What is a Midwife?
Midwifery is about more than just ‘catching’ babies. It is all about caring for childbearing women and their families through one of life’s most special, stressful and often daunting experiences. A midwife works, often in a team of other healthcare professionals, to provide clinical care, support, education and guidance to expectant mothers. It is the midwife’s role to ensure that each mother can make informed choices about her care, and to meet any special needs each individual might have.
In an ever changing healthcare arena, a midwife needs to have excellent technical and practical skills and be able to tailor his/her care to suit each expectant mother’s needs. So if you are looking for a career that not only offers stability and excellent progression opportunities, but also provides you with constant challenges, with no two days the same, you have come to the right place.
Why Choose Midwifery?
Midwives are degree qualified, highly skilled professionals, and experts in pregnancy and birth. Working in a variety of settings, from hospitals to midwife-led units to GP’s surgeries, they are in close contact with expectant mothers through the nine months of pregnancy, labour, at delivery of her baby and in the postnatal period.
It is responsible and challenging, and midwives need to be able to stay calm and alert in times of stress, as well as to exercise patience during long labours. On the rare occasions where something goes wrong, they have to react quickly and effectively, making critical decisions under pressure. Many midwives consider it a privilege to be at a woman’s side at this most life-changing event, and while there are many challenges, it is an exceptionally rewarding career.
Career Options
On graduating from a degree in Midwifery at Queen’s, almost all of our midwives are very quickly in employment. And there is a wide variety of choice. And this is only the beginning – many midwives choose to continue their studies and develop a specialism, progressing up the career ladder to leadership roles. Midwives are also closely involved in education – assisting with training the next generation – and many pursue a career in research.