Within the Editorial Board of the British Journal of Midwifery, there is a wealth of expertise from clinical practice, academia and research that each member brings to their role. Our collective ambition is to strive for excellence in midwifery and perinatal care through the sharing of national and international research evidence, reflective accounts from practice, topical commentaries and contemporary educational content.
We are very conscious of the impact that both recent and ongoing maternity service reviews are having on all those using maternity and neonatal services, those planning to access such services, and on the clinical and academic staff that support these services. What is clear from the outcomes for these reviews is the importance of, and access to, multidisciplinary education and training.
We are also acutely aware that our journal is accessed by students and clinicians alike, and is a trusted source of information covering a wide range of topics in the field of midwifery and perinatal care. We are also mindful of the wealth of new knowledge and insights generated by students and clinicians as they embark on undergraduate or postgraduate study or engage in any other form of scholarship. It is to this that we want to turn our attention and shine a spotlight in a new section for the journal that we have titled ‘Sapientia’, Latin for wisdom and, more simply, good sense.
At the British Journal of Midwifery, we want to create a space for anyone to share the fruits of their labour, be that a reflective account, a critical commentary on an issue they have encountered or a component of academic work they have completed.
We know that pre-registration midwifery students will have been challenged to conduct a student project, whether it takes the form of a small audit, a quality improvement project, a quality improvement protocol that challenges the implementation of care, or a review of the literature that offers an innovative synthesis of the evidence. We want to ensure that opportunities for this knowledge to be shared among our community are provided and to nurture the necessary skills in writing for publication.
From educators and clinicians, we would welcome short articles summarising physiology, pathophysiology or clinical care, or perhaps sharing how a successful quality improvement initiative was envisaged and implemented. There is a wealth of knowledge to be shared from midwifery educators. Whether it be the integration of relevant and effective multidisciplinary simulation in a midwifery programme, opportunities and challenges related to using virtual reality and augmented reality in midwifery education, or your experience of optimising the use of CHAT-GTP and other artificial intelligence bots for learning gain, there is benefit in sharing ideas, successes and challenges. Although the same high standards will be applied to these submissions, flexibility in the focus and length of these articles will be provided.
Wisdom is most beneficial when it can be shared, highlighting the importance and benefits of continued education in all its forms. We look forward to your submissions and future publications in our journal as we share our wisdom and good sense.