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Tuesday 2 December 2014

2nd year!

I am well and truly in second year now, with only a few weeks left until Christmas-it’s crazy how it flies by! I am currently buried beneath a mountain of books and work with a couple of deadlines looming around the corner. My lecturers are now starting to say ‘when you’re qualified’, which is both exciting and terrifying! So many students in cohorts above warned me of what is known as ‘the death zone’ (in other words, year 2) - so as you can imagine removing my 1st year badge was particularly daunting. However on my return to placement I was greeted as a valued member of the team. More of the midwives and doctors knew my name, remembered me or trusted me to help them with a task. With experience comes greater responsibility, and the course always had to progress. The workload is somewhat intense, but fortunately I am reasonably organised when it comes to getting work done so I haven’t suffered too badly!

I can feel myself slowly shaping into the professional I will one day become. I’m finding areas in midwifery which I am particularly passionate about, areas I want to make a difference in one day. We had a guest speaker talk to us about the controversial topic of complementary therapies- it was nothing short of fascinating, I’m going to see if there are any legit study days I can attend to expand my understanding .I also had a particularly interesting seminar on family spacing contraception- which has me looking forward to my sexual health placement next year! I would love to specialise in something like that one day.

However; I need to get this degree first! I am presently working on an essay about evidence based practice- I’ve decided to focus on perineal care. This is a hugely debated subject in the field of midwifery and a lot of the evidence isn’t significantly conclusive either way. It is a frustrating essay in many aspects but I am finding it useful- as a healthcare professional it is required of me to have a solid evidence base providing rationale for any clinical decisions I make. The International Confederation of Midwives states ‘Autonomous midwifery practice enables midwives to fulfil their contract with society by providing up-to-date, evidence-based, high quality and ethical care for childbearing women and their families’. This outlines how in order to be a competent and independent midwife, we must update ourselves constantly on the most current and reliable research.

This is my last day of lectures for semester 3- wow it only just hit me as I wrote that! I have arranged a Christmas meal for the student midwives of our cohort after we finish at uni today- I’m really looking forward to socializing with everyone. It’s always sad when we finish lectures and go our separate ways for the placement period!

I start a brand new placement on Post-natal ward next week which I am really looking forward to. I
have been told it will be a challenge- the midwives always seem to be so busy there. I have already met the midwife who will be my mentor when I’ve been working on delivery suite- she is really lovely which takes a lot of the pressure off! I find the post natal period so interesting yet I feel like I don’t know enough about it yet. So I’m sure that the next few weeks shall be a learning curve for me.


I shall keep you updated!