Students apply midwifery knowledge and skills gained in previous units to undertake professional practice in a maternity practice setting. Aligned with quality and safety principles, students will exhibit the provision of safe, woman-centred care within an appropriate scope of practice. Placements occur under the supervision of a registered midwife who provides feedback to students on their professional practice. Before commencing placement, students will be asked to provide mandatory documentation for allocations as part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) requirements for midwifery students. Students will undertake 160 hours of placement following successful completion of the Midwifery Care 1 – Developing Midwifery Practice unit. Students also continue the Continuity of Care program, recruiting a further two (2) women. This enables opportunities for the midwifery student to share a therapeutic relationship with each woman to learn about the uniqueness of childbearing from the individual woman's perspective.
Prerequisites
HMB1001 - Foundations of Midwifery and
HMB1002 - Fundamentals of Midwifery and Nursing and
HMB1003 - Midwifery and Nursing Professional Practice Experience and
HMB2001 - Pathophysiology and Medications for Midwives and
HMB2002 - Midwifery Care 1: Developing Midwifery Practice
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Learning Outcomes
| 1. | Employ a woman-centred approach to exhibit safe and individualised care to women and their families across the childbearing journey within the midwives' scope of practice as defined by national legislative and professional frameworks; | ||
| 2. | Exhibit respect for all women and their families inclusive of their individual culture, beliefs, values and socio-economic status during pregnancy, labour and birth and the early parenting period; | ||
| 3. | Consolidate communication skills to interact safely and appropriately with women and health professionals; | ||
| 4. | Initiate safe clinical reasoning and decision-making within the second year midwifery student's scope of practice knowledge; and | ||
| 5. | Apply strategies of resilience in caring for self and as an emerging midwife professional. |
Assessment
The assessment tasks link the learning outcomes and graduate capabilities. Each piece of assessment for the unit relates to students integrating theoretical knowledge and skills to the woman and her baby's care across pregnancy, labour and birth and post-birth care and is documented in the Practice Portfolio. Professional midwifery appraisals scaffold experiential learning by midwife facilitators providing formative and summative feedback and supported learning to achieve interim and final learning objectives as stated at the commencement of practice placement by each individual student. The Continuity of Care report details evidence-based reflective learning of student's individual learning of childbearing from a woman's experience which is critical to locating beginning practice in a philosophy of woman-centred care. All assessments are undertaken within the scheduled timing of the placement.
To gain an overall pass in this unit, students must complete 160 midwifery practice hours and a 'Pass' grading in the Interim and Final Professional Practice Performance Appraisal. Students submit a reflective Continuity of Care Report that reflects their learning experiences of sharing the Continuity of Care experience with one woman during her childbearing journey.
Supplementary assessment is not available for the Professional Practice Performance Appraisal.
| Assessment type | Description | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Practicum | Interim Professional Practice Performance Appraisal - midwifery in Practice Portfolio | Pass/Fail |
| Practicum | Final Professional Practice Performance Appraisal - midwifery in Practice Portfolio | Pass/Fail |
| Report | Continuity of Care Report detailing experience with one of the recruited women (1000 words) | Pass/Fail |
Required reading
Skills for Midwifery Practice 4th ed. AU & NZ ed.
de-Vitry Smith, S., Bayes, S., Johnson, R. & Taylor, W. (Eds.). (2019)
Elsevier: Chatswood, New South Wales.
Where to next?
As part of a course
This unit is studied as part of the following courses. Refer to the course page for information on how to apply for the course.
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