What does midwife training look like.

[Isthisrealomgwow]

Since a teen I have always wanted to be a midwife.
I've now got children of my own and really want to re-train.
I'm educated to level 7 so the research/writing isn't an issue, in that I won't have to learn new skills.

But my question is what does a trainee midwife schedule look like. Is it six weeks at uni followed by a six week placement, or placement weaved into uni attendance.

Trying to work out if it's feasible with having a young family.

All unis organise their healthcare courses in different ways, you would need to check each uni that you anre interested in and their website should give details. I presume you are aware that midwifery training doesn’t come with the same lengthy uni holidays? Again it will vary between uni but it could be as little as three weeks or maybe up to 6 weeks. My DS who is a nurse never had to work over Christmas as a student, but did work over Easter if placements happened to fall in that period. Depending the placements, you may also work nights and weekends. Having said that, lots of nursing and midwifery students are parents so presumably manage with help from partners and family.

It's very competitive to get a place. Not saying you can't do it, and of course can be very rewarding, but be realistic that it's a long haul multi-stage slog.

Midwifery is competitive to get a place because there's relatively few places and it's a popular choice. The requirements are that nurses and midwives need to complete 2300 hours theory and 2300 hours practice- hence the limited holidays as PP noted. The clinical hours generally come in blocks of 6-10 weeks and require nights, weekends, bank holidays etc. It could mean 7am starts and 9pm finishes for day shifts

Plenty of parents manage this but they need cast iron childcare and a commitment from family and friends to support you for the three years

Thanks @damekindness

My friend, who was a nurse (studied as an adult) said that if if I offer to do night shifts and weekends on placement, that I will have my hand snapped off!

I so desperately want to do it. I'm putting myself off due to age too, I'm in my early 40s.

@Isthisrealomgwow There's an element of flexibility in the shift pattern in some areas - but i wouldn't rely on everywhere being as flexible as offering you nights and weekends. I find if my students are requesting that sort of shift pattern on a regular basis some clinical areas tend to get in touch and complain that the student isn't experiencing exposure to the full shift pattern - and then I need to have a difficult discussion with students about what they signed up for and if this course of study is doable for them . Students are supernumerary on clinical shifts - so offering to do nights and weekends isn't the bonus you might think it is

Thanks @damekindness , I take it you are a tutor?

I've read about apprenticeship midwife course being a potential for the future. What are your thoughts?

@Isthisrealomgwow The degree apprenticeship is a great route for both nursing & midwifery. However, you need to be employed first as a healthcare/maternity assistant by a local Trust. They generally like you to be employed by them for at least a year in a full time post before they'll put you forward on to the apprenticeship - which makes sense because they'll know if you're worth the investment that way.

Yes - I work as a lecturer in a university dept that has nursing and midwifery programmes

I’m a midwifery lecturer. What it will look like will depend on the uni. Some do blocks, so you’re in uni for a couple of months then placement for a couple of months. Other unis do it so your shifts are every week and you have a couple of placement days and a couple of uni days. Every week is 40 hrs regardless of set up.

In all honesty at all the hospitals I’ve been associated with from a few different universities there isn’t much in the way of flexibility. You will be allocated a main practice supervisor for your placement and you will be expected to work what they’re working most of the time. You can’t easily swap to different shifts as there will be different midwives working those shifts with their students and they will have a strict limit regarding number of students per shift. Weekends and nights are actually popular with mature students with kids so don’t expect you can have your pick of them at all.

You’d get a couple of weeks off for Xmas, Easter and 4-6 weeks off in the summer. You’ll need exceptionally good childcare/a partner who can do childcare drop offs and pick ups or parents to help. Your shifts will start before a childminder or nursery/school does and finish afterwards. Often 13 hour long days for shifts now.

It is very competitive. 800-900 applications for a 60 place course and those ratios are standard at most universities.