Explore Your Role as a Midwife in the UK
Midwives
provide care, support, and advice for women and their babies during the period
of pregnancy. It will also stretch to the labour and early postnatal period.
Midwives will assist women in making independent decisions about the type of
services and care they would like to access. The role also deals with parenting
advice and health education until the care is delegated to a health visitor.
As a
midwife, you will be accountable for the overall health of both the child and
the mother. You may only refer to obstetricians in case of medical
complications. You will also be working with a multidisciplinary team in both
hospitals and other healthcare settings.
Working
Life
Working
as a midwife for a nursing agency in Leicester, you will be the prime
contact and a leading health professional for women requiring professional
support and advice. You are also required to provide evidence-based information
that will help women to make informed choices. As an expert in childbirth, you
will have diverse roles and responsibilities.
Guide new and expectant mothers on feeding, caring and bathing the babies.
Most often, you will be working with women from diverse backgrounds. Hence, you need to have excellent communication skills and confidence in supporting their needs.
- Provide complete antenatal care including clinical examinations, screening and parenting classes
- Identify high-risk pregnancies
- Monitor the health of women and support them during the labour and birthing process
Guide new and expectant mothers on feeding, caring and bathing the babies.
Most often, you will be working with women from diverse backgrounds. Hence, you need to have excellent communication skills and confidence in supporting their needs.
Roles and Responsibilities
You
will also need to understand the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects
of pregnancy and birth when working as a midwife.
Remember that not all
pregnancies go according to the plan. So, you must be emotionally strong to
provide advice on miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death, termination, or
neonatal abnormalities.
Being a
midwife also helps you to develop good relationships with the families of your
patients. This can make it easier to counsel at difficult times.
With a nursing
agency in Leicester, midwives need to develop, evaluate, and assess
individual care programmes. Apart from full antenatal care, you will have to
conduct screening tests and make referrals to doctors or other medical
specialists during high-risk pregnancies.
Monitoring the foetus condition and
applying the knowledge is required for pain management.
You may
even have to liaise with agencies or other social and health care professionals
to make sure of continued care. As you
grow with experience, you will also be responsible for participating in the
supervision and training of junior colleagues.
How to
Become a Midwife in the UK?
Firstly,
you must be registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to practice as a
midwife in the UK. Certain approved pre-registering midwifery programmes must
be completed in order to get registered.
These programmes often last for three
years and are well-structured. You will be spending half of your course
studying at university. The other half is based on practical placements that
help you gain hands-on experience.
Part-time
courses are also available if you are already working in a relevant role. These
may take up to five or six years. However, if you are a qualified nurse, you
can consider taking up short-term midwifery programmes, which allows you to get
qualified sooner than the three-year duration.
Remember
that your acceptance into a course is subject to a disclosure and barring
service (DBS) check and a satisfactory health clearance.
Methods
All NMC
approved programmes teach you to understand, facilitate, and promote normal
childbirth. They will also train you on identifying complications that arise in
babies and mothers. You will be trained on when to seek assistance and
administer emergency measures.
This process is often done in conjunction with
other health professionals. Promotion, the general health, and wellbeing of the
patients, is an important task for the midwives. You will learn how to furnish
unbiased information and make effective communication with a wide range of
women and their families.
What to
Expect?
As a
midwife, you will be working at maternity units in large hospitals, private maternity hospitals,
or other facilities. The work can be mentally and physically demanding.
Sometimes, your job will also involve dealing with sensitive situations like
domestic abuse or bereavement.
Professional
Development
All
newly qualified midwives are provided support and guidance from an experienced
professional colleague. They will offer you help and advice during the first
few months of your tenure as a midwife.
Your registration with the NMC must be
renewed every three years.
In
order to achieve this, you will have to meet certain re-validation requirements
within the said duration.
Some of these include 450 hours of practice, 35 hours
of continuing professional development (CPD), 20 hours of participatory
learning, five pieces of practice-related feedback, written reflective accounts
and discussion, and professional indemnity arrangement.
Being a
midwife is a very satisfactory career. From personal to professional
development, there is a large number of opportunities for midwives in the UK.
It’s now time to explore this fulfilling path and take your career to greater
heights.
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