Band 6, Midwifery Joy and the progress to come
(October 2016)
When you complete your midwifery training you might be under the illusion that you can purchase a smaller bag for work. That is all it is, an illusion. On starting your brand new job you will be presented with your ‘Band 5 Book’. And it looks remarkably like your student PAD but without the page of signatures. In the UK a vast majority (I would hope all?) of newly qualified midwives benefit from a preceptorship program of some sort to help them gain extra skills and experience. Generally speaking this will include skills such as perineal suturing and cannulation, additional skills to help you to provide continuity of care for the women you look after.
So on handing in my precious ‘book’, I am now a Band 6 midwife and I thought it might be a good point in time to reflect.
Achieving the skills required to for Band 6 has at times felt very task oriented, having to do something a certain amount of times to be considered competent (and more importantly, feel confident) and I frequently have to pause and remind myself what exactly I am here for. The moment the care I provide becomes a collection or sequence of tasks to be completed is the moment I have lost sight of my original vision – to provide safe, compassionate, woman and family centred care throughout the childbearing continuum. I have written before about my belief that gold standard midwifery care is not exclusive to independent, case-loading or community midwifery care and I still hold that belief; reading texts such as ‘The Roar Behind the Silence’ (Byrom & Downe 2015) reinforces this conviction.
Working in a busy obstetric unit presents distinct challenges to providing that care and as hospital midwives we may move from being the main provider of care to the co-ordinator of care as we help women to navigate the their care plan which may be continually developing and escalating medically, depending on their clinical needs. My midwifery joy here comes through advocacy, holding the space, protecting the principle of dignity, ensuring the woman is an integral part of contributing to the plan of care and helping them to maintain their sense of control, an element which can have a significant impact on a woman’s perception of her birth experience.
Dignity is one of those things I have come to realise over my training and now first year of practice that many women feel is outside of their control once they step inside the hospital. I believe this is partly due to an oversimplification of the concept of dignity; that it is just about covering up your most intimate parts. This is certainly an element however it is more profound than this and an individual woman’s dignity is as individual as she is. Protecting her autonomy and respecting her right to choose and make decisions about her own care are core to dignity and is furthermore protected within human rights laws (Prochaska in Byrom & Downe, 2015).
Recently the newest cohort of NQMs started work and I had a bit of a moment as I realised that I’m not newly qualified anymore (I know, shocking LOL) but I am still in the position of being new enough to remember with clarity just how difficult that transition from student to NQM is and will hopefully to support them as they navigate this rocky road. That moment also helped me to see how far I’ve come; my newly qualified self often had difficulties seeing the progress I was making, and in the thick of it, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Seeing this now helps me to visualise the progress I am yet to make and would like to make.
So on handing in my precious ‘book’, I am now a Band 6 midwife and I thought it might be a good point in time to reflect.
Achieving the skills required to for Band 6 has at times felt very task oriented, having to do something a certain amount of times to be considered competent (and more importantly, feel confident) and I frequently have to pause and remind myself what exactly I am here for. The moment the care I provide becomes a collection or sequence of tasks to be completed is the moment I have lost sight of my original vision – to provide safe, compassionate, woman and family centred care throughout the childbearing continuum. I have written before about my belief that gold standard midwifery care is not exclusive to independent, case-loading or community midwifery care and I still hold that belief; reading texts such as ‘The Roar Behind the Silence’ (Byrom & Downe 2015) reinforces this conviction.
Working in a busy obstetric unit presents distinct challenges to providing that care and as hospital midwives we may move from being the main provider of care to the co-ordinator of care as we help women to navigate the their care plan which may be continually developing and escalating medically, depending on their clinical needs. My midwifery joy here comes through advocacy, holding the space, protecting the principle of dignity, ensuring the woman is an integral part of contributing to the plan of care and helping them to maintain their sense of control, an element which can have a significant impact on a woman’s perception of her birth experience.
Dignity is one of those things I have come to realise over my training and now first year of practice that many women feel is outside of their control once they step inside the hospital. I believe this is partly due to an oversimplification of the concept of dignity; that it is just about covering up your most intimate parts. This is certainly an element however it is more profound than this and an individual woman’s dignity is as individual as she is. Protecting her autonomy and respecting her right to choose and make decisions about her own care are core to dignity and is furthermore protected within human rights laws (Prochaska in Byrom & Downe, 2015).
Recently the newest cohort of NQMs started work and I had a bit of a moment as I realised that I’m not newly qualified anymore (I know, shocking LOL) but I am still in the position of being new enough to remember with clarity just how difficult that transition from student to NQM is and will hopefully to support them as they navigate this rocky road. That moment also helped me to see how far I’ve come; my newly qualified self often had difficulties seeing the progress I was making, and in the thick of it, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Seeing this now helps me to visualise the progress I am yet to make and would like to make.
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