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2021/22 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

HECS2189 Midwifery Theory and Practice 1

40 creditsClass Size: 60

Module manager: Natalie Van der Gucht
Email: N.VanderGucht@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2021/22

Pre-requisite qualifications

Able to proceed from level 1 of the programme

Pre-requisites

HECS1101Fundamentals of Midwifery Practice

Module replaces

Partially replaces HECS 2110, HECS 2111, HECS 2112, HECS 2114 and HECS 2115 by 2013-4

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Students will develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide care for mothers and their fetus / babies during childbearing. A focus will be on normal labour but consideration will be given to conditions specific to pregnancy and when pregnancy is complicated by underlying medical disease / disorder.

Objectives

This is first of three midwifery modules across year 2 of the programme and includes theory and practice. It incorporates a significant proportion of reproductive physiology and application to a range of normal midwifery practices throughout the childbearing experience. A focus is placed on normality and the more common interventions with an emphasis on an evidenced informed approach to clinical decision making. Consequently a variety of topics are addressed including assessment and care of the mother and fetus / baby during labour and when birth requires common interventions. Both pharmaceutical and non pharmaceutical forms of pain relief will be explored. Students will build on skills developed in supporting women to breast feeding especially initiation of lactation. They will begin to consider medical conditions and their treatments that can impact on pregnancy and the implications of pregnancy on the medical condition. Students will consider the laws and legal requirements governing storage, prescribing, dispensing, administration, clinical disposal of medicinal products including controlled drugs. The theme of vulnerability will continue with involvement in the Child Protection Project to develop understanding of safeguarding issues.

Learning outcomes
At the end of the module students will be able to:

1. Apply the physiology of labour to the care of women and skills in the assessment and interpretation of findings when assessing normal progress of labour.

2. Recognise fetal wellbeing and the safe adaptation to extra-uterine life using a variety of tools and begin to interpret the findings.

3. Assess a woman’s coping strategies during the common physical and emotional stressors during childbearing.

4. Monitor and provide appropriate care to women with conditions specific to pregnancy or with pre-existing medical conditions.

5. Demonstrate an ability to listen to women in order to understand their experiences and identify areas for improvement.

6. Work inter-professionally with others regarding safeguarding children and the identification of those in need of protection or other needs.

7. Demonstrate skills in supporting women in the initiation and maintenance of lactation.

8. Discuss the care of women who require a surgical intervention.

9. Discuss how evidence is disseminated, implemented and chosen by women for their care.

10. Discuss the strengths and limitations of a range of methodologies and methods building on prior knowledge.

11. Discuss the uses, actions and safe administration of common pharmacological and non pharmacological agents used in normal childbearing.

12. Apply knowledge of basic pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics when involved in administering medicines.

13. Meet selected performance and skills outcomes in the level 2 Common Assessment Document.

Skills outcomes
Midwifery care within Delivery Suite, antenatal ward or postnatal ward.


Syllabus

Service users
Communication with women and their partners including debriefing and listening to women's experiences of labour
Women centred care and meeting need
Recognising and responding to different cultural need
Supporting women in making appropriate health choices
Personal growth and knowledge and skills
Care of women in normal labour including diagnosis and progress including initiation and physiology of normal labour
Supporting women in labour to include, pharmacological and non pharmacological alternatives, positions for birth, partners and physiology of pain
Monitoring fetal wellbeing in labour, CTG, fetal blood sampling
Underlying medical condition that may impact on pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period eg diabetes, thyroid, respiratory, cardiac and liver disease, epilepsy.
Conditions specific to pregnancy, eg hypertensive disorders and their sequale, Cholestasis.
Haematology including haemodynamics, anaemia, haemoglobinopathies, Rhesus isoimmunisation, blood transfusion
Practices to support women in the initiation and maintenance of lactation
Introduction of complementary foods and of continuing breast feeding during the weaning period.
Care of the neonate including adaptation to extrauterine life
thermoregulation, jaundice
Operative delivery and care immediate postnatal care and safe transfer of mother and baby
Anaesthesia and risk to pregnant women
Process and systems
Risk assessments, procedures, policy, guidelines
Evidenced based strategies and practices that impact on breast feeding based
WHO International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and relevant UK legislation (politics of breast feeding)
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of medical products used in midwifery practice
Laws and legal requirements governing storage, prescribing, dispensing, administration, clinical disposal including controlled medicinal products and documentation
Recognition of need for dose changes and safest routes for administration
Healthcare policy and responsibility for evidenced based healthcare
Screening
Child protection (CPP)
Practice development
Reflection, models
Place of birth
Multi-professional working
Generation of clinical questions from the perspectives of service users, students and midwives and how clinical questions can be investigated using a range of methods and methodologies
Sample size, power calculations, sampling approaches eg probability, purposive
Numeracy eg reliability and validity of data protection tools
Building on different approaches to data collection eg textural or visual, poetry and art
Data analysis descriptive non parametric and parametric statistics, meta synthesis and meta analysis using codes themes and frameworks
Transferability and fittingness of research evidence in practice, internationally, nationally and locally

Practice: In this module there are 270 hours of clinical practice spread over semester 1. Students will be placed in Delivery Suite, the antenatal ward or postnatal ward. Students on the Delivery Suite will be required to demonstrate competence in calculating common dosages of medicinal products used in normal midwifery practice (NMC requirement).

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Clinical Practice2601.00260.00
Lecture102.0020.00
Practical52.0010.00
Seminar52.0010.00
Tutorial102.0020.00
Independent online learning hours20.00
Private study hours170.00
Total Contact hours320.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)510.00

Private study

The 170 hours of private study will be used to:
- prepare for the inquiry based learning tutorials
- prepare for the unseen MCQ examination and 2,500 word essay
- background reading

Independent online learning will include resources for research methodology, physiology of labour and breast feeding.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Theoretical progress will be monitored through participation in inquiry based learning within the tutorials. A typical example would be around the care of women with underpinning endocrine disorders and care of women experiencing normal labour. The example below also illustrates how key programme themes will be introduced and developed with the themes relating to research skills, decision making skills and ethics and law being fundamental to this approach. It is intended that the case scenarios are developed with input from clinical midwives to represent current practice issues.


Clinical Progress
Students will be assessed using the appropriate learning outcomes within the Midwifery Common Assessment Document for level 2 and their performance will be graded by their sign-off mentor in the last two weeks of their placement.

Reflective sessions throughout the clinical placement will assist students to make links between theory and practice.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
Essay2,500 word essay30.00
Placement AssessmentGrading of Practice40.00
Written WorkCommon Assessment Document0.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)70.00

The essay will relate to an aspect of care of a woman during labour through which students will demonstrate development of skills in the use of the evidence base.


Exams
Exam typeExam duration% of formal assessment
Online Time-Limited assessment1 hr 00 mins30.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)30.00

The MCQ will sample a wide range of module content including knowledge of medicine management. Compensation is permitted between the essay and the 1 hour MCQ paper. No compensation is permitted between the theory and the grading of clinical practice.

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 13/08/2021

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