MAJOPRA4 Advanced Holistic Midwifery Care Course description

The purpose of the course is for the student to further develop his/her knowledge, understanding and skills from the preceding courses and become familiar with professional practice at a more holistic and advanced level. Midwifery competence comprises the candidate's qualifications for providing satisfactory midwifery care, and includes specialist knowledge, skills, experience, personal qualities, attitudes and morals. In the preceding courses, the student has been gradually introduced to a midwife's areas of expertise. During this course, the student will focus on developing overall knowledge and mastery, so that he/she is capable of taking independent responsibility for midwifery practice on completing the programme. The period of clinical training in this course is seven weeks.

The student must have passed all the courses except MAJO5900 Master's Thesis.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has an in-depth understanding of the ontological, epistemic and ethical basis for the profession's areas of knowledge and activity
• has advanced knowledge about how pregnancy, childbirth and family formation can be understood and maintained as natural biological processes
• is capable of analysing midwifery issues in a multicultural perspective

Skills

The student is capable of:

• independent and evidence-based work in the midwifery area of expertise and function in accordance with legal requirements and professional ethical standards
• being a leader in the field of midwifery in preventive and health-promoting work with women, families and newborns
• working independently on advising, teaching and providing guidance about the development of parenthood, women's reproductive health, sexuality and family planning
• working systematically to promote patient safety and quality in midwifery.

Competence

The student:

• is capable of using his/her knowledge and skills to carry out advanced midwife duties in cooperation with the woman and her family
• is capable of practising as a midwife in a professionally sound manner in hospitals and homes in cooperation with the rest of the municipal and specialist health services
• is capable of acting in a professional manner in intimate and unforeseen situations
• is capable of analysing ethical challenges and dilemmas in the field
• is capable of taking a reflective and critical approach to knowledge development and research
• is capable of initiating and participating in research and development work and contributing to new ideas
• is capable of communicating and disseminating knowledge about midwifery issues, analyses, research results and conclusions both to his/her colleagues and the general public
• is capable of assessing and discussing health policy challenges and guidelines in the field of maternity care

The work and teaching methods used in the course are user-oriented clinical training in the home, the specialist health service and/or private midwife practice, studying relevant specialist and research literature individually and in study groups, and individual regularly written logs describing students' progress and focus areas for further learning.

Supervision

Students will be supervised by a team consisting of a university supervisor and a midwife from the clinical field (clinical supervisor). The clinical supervisor is responsible for facilitating and supervising learning situations in the professional field. It is the students' responsibility to actively seek supervision and be prepared for all meetings with supervisors and assessment interviews. The clinical supervisor will take part in the midway and the final assessments. The university supervisor will take part in the midway assessment. The university supervisor will also initiate up to one group tutorial session where students can analyse and reflect on concrete situations from their clinical training. The students will prepare for the group tutorials in cooperation with the university supervisor. Group tutorials are adapted to each institution where clinical training takes place.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

1. Plan for clinical training and self-assessment: The student must prepare a plan for clinical training based on the learning outcomes defined for the course and the available learning situations. The plan for clinical training forms the basis for the expectation clarification meeting that is held during the first weeks of the period of clinical training. The plan is used in the continuous supervision of the student. Before the final assessment, the student will prepare a self-assessment of competence achieved in relation to the assessment criteria. The purpose of the plan for clinical training and the self-assessment is to clarify and describe expected competence and to give the student the opportunity to plan his/her own learning process. The plan for clinical training must be submitted to the clinical supervisor and the university supervisor in the appropriate folder at least two working days before the meeting.

2. Academic assignment based on the student's master's thesis: The purpose of the assignment is to disseminate the results/knowledge produced from the master's thesis. The assignment can be aimed either at the professional community or the general public. It can be an opinion piece adapted to the requirements for opinion pieces in the newspaper Aftenposten or a popular science article for a specialist journal.

The assignment must be carried out by the same group of students who wrote the master's thesis together.

3. Documentation of completed clinical learning situations: The student must carry out at least 15-20 prenatal examinations, monitor and care for at least 10 women in labour during the dilation phase, at least 10 women with high-risk pregnancies, at least 20 women who have just given birth and their healthy newborns, deliver at least 13-15 children and conduct at least five post-partum interviews. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the student attains a sub-goal so that he/she will meet the quantitative requirements for applying for authorisation as a midwife on completing the programme. Students who are assessed as 'not approved' are responsible for securing extra clinical training time to meet the quantitative criteria described above for the course.

Assessment content: The learning outcomes

Assessment arrangement: Midway and final assessments of clinical training

All aids permitted

Pass/fail

The midway and final assessments are carried out by the clinical supervisor. The university supervisor will take part in the midway assessment. The final decision on whether to award a pass or fail grade is made by the university.