What’s in a name

[AnonNurse]

Hello everyone.
I have decided to ask for some responses from the best group of people who without being rude, I would describe as the end users.
I would appreciate your comments:
The current training for a maternity nurse can be as short as two days online followed by a written exam done in their own time. There is no practical assessment of the student touching a baby! The training does not fall within the nationally recognised qualifications and often the terms accredited are placed before the title of what is actually a bespoke qualification (created by the training school selling it and quality controlled to provide a certificate by an accreditation body).
Once “qualified” the “nurse” who is in NO WAY the sort of nurse many people traditionally think of is then able to work completely unregulated or with the need to update their knowledge base with parents and babies. The training bodies offer advanced courses as a follow on which discuss what I consider to be necessary information to deliver BEFORE the “nurses” begin to offer their services for reward.
As parents of young babies does any of the above shock you?
Do you think the name should be changed to Maternity Assistant or Maternity Auxillary to avoid the term nurse which gives less of a link to a medical qualification.
Do you think the basic training is sufficient and should those who “qualify” be limited to assisting second time parents because often first time parents require more experience and underpinning knowledge.
I have NO interest in any training bodies nor accreditation bodies. I have a huge interest in the protection of the public of which the most vulnerable are often the end users…
Thank you for taking your time to read this.

Absolutely

Assistant

Absolutely, assistant or Auxillary

Yes, I do.

I think in the NHS they are called maternity support workers not maternity nurses. Is this what you mean?
Where are they called maternity nurses?

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/healthcare-support-worker/roles-healthcare-support-worker/maternity-support-worker
I agree they shouldn't be called nurses if they are not trained nurses

Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Yes you are correct the NHS does have this grade but they have a nationally recognised qualification which is required in order to work under the supervision of a registered midwife or nurse. They have a place on the register and are required to update their skills, follow nationally set guidelines and locally set policies and procedures.

However the “maternity nurse” nor the training of the aforementioned has no such regulation or authority, standards, policy or procedure . Your immediate involvement of the NHS is one of my concerns - the medicalisation infected by the name and the type of service offered is promoting a misrepresentation to the general public.

I would assume most people would know that a maternity nurse has no medical training ( apart from paediatric first aid ) and it's just a title. When I first started in childcare people who worked in nurseries were called nursery nurses. Nowadays they're generally referred to as nursery practitioners. Nannies don't actually need formal qualifications.

I think if you're employing any kind of child carer then you need to do your research. What qualifications do they have? What did those qualifications involve? How long did you train? What is your experience with children especially with the ages of the child they'd be caring for? References. Always check references thoroughly. My first nanny family didn't check a single reference. 😱 Luckily I was genuine. Don't assume nanny agencies check everything. I was flown to a job interview in Washington which turned out to be nothing like as described. When I arrived home, the agencies admitted they'd never actually spoken to the mother. It'd all gone through the bodyguard.

I guess in answer to your question perhaps they could be called maternity practitioners but the people who hire maternity nurses are more likely to prefer the traditional maternity nurse title.

To be honest I'm not sure that the type of families that hire maternity nurses for £1k+ a week are expecting any kind of medical nurse - just a nanny with newborn experience.