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Midwifery
School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery,
Faculty of Health
Course description
This master’s course will empower you to become a highly skilled, autonomous midwife. You will learn how to support, advise, and advocate for women, birthing individuals, their partners, and their families, by providing evidence-based care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.
The three-year programme is led by experienced midwives, healthcare professionals, and academics, who will introduce you to key topics and the latest research in midwifery - from public health to infant feeding - and support you in developing your practical skills.
Alongside your studies on campus, you’ll spend half of your time on clinical placement in NHS Trusts across Barnsley, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. You’ll work a variety of shifts covering a 24/7 period to experience the diversity of maternity care services, in a range of settings, all under the guidance of a Practice Supervisor.
We are the first university to embed the latest NHS continuity of care guidance into our placements. This means you will get to know the women and birthing individuals under your care, building a caseload of individuals and following them through their pregnancy and postpartum journey.
The University of Sheffield course has a strong focus on leadership and professional development. We are currently the only university to fully integrate the Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) course into our teaching. This means that following successful registration as a midwife, you will be qualified for PMA roles that come with additional supervision, support and staff development responsibilities.
In addition, our ‘Preparing to Prescribe’ training will give you the knowledge needed to pursue a non-medical prescribing qualification once you are registered as a midwife.
Why Sheffield?
- Unique continuity of care placements - Continuity of care is at the heart of our clinical placements. Instead of seeing different women and birthing individuals at different stages of pregnancy, you will build a caseload of individuals and support them throughout their pregnancy journey.
- Hands-on simulated learning - Put your theory into practice in a safe, supportive environment. Practise your clinical, decision-making, and communication skills in our state-of-the-art Clinical Skills Centre featuring mock wards, simulated patients and VR equipment.
- £5,000+ annual NHS training grant - As a Midwifery student you can apply for the NHS Learning Support Fund to help support your studies. This includes an annual grant of £5,000, reimbursement of placement travel expenses, plus extra funding for those with dependent children or those facing hardship. All students in the programme are eligible for this funding, regardless of whether you have had an undergraduate loan in the past.
Accreditation
This course is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). It will give you the knowledge, skills and experience you need to join the NMC register and practise as a midwife. It also qualifies you to work as a Professional Midwifery Advocate.
The content of this course meets the UNICEF-UK Baby Friendly Initiative Standards.
Modules
- Foundations of Evidence Based Midwifery Practice
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This module aims to develop your skills of research critique to enable you to critically discuss research findings and lessons from data and reports. This will enable you to develop the skills and confidence to promote and inform best midwifery practice, and to advocate and support women when making informed decisions. This module will introduce you to key principles behind evidence-based practice, including its relevance, the role that research plays within it, how to determine which methods are suitable for different problems and the outcome measures you will encounter. You will also develop your ability to examine, interpret and present real-world midwifery and health care data to explain the robustness of the approach taken
15 credits - Introduction to Professional Midwifery Practice
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During this module students will develop knowledge of the underlying concepts of the midwife's role in optimising normal physiological processes and providing women-centred care in the preconception and antenatal and the postnatal periods, and throughout normal labour and birth. During this module students will apply basic scientific principles of anatomy and physiology to maternal and infant health This will involve developing knowledge of the physiological processes that underpins labour, birth and the postnatal period. Students will develop knowledge and skills to support women and their families with psychosocial, cultural and spiritual needs during the intrapartum and postnatal period including links to continuity of carer.. This will provide the information required to undertake safe and effective practice and to work in partnership with women, enabling their views, preferences, and decisions to be heard, and helping to strengthen their capabilities.
15 credits - Introduction to concepts of Public Health in Childbearing.
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The aim of this module is to introduce you to the key concepts of public health, health promotion and health prevention within current midwifery practice. You will explore the role of public health on a local, national and global level. You will be introduced to the skills and knowledge about health and wellbeing for the individual, the family and the population. Included in this module will be an introduction to infant feeding and the role of the midwife in infant feeding.
15 credits
- Professional Midwifery Practice - the Midwife as a Leader
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This module introduces you to the key concepts of leadership in healthcare, and will encourage you to reflect on the skills, knowledge and behaviours you need to develop to become a future leader of the midwifery profession. Discussions will focus on developing your knowledge, skills and attitudes required for effective leadership, as well as the key theories of leadership and how these relate to personal development, clinical practice and the business of healthcare. The knowledge, skills and attitudes required to lead others in healthcare practice, as well as the key theories of leadership and how these relate to leading a team in an aspect of healthcare will be discussed.
