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 enjoy very good partnership working with the local Trusts.

A registered midwife is uniquely placed to support the needs of women and their families throughout the childbirth experience. This is a three-year, full-time course that requires equal commitment to theory and clinical practice, enabling you to become a knowledgeable, competent midwife and join this rewarding profession. Successful completion will enable you to achieve the dual awards of a BSc Honours degree and registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council to practice as a Registered Midwife.

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. The clinical practice element of the course means that you will work in a variety of community and hospital settings throughout Herefordshire and Worcestershire. These include antenatal and postnatal wards, gynaecology wards, labour wards, ITU and community clinics.

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

The NMC Standards for Pre-registration Midwifery Education
The Principles of Woman Centred Care
Care of Low Risk Women and Neonates
Anatomy and Physiology
Social Sciences related to Midwifery
Learning Theories
Health Promotion
Professional Practice
PebbePad ePortfolio system
Lifelong Learning Skills
Team Working Skills
Collaborative Working Skills
Communication Skills
Decision-making and Leadership Skills
Management Skills
Concepts of Health
Surgery and Disease related to Pregnancy
Medicines Management
Care of High Risk Women and Neonates
Case loading practice

The Midwifery Taster
Potential course applicants are encouraged to consider attending one of our award winning Midwifery Taster sessions. 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.

Timetable
The Midwifery course runs over a 45 week/year period. This incorporates 7 weeks of annual leave, including bank holidays.

Factfile
Entry requirements
Course content
Student views
Taster Session
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 February and September each year (subject to Regional Contract)

* Half of the course is spent in clinical placement

* We are not able to support transfer requests at any stage of the programme

Get in touch

Sarah Snow
midwifery@worc.ac.uk

Admissions Office
01905 855111
admissions@worc.ac.uk

Sept 2013 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

* From September 2012, all new students will receive a one off grant of £1000
* All students may be eligible for an income assessed bursary and/or student loan.
* 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 session.

There are a number of resources available that may help you with application to the Midwifery programme. Examples include the UCAS Guides and:

Mander, R., Fleming, V. (eds) (2009) Becoming a Midwife. Routledge.

Peate, I., Hamilton, C. (eds) (2008) Becoming a Midwife in the 21st Century. Wiley-Blackwell.

Snow, S. (2012) Get into Nursing and Midwifery: a guide for application and career success. Pearson.

Modules

The midwifery curriculum is delivered using an enquiry based learning approach (EBL). This is an active learning method that encourages students to work together on issues related to the childbirth continuum, using specifically designed clinical triggers. The process of EBL encourages students to work together in order to ask pertinent questions and locate resources to help answer those questions. This type of learning promotes the acquisition of skills that support personal and professional growth, as well as encourage students to challenge and question practice.

Each year, students apply EBL through the study of three modules. These are:

Lifelong Learning, 30 credits

Theoretical Foundations of Midwifery, 30 credits

Midwifery Practice, 60 credits

Assessment

Led by the Lead Midwife for Education, there are 8 midwifery lecturers, 2 clinical facilitators and several support staff involved in the provision of the Midwifery course. This means that there is a wide range of knowledge, skills and experience amongst the team. The midwifery lecturers are also practising midwives, with specialist clinical interests including community practice, supervision, hypnobirthing and contraceptive health. The team have contributed to a range of publications and 2 are currently engaged with PhD research.

Even before you start the Course we begin our student support systems by inviting you to attend our Moving on Programme, a one week summer or winter school that helps prepare you for life as a student midwife. When you start on the Course you will be allocated a Academic Tutor who provides general help and support in your studies and personal aspects of student life.

We also publish quarterly newsletters to keep you and your sign-off mentor informed of the Midwifery course programme and associated issues. Read the Spring edition here.

On Clinical Placements, you will be supported and assessed by sign-off mentors, with the help of your academic tutor. Although you are supernumerary in practice, you will follow the same working patterns as qualified staff, including shifts and anti-social hours. This enables your sign-off mentors to provide continuous supervision, teaching and support.

In order to support the student learning experience, we provide a range of assessment types each year that include:

Continuous assessment of practice
Webfolio
Group presentation
Unseen, scenario-based examination
Independent study project

Natalie Britton

Hometown: Redditch

“I keep having to pinch myself that I am now a midwife. It’s the most amazing job in the world.”

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 further study at the University of Worcester, including the Advancing Practice MSc, as well as a range of specialist modules including mentor preparation, examination of the newborn, contraception and sexual health..

Once you have successfully completed the course, how you develop your career is entirely up to. The work of the midwife covers a very wide area of healthcare and you could find work in a wide scope of practice, from infertility clinics and teenage pregnancy centres to obstetric high dependency units and birth centres. You also have the opportunity to move into other areas of practice such as teaching, research or management.

In most parts of the UK, midwives can expect to find first posts within the NHS on a band 5 salary scale.

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

What is the Midwifery Taster?

* 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 is consistently recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council as an example of very good Admissions practice

How will the Taster 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 sessions are held at the University in the Autumn each year
* Refreshments are provided

I’m interested, what happens next?

* 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 sarah.snow@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

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

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