Set up in both our Centres of Excellence on Blackheath Lane and in Shrewsbury are the university’s midwife students. It’s a very intense course that prepares them for an equally intense workplace, with long work hours full of very difficult work, so, understandably, they often need the most support.
This month they got exactly that with the ‘Expect the Unexpected’ Student Midwife conference, held at our Stoke campus.
The conference, which was held on the 5th July in the Brindley building, was organised by members of the September 2013 Student Midwives group who invited a host of guest speakers in an effort to inform and inspire their students as best they can.
One organiser and attendee was Ellie Walters, a midwifery student from Blackheath Lane, she kindly took some time out to talk to us about the conference.
“The run up to the conference was definitely challenging and pushed us all out of our comfort zones to ensure every detail was in place for the day, but the actual conference went without a hitch, with a good turn out from the other students and excellent guest speakers,” she said.
Amongst the chosen speakers were Sheena Byrom OBE (a freelance midwifery consultant), Jane McIlveen of the Down Syndrome Association and Judith Vickress of domestic abuse charity SafeLives.
Ellie continued: “We created an itinerary of the day, which consisted of the guest speakers and some of the September 2013 students presenting their seminars on the many challenges within midwifery practice, including; workplace bulling, promoting normality in a high-risk setting, perinatal suicide, cancer of the breast in pregnancy and female genital cutting.
“There was a Twitter page to promote the conference (@StaffStuMidwife) with a hashtag (#staffsmw2016) which was continually updated throughout the day.
“We also reached out to midwifery associated organisations such as Count the Kicks, Pregnacare, The Royal College of Midwives and many more, who kindly donated leaflets, pens, lanyards and tape measures which we used to create a goodie bag to give to the attendees of the conference.
“Then, at the end of the day we created a surprise PowerPoint for our personal tutor and lecturer Ruth Gammon, who is retiring after a long and successful career as a midwife and lecturer and presented her with flowers, gifts, cake and cards.”
Among the many in the audience there were first and second-year midwives, students on the 18-month conversion course and the new students beginning their studies in September 2016.
Overall, Ellie was delighted with the result and was quick to raise the importance of conferences like her own: “Holding a conference is really important as it enabled us to work together as a cohort and show our leadership skills, both of which is of particular importance within the role of a midwife in practice.
“A conference enables a large amount of people to come together and share knowledge and experiences that will help to benefit all involved within their own practice.
“On behalf of the September 2013 student midwives, we would like to thank all who attended and contributed towards the day, it has made our time, as we are approaching the end of our training, more memorable and special.”