Student midwives experiences and confidence surrounding postnatal assessment: What’s happening and how can it be improved? – A case study research project

Larkin, Valerie, Smith, Gill and Tennant, Julie (2015) Student midwives experiences and confidence surrounding postnatal assessment: What’s happening and how can it be improved? – A case study research project. In: Maternity, Midwifery and Baby Forum, 6th July 2015, London.

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Abstract

Concerns have been expressed in national surveys and forums about the opportunity for student midwives to develop their postnatal skills (RCM 2010; RCM Leaders in Midwifery Forum 2014a; RCM 2014b). The RCM (2011 p.2) survey of student midwives highlighted a “low point” of midwifery pre-registration programmes as a “lack of postnatal experience.” These issues reflect concerns expressed by local midwives who fear limited experience could influence skill development and subsequently impact upon future midwifery practice (Larkin 2012; 2014).

The proposed presentation will share the research to date which is exploring and identifying opportunities to enhance student midwives’ experiences in the assessment of maternal postnatal genital tract health within the midwifery preregistration curricula. The project will inform the development of the midwifery curricula. The initiative involves an inclusive, research informed approach to the development of the midwifery curricula, in which the students learning needs and experiences are central.

Aim: To explore and enhance student midwives’ experiences of postnatal genital tract assessment skills within the midwifery preregistration curricula.

A case study research design has been employed (Yin 2014). Methods of data collection and project evaluation include;-
* Survey of all final year student midwives.
* Review of documentary evidence including programme and module learning outcomes, placement plans and students assessment documentation, to clarify potential opportunities for students theoretical and practice exposure.
* Up to 15 in depth semi structured narrative interviews of final year student midwives.
* Student midwife workshop to verify findings and highlight opportunities for enhancement.

Data collection commenced in March 2015, therefore the presentation will focus upon the development of the project, and provisional data analysis, including findings from the survey and tentative themes from the qualitative interviews. The presentation will include the student midwives' reflections on their engagement in the project.

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