knowles 1978). The ideas that Knowles (1978) put forward about andragory while not new, have been implemented in adult education and are certainly relevant to the modern practice of midwifery education. The aim of this paper is to examine the two extreme philosophical views about the nature of man and to provide an epistemological basis for andragogy in midwifery education.

Career intentions of newly qualified midwives

Many midwives do not practise in the year after qualifying and further wastage occurs in each successive year after qualification. In this paper the results are presented from a study which compared the career intentions of a group of 828 midwives who qualified after an 18 month midwifery course with those of a group of 782 midwives who qualified after a 12 month course. Although the former group were more likely than the latter to have entered training because they wanted to practise midwifery (39% compared with 26%) and more likely to intend making midwifery a career having qualified (24% compared with 17%), those proportions still represent a minority of those qualifying.

Child Care in the Outback

IN VICTORIA, the most southeasterly state of Australia, 85 percent of the mothers make use of the state's free infant welfare services. The high standard of those services has undoubtedly contributed to the marked decrease in the infant mortality rate which has occurred since the service began. In 1956, the rate in Victoria was down to 18.37 per 1,000 the lowest on record in Australia. These services had a small start in the capital city of Melbourne in 1917. Since then they have spread through all cities and towns, large and small, and through rural areas. They are still spreading wherever new settlements spring up. Infant welfare centers or clinics have been established in all our populous areas, and mothers come to them with their infants and young children for information on health measures and advice on their feeding and upbringing. Antepartal advice is given during pregnancy, but only if there is an antenatal clinic staffed by a medical officer is an obstetric examination carried out. Otherwise the mother sees her own doctor. Centers are staffed by infant welfare nurses who have completed general nursing and midwifery courses and, in addition, special training in