30 credits - Management of complex care and emergencies during pregnancy and childbirth
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The aim of this module is to develop and critically apply the necessary knowledge, understanding and skills required in the management of complications and emergencies that occur in both mother and baby during childbirth. During this module you will learn to critically examine and assess the research and evidence-based care and apply principles of good practice to the care of women with complex needs. There will be an emphasis on early recognition and appropriate management of the emergency incorporating policies and guidelines, the midwife's role, and the importance of prompt escalation and effective communication with the interdisciplinary and multiagency team and the woman and her family around the time of the emergency.
15 credits - Developing concepts of public health for women and infants with complex and additional needs
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The aim of this module is to enable you to develop your knowledge and understanding of, as well as critically analyse the impact of psychosocial and emotional complications in childbearing on the mother and infant, whilst also considering the wider implications for their families, communities and society as a whole. Problems which can arise during infant feeding will also be explored.
15 credits
- Professional Midwifery Practice - transition from student to qualified midwife
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This module aims to consolidate your academic evidence based learning and clinical experiences from years 1 and 2 in order to ease the transition into clinical practice as a registrant.
30 credits
You will demonstrate your comprehensive knowledge of clinical and leadership skills required to support all women and families through their childbirth experience.
This module will include a leadership elective placement to help facilitate consolidation of leadership skills.
As part of your transition from student to qualified registrant, you will be able to identify the importance of self-care and recognising vulnerability in colleagues. You will also complete the NMC 2018 Practice Supervisor training and be Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) screening ready upon qualifying. - Management of Public Health and Infant Feeding
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This module will focus on the leadership role within Public Health and Infant feeding focusing on decision making to improve outcomes through changes implemented in practice. It aims to ensure that future generations of Midwifery health professionals are enabled to incorporate Public Health, Health Promotion, Health Prevention and Baby Friendly Standards into their everyday practice. You will consolidate and critically apply the knowledge and skills learnt over the last 2 years, to demonstrate your understanding of the assessments, leadership and practical skills in the fields of Public Health and Infant Feeding.
15 credits - Research Skills for professional midwifery practice
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This module will advance students' knowledge of research methods and data analysis approaches relevant to midwifery practice culminating in the development of a research proposal in an area of midwifery that is of particular interest to the student. The module aims to provide a logical and systematic overview of the research process and includes sections on developing a research question/hypothesis, choosing appropriate study designs, sampling frames, data collection, and analysis approaches. The module covers quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods using examples from midwifery research to illustrate core concepts. The student will then choose one of these methods for their research proposal. Principles of the midwife as a scholar and a leader will be explored as well as demonstrating how developing knowledge and skills in research and innovation can help to shape the future of midwifery through the development of evidenced-based care for women and their families.
15 credits
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.
Open days
An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses.
Duration
3 years full-time
Teaching
This programme is made up of 50 per cent theory and 50 per cent practice. You will learn through a combination of lectures, seminars, group and individual tutorials, clinical skills workshops, clinical placements, and independent learning and reflection.
Practical sessions include high-fidelity patient simulation training and supervised clinical skills training, which you will record as part of your portfolio.
You may also learn from guest speakers, such as bereavement charities, service users and carers, as well as patient stories, narratives and reports.
Assessment
You will be assessed through exams, essays, task-based assignments, presentations, clinical skills and a clinical practice portfolio.
Your career
Career prospects as a registered midwife are excellent. As a registered midwife, you will be in the unique position to provide personalised care to women, birthing individuals and their families from conception, antenatally, during labour to the postnatal period. This privilege can make a positive societal impact.
As a skilled and competent practitioner, you will support women in making decisions about their care within a multidisciplinary team using research and evidence-based knowledge to maintain safety and respect.
Our graduates can go on to work in the NHS, but others may choose to find positions overseas, in private practice, in social services, the pharmaceutical industry, research or in specialist areas such as drug rehabilitation.
You will be prepared for roles including midwifery manager, consultant midwife, practice development midwife, or specialist clinical midwife.
School
The School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery sits in the Faculty of Health and brings together expertise from across human communication sciences, nursing and midwifery, pharmacy, and orthoptics.
We aim to train compassionate, resilient and highly skilled healthcare professionals and support them throughout their working lives. We work closely with organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, the Department of Health and Social Care, The General Pharmaceutical Council, and the Health and Care Professions Council to make sure our teaching meets the needs of the NHS workforce. This means that we're ideally placed to offer you high-quality courses and apprenticeships, informed by the latest health-related research.
Facilities
Our Clinical Skills Centre is based at the Northern General Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the country. The centre contains mock clinical wards, resuscitation suites, simulated theatres and teaching rooms with high-fidelity patient simulation training – a perfect facility for training the midwives of tomorrow.
Student profiles
Entry requirements
Minimum 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in a related subject.
A minimum grade of 4/C in GCSE Maths, English Language and Science is also required.
This course does not accept international students.
English language requirements
4/C in GCSE Maths.
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the school/department.
Fees and funding
Apply
You can apply now using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It's a quick and easy process.
Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.
Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.