Autonomy as a Third year Student Midwife

Being a third year student I am honestly constantly plagued with thoughts of impostor syndrome.
I feel as though these three years have gone so quickly and I have learnt so much but questioning my ability and practice comes daily and I believe sometimes makes me a better student midwife.

It's known that during placement in third year as a student you are seen as 'senior' and often expected to take on your own caseload and while this is exciting and often wanted by students it does sometimes cause more nerves (especially in me).

I am one of those people who requires support and praise or critique during the learning process. I am keen to learn from my own mistakes which often causes me to ask questions before I approach a task to be sure of what is being asked of me - both a positive and a negative for a midwife!

During my postnatal ward placement I was given a caseload of women requiring care from both spontaneous vaginal births, instrumental births and cesarean section births. The ward was extremely busy during this time and I benefited from seeing how my care and support to the midwives and my mentor assisted in the running of the ward. I worked well with my mentor and this allowed autonomy in my practice and a taste of working as a 'proper midwife'!

My experiences were enhanced by being able to provide continuity to a few mothers who I saw day to day and those who I knew had babies in the Neonatal unit. Again I was able to support mothers with breastfeeding which has become a special interest of mine, and encouraging mothers with babies in NNU to express and build bonds between mother and baby when baby I requiring intensive care.

By the end of my short four weeks I didn't want to move on but knew I could potentially be coming back to work on this ward when I qualify so made great relationships with all staff.

So for students concerned with taking on more autonomy and experiencing a bit of impostor syndrome I would say EMBRACE IT. Ask questions, ask to be involved in specialised care and always check in with your mentor if you need to - the most successful midwife uses her team to support her practice.

So that's my third year experiences. Just a heads up that my next post will be on early pregnancy care and loss, I will be practising confidentially and therefore it will not include personal family experiences but rather my experience as student and how miscarriage and stillbirth is viewed in society.

Until then...
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Ruth x