Midwifery Programme
Overview
Health and Well Being
Sheffield Hallam University
The Faculty
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Midwifery,
Nursing
Physiotherapy,
Radiography
Radiology & Oncology, Paramedic
Occupational Therapy, Social work
Operating Department Practitioner
Sport Science,
Biomedical Science
The Pre-Registration Midwifery
Team
On Campus
Academic Delivery
Manager
Course leader/Lead
Midwife Educator
Module leaders
Personal teacher
Student support officers
Disability coordinator
On Placement
Mentor
Leaning Environment
Manager (LEM)
Link Lecturer
Lead Link Lecturer
Supporting the student experience
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The traffic light system
Placement partnership group
The placement team
Personal tutors
Link lecturers
The programme - year one
• Level 4
• 18 weeks university attendance and 24
weeks practice with 16 additional personal
study days and 2.5 hours reflection time
each week
• 6 placement experiences
The programme - year two
• level 5
• 18 weeks of university attendance and 24
weeks of practice with 16 additional
personal study days and 2.5 hours
reflection time each week
• 7 placement experiences
The programme - year three
• level 6
• 12 weeks of university attendance and 30
weeks of practice with an additional 16
personal study days and 2.5 hours
reflection time each week
• 5 placement experiences
Your placements
• Year one - community midwifery, postnatal
ward, labour ward. Taken in blocks of 4
weeks
• Year two - labour ward, community midwifery,
postnatal ward, antenatal ward or clinic,
surgical pathway, neonatal unit, theatre
recovery. Taken in blocks of 2-6 weeks
Your placements - year three
• Antenatal clinic, Community midwifery,
Labour ward, Community caseload, ward
management. Taken in blocks of 2-12 weeks
• 10 Caseload clients are identified in the first
community placement. The student will aim to
attend all visits and be on call to provide care
for the woman during labour
Modules year one
• Midwifery and Normality (30 credits)
• Health and Psychosocial Aspects of Maternity Care
(30 credits)
• Infant Feeding (10 credits)
• Introduction to Inter-Professional Practice (10 credits)
• Understanding Knowledge and Evidence to Support
Study and Practice (10 credits)
• Practice placement one (30 credits)
Modules year two
• Complex Care Pathways (30 credits)
• Midwifery and Altered Health (30 credits)
• Using and Evaluating Evidence to Inform
Practice (20 credits)
• Developing Collaborative Practice (10
credits)
• Practice Placement 2 (30 Credits)
Modules year three
• Promoting Normality and Women's Health (20 credits)
• Promoting Mental Health and Well Being (10 credits)
• Managing Obstetric and Neonatal Emergencies (10
credits)
• Capable Collaborative Working (30 credits)
• Generating and Evaluating Evidence in Practice ( 20
Credits)
• Practice placement 3 (30 credits)
Assessment
• Each module will be assessed using a variety of
assessment methods
• Year one - Assignments, OSCE, unseen written
exam with multiple choice questions element,
assignments, oral presentation
• Year two - Written Seen exam, Assignments,
Poster presentation, Written case study
• Year three- OSCE, Assignments, Oral
presentation
Assessment
• Practice placement assessment is ongoing and assesses the midwifery
proficiencies, essential skills clusters and
professional behaviours in each
placement. The mentor awards a grade at
the end of each placement
Assessment
• Year 1 - the focus is on normality with basic
principles and underpinning knowledge assessed
• Year 2 - the focus is on complexity with risk
assessment, management of care and recognition
of deviations from normal
• Year 3 - the focus is on leading and managing care
and the transition to being a registered midwife
Role of the Mentor
• Works with the student for a minimum of 40% of the
placement
• Supports the student in engaging with suitable learning
opportunities
• Guides the development of clinical skills and knowledge
• Assesses progress and gives feedback
• Identifies and records any concerns
• Completes assessment documentation recording student
proficiency and awards a grade for practice.
Role of the Learning Environment
Manager (LEM)
• Facilitates the development of learning opportunities
• Assigns students to sign-off mentors
• Provides support to mentors and students during
placement to ensure sufficient exposure to practice is
achieved
• Maintains the live register of mentors
• Works in partnership with the link lecturer and to
undertake quality assurance activities
Role of the link lecturer
• In partnership with the LEM undertakes an
annual audit of the placement to ensure
placement is a safe and appropriate learning
environment
• Supports and updates mentors as required
• Conducts tripartite interviews with students and
mentors to support grading in practice
Assessing clinical practice
• level 4
• By the end of year one, the student should be demonstrating
the ability to carry out practised activities with confidence and
be expected to plan and lead certain practised activities with
few prompts. Some basic care activities may be carried out
with close to minimal supervision once the mentor is sure of
the student’s ability through direct observation. Also, it is vital
that the mentor check the student’s understanding through
careful questioning
Assessing clinical practice
• Level 5
• As the student gains confidence, she should be
able to carry out a wider range of care activities
under minimal supervision. However, decisions
concerning the degree of supervision should be
based on a reasonable amount of prior direct
observation of practice. The mentor should also
be confident that the student knows when to seek
assistance from a midwife
Assessing clinical practice
• Level 6
• Increasingly, the student should be able to use her initiative to
recognise and meet the needs of clients. Supervision is indirect
which means that although the mentor is not observing the student
directly, they are still aware of the activities of the student. At this
stage, the mentor should use questioning not only to test the
student's knowledge and understanding of care activities, but also to
ascertain how she would recognise changes in client needs. The
mentor should also question the student on how she would plan,
prioritise and manage care and the rationale behind her decisionmaking. By the end of the course, the student should be able to
demonstrate all the competencies to the standard of a newly qualified
practitioner
Essential Skills Clusters
These are skills identified by the NMC as essential to
midwifery practice and are assessed during the
practice placements each year.
• Initial consultation
• Communication
• Medicines management
• Normal labour and birth
• Initiation and Continuance of Breast Feeding
The practice assessment process
• Initial interview - to identify objectives and plan
learning experiences
• Progress review - to review progress identify further
objectives and plan further learning experiences
• Final interview - to review progress and determine the
assessment outcome
• additional meetings may be required if concerns about
progress arise
• students should be encouraged to self assess at all
interviews
Assessment of Practice Document
(AOP)
• Record the initial interview, progress reviews and
final interview.
• Record the achievement of midwifery proficiencies
• Complete the attendance record
• Assess the students' professional behaviours
• Assess Essential Skills Clusters as appropriate for
the placement
sickness and absence
• Students are expected to attend for 100% of the placement
• Students may only make up time during placements with the
agreement of the course leader/placement team
• students need to document all placement hours and mentors need
to validate these.
• Students need to record their hours on the electronic record
provided
• The personal teacher will check that the hours recorded
electronically match those recorded in the AOP document
• Students needing to make up more that 37.5 hours in practice will
be placed during the flexi weeks at the end of the year in order to
achieve this. This is arranged by the placement team.
Grading Criteria
• Effective demonstration of practice
– the student performs correctly, precisely,
accurately, decisively, reasonably, skilfully,
dexterously
• Effective demonstration of underpinning
knowledge
– the student reaches logical conclusions from
given information and acts accordingly to make
decisions about care management
Concerns about student progress
• Mentors should follow guidance in the
AOP document, discuss any concerns with
the student, inform the LEM and the Link
Lecturer as soon as possible.
• For urgent assistance please contact the
student's Supervisor of Midwives or the
Course leader on 07969 610923