Midwifery BSc (Hons)

Midwifery student at the University of Worcester

This three-year full-time course enables you to become a knowledgeable, competent midwife and join this rewarding profession. Students are well supported by an enthusiastic team of midwife teachers who also provide very good pastoral support.

A registered midwife is uniquely placed to support the needs of women and their families throughout the childbirth experience. This three-year full-time course enables you to become a knowledgeable, competent midwife and join this rewarding profession, and successful completion will enable you to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

You will be able to respond effectively and appropriately to the needs of women from conception right through to the postnatal period, adapting within a changing healthcare environment. You will work in a variety of community and hospital settings. The practice part of the course takes place in different care settings and trusts within Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The latest Nursing and Midwifery Annual Monitoring Report stated that: ‘Students are well supported by an enthusiastic team of midwife teachers who also provide very good pastoral support.’. Potential course applicants are encouraged to consider attending a Midwifery Taster Day. These have been designed to provide prospective applicants with an opportunity to discuss the realities of becoming and being a midwife. For further information or to book a place, see the tab below. In the Foundation year students gain generic healthcare and professional skills related to midwifery. This is followed by two years where you become increasingly independent as a learner and in your midwifery practice.

To prepare you for your role as a qualified midwife, during the course you will have the opportunity to learn about and apply:

Midwifery Theory and Practice
Individualised Care
Clinical Competence
Practical Nursing Competencies
Learning Theories
Health Promotion
Professional Practice
Information Management and Technology
Lifelong Learning Skills
Team Working Skills
Collaborative Working Skills
Communication Skills
Decision-making Skills
Management Skills
Concepts of Health
Management of Midwifery Services
Care of Low Risk Women and Neonates
Anatomy and Physiology
Social Sciences related to Health Behaviours
Surgery and Disease related to Pregnancy
Pharmokinetics related to Pregnancy
Care of High Risk Women and Neonates.

Timetable
Nursing and Midwifery courses run over a 45 week period. This is split into two terms of study of 22.5 weeks. Over the nursing year, 7 weeks of annual leave are incorporated into the timetable, which includes bank holidays.

Help with Dyslexia
We welcome disabled students and those with specific learning difficulties to our courses. The Disability and Dyslexia Service co-ordinate support for disabled students and those with a specific learning difficulty. If you suspect that your disability will impact on your learning experience we urge you to contact the Service to discuss the nature and range of adjustments that may be necessary for you. You can do so before or after your application.

Please contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service on 01905 85 5531 email: disability@worc.ac.uk

We have included an advice booklet written by a student nurse for students with Dyslexia on clinical placements.

The Midwifery team encourages potential course applicants to consider attending a Midwifery Taster Day. However, if you are not yet ready to apply and require only general information at this stage, please attend a university open event instead.

Factfile
Entry requirements
Course content
Student views
Taster Day
Disability & Health Concerns

UCAS code

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Midwifery BSc (Hons) B720 BSc/Mid

For the latest information, check the UCAS website at www.ucas.com

Study options

* Available full-time only

* The course commences in January and September each year (subject to Regional Contract)

* Half of the course is spent in clinical placement

* NHS student bursaries available (means-tested)

Get in touch

Sarah Snow
midwifery@worc.ac.uk

Admissions Office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk

Sept 2012 Entry

Offers will be based on 280 UCAS points.

* From a maximum of 3 and a half A levels. One must be a relevant subject, e.g. psychology, sociology, biology or health and social care.
* 5 GCSE passes, grade C or above, to include English, Science and Maths.
* Evidence of recent academic study (within 5 years).
* For applicants whose first language is not English, a minimum IELTS score of 7.0 is also required.

* Access Diploma. Full award of 60 credits, 45 credits at level 3. 24 credits must be at merit/distinction level, 18 of those from Health or Science related subjects.

* BTEC National Diploma (for example, Health & Social Care).

