About This Course
This is a part-time, level 7 short course delivered online.
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for midwives, or other registered health care professionals working in midwifery or maternity care or as part of the multidisciplinary team who provide care to people, women and families across the childbirth continuum .
Why study this course?
This module aims to equip maternity health professionals to optimise the childbirth experience for the women and families that they care for – across the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal continuum. Students will have the opportunity to consider how we can optimise the childbirth experience for all women and their newborns, rather than purely concentrating on improving care within the perhaps narrower parameters of the normal childbirth agenda. The framework for quality maternal and newborn care (Renfrew et al, 2014) provides the underpinning philosophy for the module.
How long does this course take to complete?
This short course runs over 12 weeks and includes 5 days of lectures (one day a week over 5 weeks).
The dates for the 24/25 academic year are:
- 07/10/2024
- 14/10/2024
- 28/10/2024
- 04/11/2024
- 18/11/2024
Learners are also expected to complete 100 hours of self-directed study during the 12 weeks. There will be an opportunity for face-to-face or online tutorials.
This short course is usually delivered during semester 1 of the academic year.
Assessments:
The assessment on this short course includes:
- Poster presentation
- 3,000-word assignment related to the presentation.
These assessment methods will enable the learner to develop verbal, written and creative skills in a collegiate environment.
Tutor
Ruth Lovelady
Ruth is an experienced midwife with over 25 years of experience spanning a career that includes working in the hospital and community settings as a midwifery supervisor, a practice development midwife, a member of a nursing and midwifery council (NMC panel), and experience as an expert witness.
Ruth has worked in midwifery education for over 10 years and is now the Lead Midwife for Education at ×îÐÂÂ鶹ӰÒôÊÓƵ.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
This modules uses the Lancet framework for 'quality maternal and newborn care' (Renfrew et al, 2014) to structure our consideration of optimal maternity care.
What will attendees get out of the course?
By the end of this short course, learners will be able to:
- Analyse and critically discuss the maternal and/ or their fetus /newborn's physiology and psychology that facilitates an optimal childbirth experience
- Critically evaluate a practice area in relation to the provision of an optimal care environment for women and / or their fetus /newborns
- Critically evaluate the health professions’ role, and the role of the wider professional team, in working to maintain an optimal care environment for women and/or their fetus / newborns. This should include consideration of relevant practice, social and cultural related barriers and facilitators.
Course Cost
- Enquiries regarding Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) funding should be directed to bcu.nurseeducation@wales.nhs.uk.
- Funding opportunities may be available for those working locally (i.e. in the north Wales and Powys areas), please contact the relevant module co-ordinator for details.
- All other application and funding related enquiries should be directed to the module co-ordinator .
Please see our Postgraduate Fees and Finance page for further information.
Entry Requirements
Applicants must fulfil the following criteria to be considered eligible for this course:
- Registered midwives, or other registered health care professionals working in a relevant area of healthcare.
Application
How to Apply
Please make sure you read and follow the step-by-step application guide as this will specify which sections of the application form are compulsory for the type of course you want to apply for and save you time.
Please prepare the following information (in a Word document):
- Current employment details;
- Years of experience, and employment history (where relevant)
- Name of staff member and organisation that have approved your funding for this module.
This will speed up the process of completing the application form.
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a ‘tick’ symbol will appear below it.
- Click on ‘Non-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules’, then select ‘Non-graduating Postgraduate’.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Health (NGGT/HEALTH) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to ‘Part time’:
- You now need to input the module code. Optimal Childbirth : the code is NHS:4385. This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. Please make your selection, then click ‘Save and Continue’.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier).
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on ‘I have no employment history’ (as you have already provided this in your Word document).
If you are HEIW / Health Board funded, please answer the questions as follows:
- How will you finance your studies? Sponsored
- Exact name of funding authority: Health Board
- Country: United Kingdom
- Give details of the amount of the award? Fully funded.
- Sponsorship will cover: Tuition Fees
- Have you been awarded this funding? Please select ‘yes’ * Note that you will be required to upload evidence of the funding. If you wish to confirm ‘yes’ to this question, but do not have any written confirmation to upload, you can upload your Word document here again.
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.