mental health Archives - Maternity & Midwifery Forum

Midwifery Student Retention – the critical months

Debra5 July 20225 July 2022

Midwifery Student Retention – the critical months These are critical months for midwifery student retention. As year-end approaches, among challenging news headlines and serious morale issues in the profession, what can we do to lift engagement and motivate staff and students to stay and refresh? Student engagement and retention are......

Overturn of Roe vs Wade: what happens now?

Debra5 July 20225 July 2022

In this article Dr Jenny Hall, Midwifery editor for the Maternity and midwifery forum, reflects on the overturn of the abortion law Roe vs Wade in the constitution of the United States (US) and the potential impact. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overturn of Roe vs Wade: what happens now? This......

Developing an identity as a midwife: an impossible task?

Debra28 June 202228 June 2022

Becoming a midwife is time of evolving and developing! In this article Nicole Rajan-Brown, Third-year student midwife, University of Salford and Editor-in-Chief, The Student Midwife Journal shares some helpful tips of how to step through this minefield and develop a personal midwifery identity. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Developing an identity......

What’s in a word? The importance of language in midwifery care

Debra28 June 202228 June 2022

Over many years there has been questioning of the use of language across maternity services, particularly in relation to birth. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) undertook a widely consultative project to establish the best choice of language that would provide clarity. Dr Mary Ross-Davie, Director of Midwifery at NHS......

Midwifery Continuity of care: Imperative to Change

Debra21 June 202222 June 2022

Developing maternity services to provide continuity of care is national policy across the four countries of the United Kingdom. In this article Trixie McAree, National lead for Continuity of Carer with Alana Hunt, regional lead for Continuity East of England, they explore the background for this policy and how the......

A fresh perspective to recruitment and retention of Newly Qualified Midwives

Debra13 June 202214 June 2022

The theme of the shortage of midwives in the UK continues across media and political outputs. A key concern is that many are leaving who have been less than 5 years in the profession. In this article Judi Smith, and Jan Bentley, Preceptorship Lead Liverpool Women’s Hospital, share how the......

Helping midwives to put parents at the centre of their care

Debra13 June 202213 June 2022

Caring for parents who have experienced the death of a baby is an important role for midwives, student midwives and other members of the multidisciplinary team. In this article Clare Worgan, Sands’ Head of Training and Education, writes about the importance of bereavement care to parents, how training helps healthcare......

Tackling Bias in Healthcare Settings: Developing a Health Inequalities Strategy across the South East Region

Debra22 March 202213 April 2022

It is of concern that there is inequity of access and outcomes within maternity services. Aiming to address the inequity the perinatal mental health team at NHSE South East region have created a filmed educational resource. In this article Jenny Walsh, Clinical Lead for Perinatal Mental Health, describes the creation......

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH: Focus on parent-infant relationships to give babies the best start in life

Debra15 March 2022

Globally midwives have an important role in supporting the attachment of parents to their new baby in the early weeks after birth. It is of concern that priority for postnatal services in recent years have continued to decline, with the latest Care Quality Commission maternity survey report highlighting decreased satisfaction......

Care and decision making in pregnancy – NIHR Evidence on the support women need

Debra7 March 20227 March 2022

The UK National Institute for Health research, who fund research on maternity services, have pulled together the evidence on the support women need into one place. They explain the work below Pregnancy and childbirth can be joyful experiences. But they are not without risk and maternity services offer skilled support......

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