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Alison Power

Senior lecturer (Midwifery), University of Northampton

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Courage, commitment and resilience: Traits of student midwives who fail and retake modules

A previous article considered the relevance of Hunter and Warren's (2013) findings to pre-registration midwifery education, and whether student midwives were adequately prepared to deal with the ever...

Pre-registration midwifery education: Do learning styles limit or liberate students?

Pre-registration midwifery education not only prepares students to be competent and confident on registration, it is also the start of their journey as lifelong learners in order to ensure their...

What does studying research methods have to do with practice? Views of student midwives and nurses

The Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 created the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), whose primary function is to establish standards of education, training, conduct and performance for nurses and...

Experiences and expectations of student midwives entering the final year of their programme of study

‘You're a third year now…’ is a phrase frequently cited as a reminder that student midwives in their final year of the pre-registration programme are on a ‘countdown’ to qualification, and the...

University midwifery societies: Support for student midwives, by student midwives

On starting their programme of study, student midwives are generally highly motivated and optimistic about their journey into their chosen profession However, there is evidence to suggest the...

Being ‘with woman’ in contemporary midwifery practice: One Trust's response to the Francis report

While the report of the inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (Francis, 2013) largely focused on the failings in the nursing and medical professions, it was also a reminder to the...

Should left-handed midwives and midwifery students conform to the ‘norm’ or practise intuitively?

It has been suggested that the growing proportion of left-handed people—or, more specifically, the greater acknowledgement of left-handedness over the past century—may be the result of fewer...

Midwifery preceptorship: The next chapter

Research has found that, while newly qualified midwives are competent to practise, they would benefit from preceptorship programmes providing a structured, supportive culture to enable them to develop...

Preparing for your preceptorship midwife interview: A student's guide

The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry (Francis, 2013) highlighted how service users were receiving substandard care where staff did not exhibit core values such as care and...

Clinicians in the classroom: The matron

This article is the last in a series exploring expert clinicians' participation in teaching pre-registration midwifery students in the classroom setting It will consider sessions facilitated by Paula...

Clinicians in the classroom: The consultant anaesthetist

The midwife is the lead professional in low-risk maternity care and the coordinator of care in complex cases where a multi-professional approach is required (Power, 2016) Caesarean sections now...

Clinicians in the classroom: The consultant midwife

Safer Childbirth: Minimum Standards for the Organisation and Delivery of Care in Labour (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists et al, 2007) recommended the recruitment of at least one...

Clinicians in the classroom: The bereavement midwife

One in 200 births in the UK ends in stillbirth, and of those, 1 in 3 occurs at term (37+ weeks' gestation) According to MBRRACE-UK (Draper et al, 2015: 7), ‘although there has been a small reduction...

Pre-registration midwifery education: Clinicians in the classroom

By 1996, midwifery pre-registration education in the UK was fully integrated into higher education and, currently, 92 universities offer approved midwifery courses in England (Nursing and Midwifery...

Midwifery in the 21st century: Are students prepared for the challenge?

Resilience can be defined as ‘the ability to maintain personal and professional wellbeing in the face of ongoing work stress and adversity’ (McCann et al, 2013: 61) Stress is an individual's reaction...

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