Students from all over Queensland have been attending classes at CQUniversity Mackay this week as part of their midwifery postgraduate studies. 

CQUniversity Senior Lecturer Dawn Hay said the students have been attending on-campus classes designed to prepare them to meet the challenges of providing ‘woman-centred' care to birthing women across the state, especially in rural and remote areas.

Midwife Link and rotational model enhance learning experiences

The midwifery students at Mackay

"Their program of study is designed to produce skilled, caring and knowledgeable midwives who communicate openly and engender trust from childbearing women and their families," Dawn said.

"Midwives work in and across a broad range of settings, including hospitals, birth centres, home birth and community clinics.

"The residential school component of the midwifery program provides students with an opportunity to interact personally with academic lecturers, leading local midwives and health care professionals and the other students who come from a broad range of health care backgrounds.

Ms Hay said the school also offers a chance to discuss the increasing challenges in maternity service provision and the students' role within that system.

"It is becoming increasingly urgent, due to gross shortage of midwives in Australia, that more clinical placement opportunites and study support is provided for student midwives," she said.

"Often these students are filling the staff shortage gap in maternity units and they are torn between being a student of midwifery and being asked to perform extra activities which are not conducive their study commitments.

"There is concern also that midwife preceptors feel stressed and burnt out under the constant workload in the provision of maternity services and providing support and education to students."

Ms Hay said midwives make a difference in all communities, as all women need and stand to benefit from the care they can provide.

Midwives provide care to childbearing women and their families throughout pregnancy, birth, postpartum and early parenting periods.

"Accredited programs such as the Master and Graduate Diploma in Midwifery from CQUniversity are offered to assist Registered Nurses who wish to become midwives, and for midwives who wish to either update their midwifery credentials or return to complete their Masters degree," Ms Hay said.

"These exciting programs are attracting students from as far away as Africa and from all states of Australia.  Students have the opportunity to seek different clinical experiences whilst studying, with rural students exchanging experiences with their metropolitian colleagues and metropolitian students experiencing rural and remote experiences.

"Queensland is experiencing a shortage of midwives in rural and remote regions. It's anticipated that this program will assist with easing the crisis, however there is much to be done to work with state and commonwealth governments to recognize that midwifery is a highly respected profession and is integral to providing high quality maternity services to childbearing women and their families."

Ms Hay said some graduating midwifery students from CQUniversity have already had placements located at Thursday Island, Cherbourg, Biloela, Goondawindi and Emerald, "to name a few".

"The diversity of these locations illustrate that communities require the much needed services of midwives and need support to ensure continuity of care, which is integral to role of the midwife."