How to Survive your Nursing or Midwifery Course
As thousands of midwives, mentors and lecturers return to university after the holidays, two readers review a book relevant for all in midwifery education, from first day to finals.
Alex Bush
If only the authors had been kind enough to write ‘How to Survive your Book Review: A Toolkit for First Time Journalists’. While I wait for that publication, any hopeful student nurses or midwives should try this book instead. Some of the most demanding aspects of the course, both academic and practice-based, are addressed in the pages. From clinical competencies to communication skills and continuous assessments, if you have wondered or worried about it, you will find it here.
Colloquialisms, direct address and rhetorical questions—all to be avoided in academic essays, as the authors are quick to point out—make up the main body of the text.
Due to these stylistic choices, there is a warm, friendly, but authoritative tone that emanates from the pages. From the written activities to the overviews and top tips, I found the book incredibly digestible; as a dyslexic student, it was clear that the authors had taken into account the visual presentation of the text as much as the content.
If I may offer a word of advice to the reader, from the perspective of a StMw (student midwife—get used to that contraction, you will be writing it a lot), a sole desire to ‘deliver babies', as identified on page 3, diminishes your future role as a caregiver, autonomous practitioner and advocate for women and their families.
Clumsily attempting to avoid clichés, this is exactly the kind of book I wish I had been given (I'm a student midwife—I'm penniless, after all) before I started my course. Even the contents page felt like organised list of the last 3 years of my life, down to the smallest, SMARTest target. If you're an aspiring nurse or midwife and wonder what on earth the initials ‘PiCO’ have to do with patient care, then read this book! How to Survive Your Nursing Or Midwifery Course: A Toolkit for Success hits the nail on the head.
Ellie Baggott
Midwifery is a complex world. No one entering this profession should think that studying for a midwifery degree would be straight forward or easy, physically, academically or mentally. There are many students who will, at some point, question their fortitude for this demanding career, with a larger percentage of midwifery students not finishing their studies, compared to other university courses.
The authors of How to Survive your Nursing or Midwifery Course have not shied away from this, by discussing the practicalities of studying, and how the intense nature of midwifery can impact students. It is honest throughout, highlighting the responsibilities of being a caring and accountable practitioner. The book follows a chronological order, from preparing for the first days of university classes and clinical shifts, to applying for jobs and maintaining professional status, signposting to further resources that would be beneficial for future revalidation.
From the beginning, there is emphasis on the core values and responsibilities needed to pass this degree, as well as transferable skills that will make a positive impact in the midwifery community. The book encourages the reader to evaluate their suitability to the profession and their ability to care and empathise, with appropriate reference to health care directives such as the 6Cs, but applying this to midwifery practice could have been better explored.
Attention is given to the ever-present juggling act of managing hospital shifts, completing assignments, attending classes and maintaining some sort of personal freedom, with in-depth knowledge of different forms of assessments. This may be more relevant to students who have not studied at degree level before, or who have had long breaks in their education, and may not be aware of methods such as enquiry-based learning.
Early and regular mention of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Code reinforces the professional conduct and standards expected from the first day of study, instilling qualities paramount to being an autonomous practitioner, including advocacy for women, life-long learning, and continuous professional development.
A particular strength is how the authors emphasise that the readers are human, and will be affected by what they witness in clinical practice. Childbearing is an emotional area for all involved, and midwives become an integral part of this process. The book gives advice on managing emotions and the support networks available, such as mentors and trade unions, but also suggests methods of self-support. These tools are imperative to survive the intense situations midwives and students face, and again, are transferable to balance work/life/study stress.
There is good mention of the wide array of responsibilities that midwifery encompasses, such as safeguarding and data protection, and an exploration of aspects of care that applicants may not be familiar with before study. In terms of relative midwifery issues, this book does mention some key components of health care including giving handovers, teamwork and the importance of whistle-blowing, but does not cover specific midwifery topics, such as rates of stillbirth, or perinatal mental health. The details of some of the issues that are mentioned, however, are vague: a tool for patient handovers is mentioned but not explored, for example.
‘From clinical competencies to communication skills and continuous assessments, if you have wondered or worried about it, you will find it here’
This book appears to be more useful in supporting students with the practicalities of studying, rather than giving knowledge about midwifery issues and therefore cannot be used to build specific subject knowledge. It is, however, very effective at supporting academic work, addressing the different styles of writing, describing schemes of reflective accounts and introducing evidence-based practice, creating the important link between knowledge built at university, and application to clinical situations. The book can further benefit students who go on to study at Masters level, with information on methodologies and links to further reading. The book does carry more weighting towards nursing study, and thus needs more examples of applying university theory to midwifery practice.
The book is easy to follow and its layout makes it possible to dip in and out of chapters as necessary, depending on academic need or point of study. The book is purposeful in enabling the reader to evaluate their own learning and practice, making the reader an active participant, rather than a passenger. It does this with regular activities to engage the reader, a colourful and bold layout, regular use of diagrams, and separating the main text from activities with subsections, avoiding solid blocks of text that would put off readers. There are also substantial appendices of professional links and references at the back of the book, which are easy to access throughout any stage of training.