Bachelor of Health Science (Midwifery)

Sarah MacDonald became a midwife as the job fits well around her family. Picture / Graeme Sedal

THE QUALIFICATION
Bachelor of Health Science (Midwifery)
Auckland University of Technology
Phone: 09 921 9735 or 0800 367 288
Email: course info or Debra Spinetto
Web: www.aut.ac.nz
Course costs: $4,087 plus around $1000 for textbooks and uniforms in first year. Petrol for travel to clinics is another significant cost.
Salary: Hospital-based new graduates earn around $40,000

Imagine getting paid to help birth babies, witnessing again and again that moment of a new life being born. Birthing is a major highlight of the midwifery profession, a profession desperately short of experienced professionals.

The AUT midwifery degree prepares students to care for women and their families through pregnancy up to six weeks after child birth. Study includes human biology, lactation and breastfeeding, pharmacology, childbirth complexities and women's health.

The course is 60 per cent clinical. Clinical practice includes on-call and shift work, including night duty. In the first year clinical students attend six childbirth education evening classes, midwifery clinics two days a week for a month and an acute medical care clinical placement of two to three weeks. Students also follow three women through pregnancy with a case load midwife.

The second year has two blocks of clinical experience per semester. Students work with an independent midwife, in small maternity hospitals, operating theatres and a large obstetric unit.

In third year 60 per cent of course is practical with students working on call with an independent midwife for 13 weeks in semester two.

The stage at which students start to deliver babies varies but generally students are doing voice guided deliveries by the second half of year two. In the second half of year three, students deliver without the voice over, but under direct supervision.

Each year 56 students enter the course, with six to 10 registered nurses or transferring students entering year two. The course begins in February each year with applications closing 24 November.

Applicants under 20 need NCEA university entrance and are encouraged to have at least one science or maths subject at level three, but it is not compulsory. However, students without science can struggle with subjects like physiology and pharmacology. Applicants also need a full driver's licence, their own transport and a cell phone.

And it is not impossible for males to become midwives. Currently there are 10 male midwives registered in New Zealand but only two are practising - the others are in management or supervisory roles. After completing the programme you must pass a registration exam.

THE GRADUATE
Sarah MacDonald
31
Delivery suite midwife
Middlemore Hospital, Manukau
Finished state exams November 2004

I started here in February 2005. I chose to work in a hospital because I have young children and felt a hospital based role would fit better around my family. I had worked at Middlemore Hospital and really enjoyed the place and people.

I became interested in midwifery after becoming pregnant. I really like being involved with women and get great personal satisfaction in following a woman from pregnancy to being a mother.

I did my first delivery at the end of my first year which is a bit sooner than most students. The woman was really well supported with an experienced third year student and independent midwife there as well so I had all that experience looking over my shoulder.

The degree gives a good mix of practical and theory. As you build up your theory, you start going into the community with independent midwives and doing hospital placements.

Middlemore's new graduate course then provides the skills based experience you can't get as a student. As students we learn about the care and examination of healthy women, but more experience is required if situations become complicated.

THE SUPERVISOR
Marie Purcell
Resource midwife
Women's Health (Middlemore Hospital) Counties Manukau

I teach on the clinical side of our 15 month new graduate programme. Each year we select up to 10 graduates for our February intake and five for July. Although there is a desperate shortage of midwives, that is all we can mentor successfully.

New graduates have knowledge and grounding in normal midwifery and we build on that. Midwifery is a practical job but theoretical knowledge is needed in order to make the right practical decisions.

Without theory you don't know how to interpret clinical observations such as what to do about abnormal blood pressure. The degree gives that knowledge.

The graduates that do best are those with life skills and a mature outlook. Dealing with women and families needs maturity and the long and anti social working hours require a strong commitment.