Midwives transition to practice: Expectations and experiences

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Author(s)
Griffiths, Marnie
Fenwick, Jennifer
Carter, Amanda G
Sidebotham, Mary
Gamble, Jenny
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2019
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The Rural Private Midwifery Education Program (RPMEP), a 2013 strategic response to midwifery workforce issues by the Queensland Government was unique in the Australian context. Midwifery students were embedded within a private midwifery caseload practice or rural publicly funded midwifery group practice (MGP). Continuity of midwifery care was at the core of the students’ learning experience. This paper describes a study designed to explore the expectations and experiences of this group of newly qualified midwives as they transitioned to practice. Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, eight newly qualified midwives ...
View more >The Rural Private Midwifery Education Program (RPMEP), a 2013 strategic response to midwifery workforce issues by the Queensland Government was unique in the Australian context. Midwifery students were embedded within a private midwifery caseload practice or rural publicly funded midwifery group practice (MGP). Continuity of midwifery care was at the core of the students’ learning experience. This paper describes a study designed to explore the expectations and experiences of this group of newly qualified midwives as they transitioned to practice. Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, eight newly qualified midwives were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data set. Six themes were identified; ‘Midwifery – an unexpected career path’, ‘The ‘gifts’ of being embedded in caseload as a midwifery student’, ‘No jobs - no real choice’, The hospital system - A whole different world’, ‘Resetting (or Adapting) expectations - Drawing on what I know to be true’ and ‘What the future holds’. Transitioning to practice after being embedded in caseload midwifery as a student provided challenges for the newly qualified midwives. At the same time it ‘gifted’ them a strong commitment to woman centred care, continuity and a social model of maternity which they draw on to support their transition.
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View more >The Rural Private Midwifery Education Program (RPMEP), a 2013 strategic response to midwifery workforce issues by the Queensland Government was unique in the Australian context. Midwifery students were embedded within a private midwifery caseload practice or rural publicly funded midwifery group practice (MGP). Continuity of midwifery care was at the core of the students’ learning experience. This paper describes a study designed to explore the expectations and experiences of this group of newly qualified midwives as they transitioned to practice. Using a qualitative descriptive methodology, eight newly qualified midwives were interviewed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data set. Six themes were identified; ‘Midwifery – an unexpected career path’, ‘The ‘gifts’ of being embedded in caseload as a midwifery student’, ‘No jobs - no real choice’, The hospital system - A whole different world’, ‘Resetting (or Adapting) expectations - Drawing on what I know to be true’ and ‘What the future holds’. Transitioning to practice after being embedded in caseload midwifery as a student provided challenges for the newly qualified midwives. At the same time it ‘gifted’ them a strong commitment to woman centred care, continuity and a social model of maternity which they draw on to support their transition.
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Journal Title
Nurse Education in Practice
Volume
41
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence, which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.
Subject
Nursing
Curriculum and Pedagogy
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
MIDWIFERY STUDENTS EXPERIENCES
CONTINUITY