AND

* Equivalent level 2 qualifications in English, Maths and Science
* Evidence of recent academic study (within 5 years).

Key Information for Applicants

* Applications to the midwifery programme should be made via UCAS each year, between September and January.
* Midwifery is an over subscribed course and therefore applications received outside the UCAS cycle will not be accepted.
* Ensure that a relevant and appropriate reference is included with your application. This will usually be an academic reference.
* Ensure that your personal statement has a clear midwifery focus; demonstrates a broad understanding of the role of the midwife; is objective and well written.
* All candidates are encouraged to attend a university open day or midwifery taster day.

Modules

You will gain experience in a variety of appropriate settings including antenatal and postnatal wards, gynaecology wards, labour wards, ITU and community clinics.

A sample of available modules includes:

* Knowledge for Midwifery Practice
* Physiological Basis of Midwifery Practice (1)
* Normal Birth
* Physiological Basis of Midwifery Practice (2)
* Evidence Informed Midwifery (1)
* Therapeutic Relationships in Midwifery Care
* Ethics in Midwifery Practice
* Surgical Interventions & Assisted Birth
* The High Risk Woman
* Evidence Informed Midwifery (2)
* The High Risk Neonate
* Promoting Normality in Midwifery Practice
* Midwifery in the 21st Century
* Independent Study
* Preparation for Midwifery Practice
* The Competent Midwife Practitioner

Assessment

There are about 75 teaching and support staff involved in the provision of the Nursing course. This means that there is a wide range of knowledge, skills and experience amongst the Lecturers, Clinical Facilitators and Personal Tutors ranging from subjects such as Clinical Assessment and Health Informatics to Health Promotion and Substance Abuse.

Even before you start the Course we begin our student support systems by asking you to complete an IT skills evaluation so that we know just how much help you will need during the Course. When you start on the Course you will be allocated a Personal Tutor who provides general help and support in your studies and personal aspects of student life.

At the end of each Semester you present your Portfolio to your Personal Tutor so that the two of you can identify your learning needs for the coming Semester. Each Semester you will also have some Unit/Module Leaders. These are Senior Lecturers who run the Units/Modules of study you will be undertaking that Semester and as such they provide support for you specific to that Unit.

On Clinical Placements, as well as your Unit/Module and Personal Tutors you will be supported by a Mentor and an Assessor. Although you are supernumery to the Clinical Placement staff, whilst in the Placement you will follow the same working patterns as qualified staff, including shifts and anti-social hours. This enables your Mentor and the person who assesses your work to provide continuous supervision, teaching and support.

We are committed to providing student centred leaning and are keen to produce new learning experiences for our students that will help them to develop into self directed learners and effective and efficient professionals.

In order to support these aims we provide a range of assessment forms which include, Continuous assessment of practice, Coursework, Written Assignments, Web-based assignments, Seminar presentations, Examinations and Vivas. Honours degree students also complete a Dissertation as their final written assessment.

Sarah Lane

Hometown: Worcester

"It's very competitive to get into the Midwifery programme, so I was thrilled to be selected. As the intake is quite small, it enables you to bond with your classmates very quickly. You spend a lot of time on placements, which is my favourite aspect of the course so far. I was assigned a mentor who was wonderful, I've learned a lot from shadowing her."

Academic department

Institute of Health & Society

“The University is a leading innovator in the fields of health and social care. Unique appointments such as the UK’s first professors of perinatal education and tissue viability demonstrate our commitment to research excellence.”
Louise Jones, Head of Institute

Employability

Students who successfully complete this course become Registered Midwives, this opens up employment opportunities locally, nationally and internationally. It also provides the opportunity to undertake the MSc in Health and Social Care and the MSc in Clinical Practice at the University of Worcester.

The definition of a midwife includes providing, "supervision, care and advice to women during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period", as well as, "conducting deliveries on her own responsibility and to care for the newborn and the infant. This care includes preventative measures, the detection of abnormal conditions in mother and child, the procurement of medical assistance and the execution of emergency measures in the absence of medical help.

