Experiences of student midwife

[partyskirt]

My midwife asked if I would be happy to have a student midwife on board for the pregnancy and also at the labour. I said no, but now feel bad. Has anyone agreed to this and had a positive experience?

I had a student midwife with dd (ds born on nye and no students anywhere to be seen). It was great. She clearly got on with the qualified midwife and I liked hearing them chat as it made me feel more relaxed. It also meant they stayed in the room to do the paperwork unlike ds's midwife who kept popping off to do her paperwork - I was high risk both labours and much happier with someone in the room.
I'm ok with medical stuff and happy to have students practice on me. I find they are normally much gentler and sensitive. Dd was the first baby that my student had delivered.

I have just qualified as a Midwife following 3 hard years of training. I would like to thank all the women that have allowed me to be part of their pregnancy, labour and postnatal period, without them i wouldn't of qualified.

OP- it sounds as if it is for a case-loading project, and like someone mentioned before i also booked the women, did all the care (supervised) and was present at delivery. Might be worth finding out if this is the case.

To clarify a few things as a student we are allocated a Midwife mentor and should be closely supervised at all times, as the mentor is responsible for the care we give, and it is their registration on the line. In order to qualify you have to deliver 40 normal births including the delivery of the placenta (so need to be hands on), we also have to care for a set number of women of both high and low risk in the antenatal and postnatal period. Skills including among other things, communication and breastfeeding are also assessed and need to be passed in order to qualify. Student midwives tend not to just stand and gawp and will hold hands, mop brows, do paperwork and assist getting equipment ready and hopefully really engage with the woman and family. Medical students however tend to be less hands on and will sit in a corner and observe. Students don't mind if you don't want them to be part of your care, and respect your wishes, however we are always very grateful for those that invite us in. What i used to do was introduce myself, take in a jug of water/equipment, speak to the women/ give reassurance and leave the room in order for the midwife to ask if she minded me being involved with the care. I felt this offered women the choice when in labour to meet me, see what i was like and make an informed choice without me standing there. This is what i will do once i am experienced enough to have students working with me. If you receive great care or think care could be improved tell the midwife so it can be passed on to the student.

Sorry to hear of some bad student experiences.

If I had to have a student present, I'd hope they'd stand out of my sight and and not in the slightest hands on. I don't want them involved in what is a private experience.

I have nothing against students; my brother used to be one. He's now an independant MW. He told me he had plenty say no to him due to him being male AND unexperienced but never thought bad of those who told him no because to him it wasn't about how quickly he could finish a course but being granted a moment to witness something amazing, so he didn't care how long it took him to get the required amount of births. He knew to expect different answers and opinions when he decided this career path.

I was asked just as I was in transition if I minded if a student observed my daughter's birth. At that point I really didn't care who was in the room, they could have invited the entire hospital in I wouldn't have minded, I just wanted to get my baby out. As it was, the student who came in was fine, although she seemed pretty shell shocked by the experience, and my favourite moment was when the midwife asked if she wanted to weigh my baby, and she said 'I better not, because I might drop her'. That still makes me laugh now, 3 years later. I do wonder if she completed the course as she looked horrified about a baby coming out of my bits. I think it's so important to allow students to be there. Thinking about it, I also had a student there during my pregnancy observations and she was fab, really hands on and amazing.

I've had (so far) student MW and medical students at almost all my ante natal and MW examinations.

The only moment was when a registrar asked "impact of soft goiter as opposed to hard in late pregnancy?" and the poor things froze! Talk about on the spot. Actually the registrar then grinned and said "you refer them to an expert, if it appears - as in this case - routine..." Poor things.

Every other time they've been very helpful.

I said yes to students provided they are supervised.

A student sonographer (sp?) picked up on my ds' lack of growth and notched cord, called the consultant and I was taken through for an emcs atv34 weeks.

He was AMAZING and I hate to think what could have happened if I hadn't 1: agreed to attending an extra scan so he could practice and 2: he hadn't been so switched on...

Well said mumtoothree I too would like to extend my thanks to all the mums that "allowed" me to deliver their babies. Without these brave ladies I would have not been able to qualify as in the "old" days a student had to deliver 40 babies and 3 unsupervised. A MW was always in earshot.

slightlyconfused85 - not all of them ARE supervised, that was my point. Irrefutable to argue as I have a child with cerebral palsy as a result due to brain damage caused by hypoxia, who we assume had been starved of oxygen for at least 45 minutes. In a labour where we should have had CFM.

But as I said, I am In favour of students, but please do discuss in advance that you need their obs checking, and their supervision to be aware and on the ball.

This is for the protection of the students as well. I have absolutely no idea if the student who was responsible for dd2's disability was ever able to pass her course, or if she was too traumatized by the event. My efforts in following the medical negligence route are to get a clear idea of what happened, why, and to ensure that midwives in training are getting proper supervision and support by experienced staff.

And this would protect the babies as well.

I've said no students on my notes. I've had them at antenatal appointments (never seen the same midwife or consultant, so it's not as if I'll one assigned to me for the birth too). I've also taken part in several studies while pregnant, so I've sort of done my bit.

Frankly I'm worried enough about being I hospital at all, I want as few people around me as possible. In an ideal world I'd retreat into the airing cupboard like a cat.

I had a student MW following my pg with DS2. She was lovely, an older woman who was training after having had her own DC (I think she was around 30).

