lisamct

Can I just ask why the need to give newborns the Hep B vaccine at all? Im a midwife in the UK and have never heard of giving babies the Hep B vaccine. Im guessing its because Hep B is so common in the US? (although Ive no idea if this is true either...

Hi Sophie Not sure if your fixed on where abouts in the UK you want to go to but I know that university in Glasgow offers student exchanges which involve you studying at our university and working in our hospitals for up to 12 weeks. They have offici...

I recently had a band 6 interview, totally different field though as Im a midwife, but the non-clinical component of the interview included questions on; -Qualities of a good leader -Qualities of a good team -What changes I would like to see and how ...

Im in the UK so lots of variables are different here but for comparison; in my unit (@300 deliveries/month) we only have 2 days a week where we do schedules C Sections (mon and thurs) and on those days we do 5, 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon...

We pretty much never use stirrups unless its an instrumental delivery. Most of our women deliver on all fours, left lateral or standing up so it wouldn't be an option even if we wanted to (which we dont!)

Im pretty shocked at how early your docs will do inductions in the US. We describe a term pregnancy as anything from 37-42 weeks and women are made aware of that at booking and pretty much told to ignore their 'due date' and assume their baby will b...

Just having a moan really. As a few of you might know Im about to qualify as a midwife (12 shifts to go till I finish!) and Im facing the very serious prospect of having no job to go to. The shortage of midwives is all over the news these days but in...

This is totally off topic but I just had to respond to this. Yes, maternity units are desperately short of midwives however the shortage isnt due to their being an actual shortage of available staff in the UK but because of Trusts having no money to...

Yep, same here. Mostly its just me doing the delivery itself and my mentor acting as second midwife to give Syntocinon and do other bits and bobs. If we suspect or know there will be a problem with the baby on delivery (IUGR, meconium stained liquor ...

Our women are only able to have 1 person with them during labour and birth. That rule is very occasionally relaxed to allow 2 people to come along but that has to be arranged prior to 'the event' and in writing with our labour ward co-ordinator. Also...

For a UK perspective; We usually have women having vaginal deliveries in for 2-3 days with women having sections in for 3-4 days although this can extend for both groups if there is a need (breastfeeding issues/parent confidence/social problems) Or i...

Probably not much use to you but thought I'd give a bit of an international perspective; Overall I think your birth plan is totally acceptable and pretty much standard practice where I am. We also dont use antibiotic eye ointment on any babies so t...

Im a 3rd year midwifery student and Im in the process of finalising arrangements for my elective placement in Malawi. We have to research our choice ourselves including, funding, where we want to go, what hospitals/units we want to visit, accommodat...

I'm not sure about the situation with the trusts and funding for the 18 month courses but I do know that a lot of uni's are considering dropping the course and that a few have already done so completely. My uni (in Glasgow) attempted to change their ...

Im one week into my neonatal/SCBU placement at the moment (Im a 3rd year student midwife) All the staff in our unit are either paediatric nurses or midwives (although ths use of midwives in SCBU is being phased out across the country) I dont think yo...

Congrats on being accepted onto the course. Im just about to start my 3rd year of the midwifery degree in Glasgow. The course has its ups and downs but you'll love it

I have a different perspective on this as I have personal experience of both ways of training, as well as mentoring students from the new uni based courses. I trained as a learning disability nurse in 1991-1994, doing the old modular training in a sc...

Im reading this thread with interest as we dont have any type of 'well baby' nurseries here in the UK. Healthy babies all stay with their mums from the minute they're born until they leave the hospital. Even most of the medical checks/exams are comp...

Ive had mums pushing on their hands and knees with an epidural if they still have some feeling in their legs. Usually we'll try mum on the bed facing the pillows, head of the bed raised and a huge pile of pillows for mum to lean on. They can get into...

Thanks 'pirap' and 'htrn' for your help. I'll check out both of those places and see if they would be useful. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Ok, I know this is a long shot but I'm looking for some ideas for my elective placement next summer. Right now I'm just about to finish my 2nd year of midwifery training and due to qualify in Sept 08. At some point during next summer we have a 3 week...

Thought you might like info from an existing UK student midwives perspective. Places for applicants on midwifery courses are being cut at almost all universities at the moment. Mine has gone from 26 a year when I started in 2005 to a predicted 18 th...

We give Syntocinon 10iu IM before placenta is delivered with the delivery of the babies anterior shoulder, never heard of it given SC (most of our women dont have IV's in situ). Is it routine to give Synto/Pitocin after delivery of the placenta in th...

Your right, to most women an actively managed 3rd stage is more of 'routine' than an actual choice that women make in most cases. IMO my unit is particularly bad at offering choice to women in 3rd stage, so far in that it actually classes use of 3rd ...

Just thought I'd drop in a UK perspective. In my unit (Im a student midwife) women usually only have IV cannulas inserted if they're had an epidural sited, if they're recieving IV Syntocinon (which I guess is our version of Pitocin), or if they have...