She has an important task in health counselling and education, not only for the women but also within the family and the community. The work should involve antenatal education and preparation for parenthood and extends to certain areas of gynaecology, family planning and child care. She may practise in hospitals, clinics, health units, domiciliary conditions or in any other service."

How you develop your career is entirely up to you, once you have successfully completed the course the world is your oyster, you can choose to work abroad or in the uk. From the above quote it is easy to see that midwives' work covers a very wide area of healthcare and you could find work in anything from infertility clinics and teenage pregnancy centres to obstetric high dependency units.

You also have the opportunity to move into other areas such as teaching, health informatics, research or management.

In most parts of the UK midwives can expect to find first posts on E or F NHS salary grades.

What is the Midwifery Taster Day?

* An award winning innovation that has been designed to provide prospective midwifery course applicants with an opportunity to discuss the realities of becoming, and being a midwife
* The Midwifery Taster day is consistently recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council as an example of very good Admissions practice

How will the Taster day help me?

* By providing opportunities for you to ask questions to midwifery lecturers and obtaining some top tips for application success
* By meeting current student midwives and having the chance to find out at firsthand what their experiences of the midwifery course actually are
* By taking part in teaching sessions with student midwives and gaining a taste of the course itself

Where is it held?

* The taster days are held at the University in the Autumn each year
* The day runs from 10:15am-3.15pm
* Refreshments are provided but you will need to bring/buy your own lunch

I’m interested, what happens next?

* We are now fully booked for our Autumn 2011 Taster days. The dates of our 2012 Taster days and a booking form will be available on this page from June 2012. If you are interested in finding out more about Midwifery, please visit one of our general university Open Days where you will be able to meet our Midwifery lecturers.
* For a prospectus about Midwifery and Nursing courses here at the University of Worcester please email your details to study@worc.ac.uk. If you would like to discuss this course please contact Admissions admissions@worc.ac.uk
* If you are not able to find out the information you require from these web pages, please contact Sarah Snow on midwifery@worc.ac.uk
* Click for general questions relating to Midwifery education.

Are you worried that your disability or physical or mental health problem will affect your application to nurse/midwifery training?

The Disability Rights Commission (2007) identify that applicants to higher education have a statutory duty to disclose information about disabilities or long-term health conditions for entry to nursing courses across Britain. Although the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) says that “you may not be fit to practice for reasons of conduct, health or competence” (NMC 2008) it’s not straight forward and we would not want you to be deterred from applying.

If you have a disability, physical or mental health problem the above legislation and professional guidelines do not prevent you from applying to this University to undertake Nurse/ Midwifery training. In accordance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 reasonable adjustments can be considered and put in place, as appropriate, to support and enable you to undertake your studies effectively.

We would like to encourage you to contact us to discuss your individual concerns. For example, if you are wondering whether you would be suitable for selection or if you can cope with the programme or carry out the specific skills required in performing the job book an appointment to come and talk to us.

Please contact:

Midwifery, Sarah Snow (01905) 855406 email s.snow@worc.ac.uk

Adult/Child/Mental Health Nursing, Jo Rouse (01905) 855365 email j.rouse@worc.ac.uk

Learning Disabilities , Neville Parks (01905) 855428 email n.parkes@worc.ac.uk

Graduate Diploma Jacqui Fernell, (01905) 855194 email j.fernell@worc.ac.uk

Or University admissions (01905) 855111 email admissions@worc.ac.uk

You could also contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service at the University of Worcester. If you suspect that your disability will impact on your learning experience we urge you to contact the Service to discuss the nature and range of adjustments that may be necessary for you. Please feel free to get in contact before or after your application.

Please note: This is an additional option to the requirement to disclose on the Pre-Enrolment Health Questionnaire

Please contact the Disability and Dyslexia Service on 01905 85 5531 email: disability@worc.ac.uk