Anyway, I was jolly glad to have her in during delivery, as not only was she a familiar face, but she was the only one looking in the right place when I pushed DS2's head out! There'd been all sorts of interventions going on (I was a VERY useful case study!) and he'd ended up presenting with the back of his head more than the top, and got stuck behind the anterior lip. So I was straining away, they were trying to tell me to stop pushing (ha!) and then they decided to do a quick ultrasound to see exactly how the baby was lying before taking me to theatre, and as they turned me onto my back, everyone else was looking at the ultrasound machine but Ds2 had dropped clear of the anterior lip and whoosh! out came his head (at which point student MW called "HEAD!"), followed very rapidly by the rest of him! Too fast for the consultant obst. to get his gloves back on even.

The only possible downside, and I don't even know if it was her or not, was that when my waters were finally broken, the effects of the syntocin drip took hold really hard and fast, and I was wailing down the gas and air tube - someone said "Shh shh shh" in an attempt to soothe me - I assumed it was DH and hit him with the mouthpiece but he was highly offended and said it wasn't him, so it might have been student MW. But it might not.

madwoman

Our medical negligence claim is unlikely to come to anything. As the monitoring was so insufficient, there is no evidence to confirm when action should have been taken to prevent or lessen the brain damage. We don't know how long she had been starved of oxygen for. (Oh, also vbac, so should have been CFM)

Can I just say that as a midwife I always thought we had to make sure that a monitoring is sufficient enough to be able to defend ourselves in court. I was always taught that. That an insufficient monitoring is as bad in court as a shit monitoring. And that a lawyer will make mincemeat of you if there's large gaps in the monitoring. Like you say you should have been monitored due to being vbac and you weren't (adequately). That's their problem, not yours. I. Sorry about your dd.

That's what we thought too - but without evidence of when the fhr started to drop, there is no timescale of when the mw should have taken action to (for example) instigate emcs. And without that info, they don't know whether the treatment dd2 received was adequate (in that it was a timely response) or whether an emcs, say, 30 or 40 minutes earlier may have prevented the brain damage (or lessened it). So without monitoring, there is no evidence of any negligence. Unless the lack of monitoring itself is deemed to be negligence - (that isn't the sense I am getting from the legal experts) but tbh, that doesn't give us the information we need, and that dd2 will want then she is old enough to ask the question 'why do I have cp?'

Ho hum. I'm glad that it is being impressed upon mw's that monitoring and evidence is crucial, though.

Dd2 does pretty well these days. We were told she wouldn't walk or talk, and she had no suck or gag reflex, so was tube fed etc. She has surpassed all expectations and now wants to be a paralympian ultimately it was one of those things, but it made me stop and think really hard about students and supervision. I had no qualms about letting a student handle my birth, like the majority of the ladies on this thread, as I assumed that the necessary safeguards were in place. Unfortunately in our case they weren't, so when I see these 'student, yes or no?' Threads come up, I am often the lone voice that says 'yes, but CHECK SUPERVISION!!' Just assuming it is in place is not enough. As my disabled kid will tell you

Be safe, ladies.

Beaver, I tried to find the rules surrounding supervision of midwifery students, but had no luck. The NICE stuff was good for clinical practice guidelines, but I couldn't find anything about actual students and supervision. Any ideas?

a student midwife delivered dc2
it was her first.
as she was quite new she asked a lot of questions and her mentor answered. it was a relaxed atmosphere, the student was lovely, grest bedside manner and the experienced mw was there in case.

however with dc1 it ended with a ventouse and suddenly the room filled with student (dr?) 10 or so of them. just quietly observing. no idea if I was asked it I mind, I was a bit out of it.

I had a student mw when I gave birth at 20 weeks, she was lovely. It couldnt have been easy for her either but im glad she was there.

Its the only time ive been asked if id have a student and ive had 5 dcs

Ive had student doctors

I was admitted by ambulance , in labour at 28 weeks. There were three women in labour at the time, I was told, and only one student midwife. No other staff at all.
She was trying to cope single handed, running from room to room.
She sent for help. But it took quite a time to arrive.

I saw a nearly-qualified student for a couple of my antenatal appointments and by coincidence she was on the ward in the days after DD was born. She was brilliant and it was so lovely to see a familiar face. She exuded competence and really felt like a safe pair of hands, so I'd have been more than happy for her to deliver DD, but I was so scared, as well as on my own, that I might not have been so happy to have a less confident or less experienced student there.

I had a student MW at the birth of DS. She was lovely. Really k we what do do/say and when to back off a bit.

Although I needed stitches, which she did... Lead MW came, took one look and said "nope, it'll all have to come out and be redone!" I nearly fell off the bed.

I'd have a student there again.

Student midwife at the birth of my youngest son saved his life. Ward was busy. I (elderly, experienced multiple gravida or whatever it's called) said I wouldn't feel confident to push until it was confirmed that the cord was out of the way (previous bad experiences), but midwife in charge said just go for it and left the room. Turned out cord was wrapped round his neck. Fortunately student midwife was there and raised the alarm. Lead midwife should have been sacked but I never complained.

I had a student midwife with me for the delivery of DS1 (sounds like she opened door for the stork!). She was absolutely lovely, even when he pood on her face on his way out.

ds was delivered by a student and she was great. it was a fast delivery with no complications though, textbook almost, so it was all very straight forward.

A medical student delivered DD, she was nice and ever so excited to do it...I mean I think she was genuinely more thrilled with DD than we were, lol.

DP wanted to name DD after her and while she was lovely, her name was not.

Do you know how hard it is to be tactful about someone's name while you've still got a placenta to get out? Very very is the answer, lol. I said something about it having too many syllables, but I think my reaction was pretty obvious, though she didn't take offense.