Thinking of retraining as a Midwife - amy around who want to tell me about it?

[SemperEadem]

I currently have a degree in Business Studies & Human Resources Management and am fully CIPD qualified.

Worked in HR (post grad) for over 6 years but took the past two and a half years out to be at home with my son.

Am thinking about my options for when I return to work and have to say that the thought of returning to HR is slightly depressing. Am just not sure I want to do that for the rest of my career.

I have always been very interested in healthcare (so much so that all family and friends call me with health related queries). I just seem to have a brain that rapidly absorbs healthcare/medical facts.

When having my Son, I thought I would love to be a midwife and as time has gone on I really think this is the career for me.

I have a vague idea of how hard it must be to work in that area, the heartbreaking cases/underfunding issues but would like some more info from thjose that already do it.

Despite the problems facing you in your profession is it as exhilerating a job as I imagine?

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bumping again for the evening crowd

I'm not a midwife so can't advise you on what's it like!

I would, however, say that everyone is different and what suits one person won't necessarily suit another. Get out there and do some work experience if you can. It's the only way you're going to know if you like it or not. It's pointless imagining what it would be like because normally it's impossible to have the faintest idea. I just wish someone had encouraged me to do loads of different work experience when I was at school.

Good luck!

I'm not a midwife but considered it before becoming a student nurse. I have three friends who have qualified as midwives in the last three years and none of them have permanent jobs yet despite applying all over Scotland. The community jobs are very scarce. My friends all work on the midwife bank for maternity hospitals which means they work shifts as and when they are called in. Not sure if recruiting as low in England though.

You'll need to consider childcare for your training as well, as a student you are expected to work the shifts your mentor does, whether earlies lates or nights. Nurseries near me don't open early enough for me to leave DD for an early so I need to arrange for DH to start work late or Grandparents to watch her before or after nursery which makes me feel a bit guilty.

I would second what secondeggy says about getting some work experience - see if your local maternity hospital will take on volunteers or if you can apply to work as an auxiliary.

Auxiliary suggestion is a good one. At least then you would be doing a proper job so would be part of a team.

All sorts of hours exist in the NHS. My sister worked as a care assistant in a day clinic at the hospital for quite a while doing, wait for it.....four hours a week (ha ha!).

Let us know how you get on.

I was a student mw but sadly had to leave for personal reasons a few years back.

It can certainly be a very exciting and rewarding job but it is in no way family friendly. You need water tight childcare arrangements as you will have to work shifts, including nights and weekends, from the beginning of the course. Each uni can vary but where I was we did 30 hours placement each week as well as one full day in uni. In uni blocks we did between 3 and 5 days in uni, from 9.30 til 4.30pm. It was very hard work but I did love it, although my children didn't. I still think about going back but I'm waiting until my children are older as I don't have much support childcare wise. I do know plenty of people who have managed the training with young children though so if it is what you want and you're prepared to make sacrifices, then go for it.

If it is definitely what you want to do then you'll need to have recent study (usually within the last 3yrs) in a relevant subject. The uni's really like access courses but this might not be needed depending on your current quals. Volunteer work will definitely put your application at an advantage too. I worked in my local maternity hosp. but anything you can arrange (sure start, elderly care, etc.) would be valuable. It's just really to show that you're committed and that you have good transerable skills, ie communication.

I would strongly recommend working as a maternity care assistant before making any decision. I wanted to be a midwife for years and was a doula for a couple of years while waiting for my youngest child to be old enough to consider the full time training the midwifery involves. I got a job as an MCA last year and although I do really love my job, working alongside midwives for 30 hours a week has made me realise that I don't want to be one. I was so shocked to realise that, but I just know now that it's not for me. Instead I'm planning to train as an ODP (operating department practitioner) next year and I'm really looking forward to it.