BMidwif Midwifery

This unit continues the concept of additional care for women/birthing people and neonates, considering the role of the midwife as the lead professional and as part of a team in childbirth emergencies. The unit builds on the leadership and team-working knowledge and skills developed in year one, with the opportunity to apply these skills to the midwife’s role in complex, emergency clinical situations. Linking theory with clinical simulation will enable learners to consider the impact of human factors and the importance of situational awareness on responding to emergency situations as part of an effective team. Learners will also develop their understanding of clinical governance processes to enable continual learning from clinical incidents that respects and involves the families affected. Learners will learn with peers from other professions, enacting the maxim that healthy teams train together.

This unit aims to:

• Equip learners with the skills and knowledge to underpin collaborative and respectful partnerships with women and other professionals, applying their knowledge and understanding of compassion, resilience and leadership and recognise those skills in others.
• Apply these skills in providing evidence-based care in emergency situations, incorporating the principles of human factors and clinical decision-making.

The intended learning outcomes (ILOs) and aims are all constructively aligned to ensure the teaching and assessment methods support the learners’ achievement of these to the highest standard. The assessment ensures that all aims and ILOs can be demonstrated as met during the assessment task and in order to facilitate learners’ understanding of the ILOs the following teaching methods will be used:

• Whole group lectures (face-to-face and online)
• Online podcasts and seminars
• Online activities
• Online resources for directed study
• Small group workshops
• Small group clinical simulation
• Interprofessional learning
• Clinical practice

Clinical practice hours are included in this unit to enable learners to apply theoretical concepts to practice and reflect on practical experiences.

• Exhibit in-depth knowledge and understanding of the factors that may contribute to complications and emergencies during the childbearing continuum.
• Display knowledge and critical understanding of the principles of establishing and maintaining effective team working in emergency situations.

• Critically apply the concepts and strategies to identify and assess risks and the appropriate actions to anticipate, mitigate and prepare for complications.
• Critically analyse own practice in complex clinical situations, reflecting on their contribution to care.
• Evaluate critically different approaches to leadership and team working in clinical emergencies.

• Competently demonstrate effective skills in recognising and diagnosing clinical emergencies, in order to prioritise midwifery care.
• Effectively communicate complex information to specialist and non-specialist audiences to convey information, summon assistance and make recommendations for action.
• Proficiently deploy emergency procedures and techniques, in a simulated situation, to meet the health needs of women/birthing people and babies.

• Develop existing skills and acquire new competencies to safeguard maternal and infant health in emergency clinical situations.
• Critically reflect on personal and team experiences of providing care in an emergency situation, including during simulation.

Clinical Competency Assessments (CCAs) to include Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) for midwifery emergencies, viva to assess knowledge and understanding about team working and leadership in emergencies, human factors and situational awareness, and document interpretation to assess skills in recognising and diagnosing clinical emergencies.

Formative

Skills development opportunities with peer review and lecturer feedback. 
Formative ‘mock’ CCAs.

• Bates,K., Crozier,K., (2015) Childbirth Emergencies in Community and Low –Tech Settings (2nd Ed) Palgrave, MacMillan Education London
• Boyle M (ed) (2017) Emergencies Around Childbirth: A Handbook for Midwives 3RD Edition Taylor and Francis Group. Cambridge
• Billington M Stevenson M (Eds) (2017) Critical Care in Childbearing for Midwives. Blackwell. Oxford.
• Edozien L C (2014) The Labour Ward Handbook (2nd Ed). Taylor and Francis Ltd. Royal Society of Medicine.
• Green B, Parry D, Oeppen RS, Plint S, Dale T, Brennan PA. Situational awareness - what it means for clinicians, its recognition and importance in patient safety. Oral Dis. 2017 Sep;23(6):721-725. doi: 10.1111/odi.12547. Epub 2016 Aug 8. PMID: 27447437. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27447437/ Accessed 14th Sept 2021.
• Housely,M (2018) Interaction in Multidisciplinary Teams. London, Routledge Revival.
• Kenny L, Myers J (2017) Obstetrics by ten teachers 20th ed. Taylor and Francis Group.
• Raynor, Marshall and Jackson (2012) Midwifery Practice: Critical Illness, Complications and Emergencies Case Book. 1st Edition. Open University Press , England
• Northouse, PG, (2021) Leadership: Theory and Practice. 9th Edition, Sage, Thousand Oaks.
• Royal College of Midwives (2019) 'Strengthening Midwifery Leadership: A manifesto to better maternity care' London, RCM. Penguin