Midwifery Placement woes

[DilemmaOfCourse]

DN has received communication that she’s being investigated for potentially unsafe practices on placement.

Is this something that happens regularly or is it a case of ‘if it’s got this far, it’s a done deal’?

I know nothing about the field so would welcome any insight please. How can we support her?

That should be fine , she just needs to apologise and explain she was affected by what happened. It's not career ending sometimes you do get a bad placement she might want a fresh start somewhere else.

Thank you, that makes me more hopeful that it’s not unheard of among placement students. Inside, I’ve been very concerned but I’ve been telling her that we’re very hopeful she’ll get a second chance.

She’s been given a chance to respond and has apologised and said she was struggling mentally that day due to the incident.

Is she responsible in any way for said incident?

She was not responsible for the incident in any way but it really affected her.

Not turning up for shift as a student is not career ending, but it is very irresponsible! Yes she has been affected by an incident and the midwife supervising her should have been aware of the ramifications and checked in on her, or asked someone to.
Again, I don't think you'd would fail a placement on one incident of not turning up , for a shift, or be investigated for unsafe practices, are you sure there isn't more to it?

It could be that they worry that she is not ready as she is not able to deal with upsetting situations and that she stayed away rather than attended a debrief etc. Although I’m not sure it would be classed as unsafe practice.
She definitely needs to contact her union and uni placement lead.
( I’m a nurse not a midwife).

It sounds like there’s more to it than the one incident.

She is not telling you the whole truth. It’s really not uncommon for a student to fail to turn up and not call in, unprofessional yes but this wouldn’t be classed as unsafe unless lots of other stuff has been happening.

Agreed @Mouldyfeet . There’s no way this is the full story.

There's definitely more to this. Was it a case holding shift where she was responsible for providing care for a patient, and she didn't communicate that someone else needed to provide that care in her absence?

If the outcome of the investigation is that she needs to repeat the placement or the year, that is a good outcome. Students on occasion get failed on their last placement and have to leave the course, which must be heartbreaking considering how much work the degree entails.

I trained as a nurse, so not exactly the same but similar standards are expected. I know that some students did this and were definitely not investigated for unsafe practice. It is unprofessional though and inconsiderate to the mentor, who may have put their own time into planning the day so your DN could achieve her learning outcomes. I was always sympathetic to students I mentored, but I did expect certain standards of conduct from them-after all, I am signing my name, with my PIN, to say I have no concerns about their conduct or character, as well as their ability to perform with the appropriate level of skill and autonomy for their stage in their training. For a final year student (I am assuming she is a Sept intake), she has nearly finished-she should be almost fully autonomous. If she isn't, it would be unfair to sign her off anyway-she will then qualify unsafely.

As a student, one student was investigated in a similar way you describe and was removed from the course, but it was a far more serious incident.

Either the mentor is extremely strict (but still has a point-you cannot just not turn up for shifts) or there is more to this IMO.

@Shardonneigghhh even students who are caseloading are directly supervised when providing care. The patient is still allocated a named midwife who will be responsible for providing the care and supporting the student, so this wouldn’t happen.

I run a midwifery programme at a large UK university (namechanged, obviously!)

There is no way that we would 'investigate' a student simply for not turning up for a shift, let alone remove them from the course. Yes, it's unprofessional, inappropriate for a 3rd year and she would be pulled up on it (and offered support for any issues leading to the absence) but this would be an informal process - eg: a chat with her placement facilitator / her personal tutor.

It is not an issue of safety per se, as all students (even 3rd years) are supernumerary, meaning that all care of the women can and should go ahead normally whether they are there or not. As a student, she should never be in the position where her absence makes care unsafe.

In my experience, if she is requiring support from the SU or RCM, there will be much more to it than simply missing a shift, OP.

However, the likelihood is that she will be put on an action plan and required to repeat a placement, rather than being summarily removed from the course.

Just thought I’d come back and provide an update, as well as thank everyone for their replies.

DN’s investigation concluded and she is now required to complete her placement, which she had to stop going during the investigation.

She’s got all her academic results and has passed those. So fc, the placement proceeds with no issues. She’s keeping her head down so she can complete this successfully. Hopefully, we’ll have a midwife in the family soon 😅🎉

Thank you for updating and congratulations to your niece x