Plus, take a look back at articles discussing midwifery student resources that have featured in past editions of MIDIRS Midwifery Digest:

‘Reflections of a student midwife: has our role become misunderstood and how can we fix it?’ Isla Love (March 2024)

As is the case for many who choose midwifery as a career, I started with a desire to be with women – to provide support and care. When I share my chosen profession with loved ones and strangers, the automatic response is ‘so you deliver babies?’, encouraging the belief that our role is working in a labour ward. I have quickly become aware of the perception the public and other health care professionals have of what constitutes a midwife. These perceptions are limiting in relation to the many roles we have, including public health, specialities, research and education. 

I believe one of the contributing factors to this perception is how the other arms of our profession are often overlooked, even within our own field of midwifery, with some individuals unaware of the alternative career routes. From my experience, I have observed that many students are not informed of career options available in midwifery and those who are qualified don’t always have a clear career framework to support their development and progression. It’s important to consider how, as a profession, we may be limiting the advancement of midwifery, as some midwives may not be pursuing alternative career options such as research, higher clinical practice (specialisms, advanced practice and consultant level practice) or working in academic settings (lecturers, researchers and professors, and clinical academics), since we may not fully understand what the challenges and barriers may be. 

I will be using the Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle to explore my experience as a student midwife in relation to career development, and the potential barriers to and methods of facilitating improvement. 

‘Reframing leadership for student midwives’ Chelsea Beckford-Procyk (March 2023)

There are many things student midwives need to consider throughout their studentship. Completion of practice hours, passing assessments and maintaining their health and wellbeing, to name but a few. One thing that may not be emphasised is leadership and, specifically, how student midwives are in an excellent position to explore their passions to make tangible changes to their field. In this reflective piece the author reflects on their journey into student leadership and how it impacted their philosophy as a student and midwife.

‘Useful databases and resources for maternity professionals’ Jacqueline Mitchell (September 2022)

Your subscription package to MIDIRS includes access to the Maternity and Infant Care (MIS) database. The MIC database is a great resource for midwives, students, maternity support workers and others working in maternity services, bringing together thousands of references in one place.

‘Introducing midwifery students to the world of research: building the basis for future leaders in evidence-based practice’ Sara Borrelli, Louise Walker, Julie Jomeen et al (September 2020)

This educational project aimed at involving undergraduate midwifery students as co-investigators in research studies, with the primary aim of acquiring first-hand experience of operationalising fundamental aspects of the research process by working with established researchers. The secondary aim of the project was to evaluate students’ experience of being involved as co-investigators in a research study.

This initiative involved six undergraduate midwifery students in two qualitative research studies. Students were involved in the following activities: development of focus group topic guides; data collection (focus group facilitation and co-facilitation) and analysis; preparation of abstracts for peer review; poster and conference presentations; team meetings; group work and research seminars.

This paper reports the educational initiative and students’ experiences. The project was perceived by students as an exciting and unique opportunity to experience research first hand. Students gained direct knowledge and understanding of the research process and how that builds the evidence base for midwifery practice and service provision, with the ultimate aim of improving care for childbearing women and their families.

The academic team hopes that the participants’ involvement in this project will have a direct, authentic and long-lasting impact on their remaining experience as student midwives and future qualified midwives. Long-lasting effects include: a) providing a novel for inclusion in the student’s portfolio with potential to increase employability; b) gaining insights into activities involved in midwives’ development beyond registration, such as Masters and PhD programmes; c) providing students with a greater understanding of different midwifery roles and career paths, including the current priority for developing clinical academic careers.