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Original poster

Would you hire a newly qualified independent midwife

26 replies

belgianmama · 13/01/2007 15:20

I want to use MN to do a little market research here. I'm a student midwife and I'm thinking about going independent. Considering the current job situation in the NHS, I am thinking of doing it sooner rather than later. Would you feel happy to employ a newly qualified midwife as your independent midwife? Any reactions/suggestions would be nice. Thank you.

OP posts:

tortoiseSHELL · 13/01/2007 15:21

I wouldn't - I really value experience. Sorry!

lucykate · 13/01/2007 15:28

i would, ds was delivered by a student and she was excellent. with dd, the first midwife i had was awful. luckily, the shift changed half way through, was so relieved to be rid of her and she had been doing it for years!.

Marina · 13/01/2007 15:30

Um, I have to agree with tortoiseshell here too I'm afraid.
Apart from anything else, the excellent independent midwives local to us have all done considerable time in the maternity unit and know how things work and who to best turn to if things are not working out.
That kind of informal knowledge builds up with time.
I am sorry the job situation for student midwives is so rubbish currently. You do a wonderful job and it is criminal it is not better appreciated and rewarded.

beckybrastraps · 13/01/2007 15:31

Not quite sure what the remit of an independent midwife is.

I don't think I'd want to be in the sole care of someone with very little experience TBH. However good they are.

Marina · 13/01/2007 15:31

lucykate, but belgianmama would not be part of an NHS/ward team if she were independent. I've had excellent newly qualified midwives, but in hospital or in the community team. Working alongside and guided by people with, in one case, knocking on 40 years' experience in the same locality.

Original poster

belgianmama · 13/01/2007 15:37

I've been talking to a few midwives who did it straight from qualifying and they paired up with a more experienced independent midwife. They also said that now they're more experienced, they still value the presence of another midwife for advise if needed.

OP posts:

Marina · 13/01/2007 15:38

Oh if you were in formal practice with another established independent midwife, then no, I'd not have a problem with that.

SnafuOutOfHiding · 13/01/2007 15:40

If I was going to do it I would try and get myself in with a more experienced mw. I think there would be a natural and understandable antipathy on the part of most mothers to an NQ indie.

However, I do know a couple of people who went indie straight after qualifying and work 'alone'. One told me that if I wasn't ready to go indie the day I qualified, i never would be. Hmmm.

Then again, I'm worried I'll end up on a morale- and skill-sapping labour ward all in the name of 'experience'...

Original poster

belgianmama · 13/01/2007 15:44

Snafu, that's also my problem with working in the NHS. The low morale and the incredible medicalised environment. My unit pretends to encourage normality by assigning 2 of the rooms to mw led care, however they are never used (except as show rooms on the hospital tour). One of them is the pool room and that seems to be some sort of extra seminar/storage room! Can you believe it? I think going indie would definitely suit me, I just wonder when...

OP posts:

Celery · 13/01/2007 15:47

If we met, and we clicked, then yes I would hire a newly qualified IM. More importantly to me would be, are you on my wavelength, do we like each other? I've had three babies and met a lot of Midwives, and some have a years of experience, but are bossy and condascending. I want a MW who understands what I want her to do, and takes a back seat, not someone who tries to tell me what to do, no matter how many babies she's caught. Personality rather than experience would definately clinch it for me.

SnafuOutOfHiding · 13/01/2007 15:53

I can well believe it, unfortunately. My hospital has a 'sensory room' for women in early labour which I have never once been in because it's always kept locked. I've never heard of any woman being told about it or allowed to use it. In any case, I hear it's just a beanbag and a lava lamp...

Original poster

belgianmama · 13/01/2007 15:56

Hm a lava lamp and a bean bag, very exciting. I bet if the women would know about it, they would be queueing to get in

OP posts:

SnafuOutOfHiding · 13/01/2007 15:59

I do understand, completely, the theory behind getting your experience in before going out on your own. But the trouble is that for lots of us the reality of working as a hospital mw bears very, very little resemblance to the job we'd hope to be doing as independents.

And, in any case, when do you have 'enough' experience? The good mws I know say they still learn something new everyday, that women and their bodies surprise them every time, no matter how long they've been doing the job.

We are judged worthy of qualifying once we've delivered 40 babies (and 40 plcentas!) but all of us students know that's actually completely arbitrary and meaningless. So what would be enough experience for someone wanting to go independent? 5 PPHs? 10 undiagnosed breeches? 25 cases of severe pre-eclampsia? 75 normal waterbirths?

It's a tricky one, and worth pondering

SnafuOutOfHiding · 13/01/2007 16:00

I know! Lucky, lucky women.

God, I am so rude about my unit. I just wish it was a bit more... midwifery-based!

Original poster

belgianmama · 13/01/2007 16:02

Indeed Snafu, indeed.
I've also had women telling me that I, the mere student, was far better at supporting them than that very experienced midwife they had last time.

OP posts:

beckybrastraps · 13/01/2007 18:36

It's not the support I would worry about. It is your experience of potential complications. And I know it is arbitrary, but there you go. I know that I was a much better teacher a few of years down the line, even if I wasn't quite so up to date on the latest thinking and research. I knew the classroom better. I could anticipate problems. I was relaxed. I didn't have to think about what I was doing quite so much. It may be completely different for midwives I don't know. But I would have reservations.

LizP · 13/01/2007 20:28

I agree with becky - the support thing and getting on with your midwife is great if you have a normal delivery. But I would want someone who could spot and deal with a problem if one arose however - wouldn't really care what their personality was like at that stage! It must be hard to know when someone is ready - 40 births doesn't seem enough to really go it alone with no back up but equally 100 uncomplicated deliveries isn't either.

Judy1234 · 13/01/2007 21:14

Could you not kind of join another group so you would be one with another one who is experienced? I used www.thebirthcentre.com for my twins and I would not have had problems with one being more experienced than the other (they had two midwives at the birth anyway).

lulumama · 13/01/2007 21:17

if you have an indie midwife...do you not have two midwives at the birth? (ignorant, sorry )

TBH...so many women i know say the student midwife is so much fresher, excited and supportive......than he more established midwife...due to less burn out i suspect? interesting question...

Judy1234 · 13/01/2007 22:24

I think legally women have a right to give birth alone or just with their sister or husband there so presumably just with one midwife there if they choose. The people I used sent one first and then the other as the time drew near which was helpful and a lot better than the from time to time popping into the room if she wasn't otherwise busy of the very much small part of one midwife I felt I got with the first 3 NHS hospital births.

Ceolas · 13/01/2007 22:28

I would be very nervous, and probably not, tbh. I am considering an IM but am nervous enough about that and she is very experienced in and out of NHS.

lulumama · 13/01/2007 22:30

ok ...my friends have had NHS midwives at home birth and have had two plus their DHs , do indie midwives tend to be at the birth without another midwife? i guess your point about having one midwife to yourself , rather than a small part of an overstretched midwife....is a good one.

Ceolas · 13/01/2007 22:31

that's how I understand it lulu. 1 midwife.

Pruni · 13/01/2007 22:32

Message withdrawn

lulumama · 13/01/2007 22:32

okey dokey !
thanks x

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