Tagged / midwifery

‘Meet the Editors’ at BU Midwifery Education Conference

Slide1Dr. Jenny Hall and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen are holding a lunchtime at today’s (Friday 3rd July 2015) BU Midwifery Education Conference (#MidEd15) in Business School.  The one-hour session is advertised under the title ‘Believe you can write!’  Both BU academics are editors and on editorial boards of several prestigious health journals across the globe.       Slide2

Over the past few years CMMPH staff have written and published several articles on academic writing and publishing.  Some of these papers have been co-authored by BU Visiting Faculty, Dr. Bri jesh Sathian (Nepal), Dr. Emma Pitchforth (RAND, Cambridge), Ms. Jillian Ireland (NHS Poole) and/or Prof. Padam Simkhada (Liverpool John Moores University).

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen & Dr. Jenny Hall

CMMPH

Twitter accounts:  @HallMum5   /   @EvanTeijlingen

CMMPH at the 10th International Normal Birth conference

Grange-over-Sands in Lancashire was once again a beautiful setting from 15th-17th June for one of the most inspirational midwifery research conferences. Attracting a significant international attendance from eminent researchers, clinicians and user representatives from as far afield as Australia, China, Canada, Brazil and across Europe (many regular attendees), the conference is now in its 10th year. Hosted by Professor Soo Downe and her team from UCLAN, it brings together researcher across all maternity professions, to present and debate work primarily relating to physiological birth. Two members of CMMPH were presenting (and tweeting!):

Professor Vanora Hundley discussed ‘Do midwives need to be more media savvy?’, a presentation created with Professor Edwin van Teijlingen and Ann Luce, based on a previous FoL public debate at BU relating to the role media plays in creating fear in childbirth  https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/engagement/fear-in-childbirth-are-the-media-responsible/ . She highlighted the need for midwives to be more aware of how to work with the media in order to harness the power to present positive messages, as well as understanding impact on women and health care providers. A paper on this presentation is accessible from: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/21600/

Jenny Hall with Maltese midwives and other delegates

Jenny Hall with Maltese midwives and other delegates

 

Dr Jenny Hall presented as part of a symposium with midwifery colleagues from Malta on an ongoing educational project relating to promotion of physiological birth in Malta. Malta has one of the highest Caesarean section rates in Europe and the team have been working together to develop midwives confidence in facilitating physiological birth as well as supporting them to educate women and families.

 

All delegates also received a copy of the book ‘Roar behind the silence: why kindness, compassion and respect matter in maternity care’, that includes chapters by two BU authors: Dr Jenny Hall and Consultant midwife, Katherine Gutteridge. ( see http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2015/02/28/stop-the-fear-and-embrace-birth/ for further information)

As usual the conference provided extensive opportunity for networking and developing links for future collaboration in a considerably relaxing environment.

A tweet storify and photographs of the whole conference are available which includes contribution from BU researchers:

https://storify.com/SagefemmeSB/normal-labour-birth-10th-research-conference

https://animoto.com/play/M21BCHDHihSqkH3LdxU0hw

 

 

Birth paper cited one hundred times in Scopus

We have just been alerted that our paper has been cited for the hundredth time in Scopus. The paper ‘Maternity satisfaction studies and their limitations: “What is, must still be best’ was published in Birth. The paper originated from the Scottish Birth Study which we were both part of in our previous academic posts at the University of Aberdeen.

This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of satisfaction studies in the field of maternity care, including the issues that service users tend to value the status quo (i.e. What is must be best) . The implications are that innovations, of which users have no experience, may be rejected simply because they are unknown. The paper warns that problems may arise if satisfaction surveys are used to shape service provision. We advised that satisfaction surveys should be used with caution, and part of an array of tools. While involving service users is important in designing and organizing health services, there is still the risk that using satisfaction alone could end up promoting the status quo.

 

Professors Vanora Hundley & Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Reference:

van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., Rennie, A-M, Graham. W., Fitzmaurice, A. (2003) Maternity satisfaction studies and their limitations: “What is, must still be best”, Birth 30: 75-82.

MIDWIFERY: Top five most down-loaded articles for 2014

 Today academic publisher Elsevier sent round an email with the top five most downloaded articles from the international journal Midwifery.

We were pleased to see that the fifth paper on that list is a BU paper jointly written with Dr. Helen Bryers, Consultant Midwife in Scotland. 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Two BU authored chapters in new book on childbirth

BU Ph.D. student and Consultant Midwife Kathryn Gutteridge and Hannah Dahlen Associate Professor of Midwifery at the University of Western Sydney contributed a chapter to the book ‘The Roar behind the Silence: Why kindness, compassion and respect matter in maternity care’.  Kathryn Gutteridge and Hannah Dahlen wrote under the title ‘Stop the fear and embrace birth’.  BU’s Dr. Jenny Hall also wrote a chapter called ‘Spirituality, compassion and maternity care’.

The  volume edited by Sheena Byrom and Soo Downe was published this week by Pinter & Martin (London).   I received my copy of the book yesterday, but didn’t have a chance to look at it until today.  The Roar Behind the Silence is both a practical and inspirational book, which likely to be of interest to people working in maternity care (midwives, doctors, managers), local and regional maternity-care policy-makers as well as politicians and funders and, of course, to many pregnant women and maternity-care pressure groups.  The book highlights examples of good practice, and offers practical tools for making change happen, advice on how to use evidence and real-life stories.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Huffington Post Blog BU by PhD student Sheetal Sharma

FHSS PhD student Sheetal Sharma and ICS Integrare’s Petra ten Hoope-Bender  discuss issues around the evidence to support the policy direction after the Millennium Development Goals come to end in 2015.  The global research and policy community has been gathering the evidence and the lessons learnt on what has worked for whom and how.  They remind us that the UN General Assembly’s Open Working Group has identified 17 new goals that cover far-reaching sustainable development issues, such as ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests.   Read all at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/petra-ten-hoopebender/women-newborns-and-health_b_6459614.html

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Examination of the Newborn (EXON) Pilot Project for under-graduate student midwives: an update.

In November last year I published a blog on the first pilot project I undertook with five under-graduate pre-registration midwifery students which was designed to enable them to qualify with the skills and competencies around examination of the newborn (EXON). The students were required to access and study the module with post-graduate midwives. Four of the students successfully completed the course in September 2014 with one student leaving early on in the project due to unforeseen family circumstances. The journey to completion was not smooth. The first hurdle was a clash of assessments. The EXON assessment (a presentation) fell in the same week as Complex Care (CC), a third year unit assessment where students are required to undergo a VIVA and manage two obstetric emergencies. It is a stressful experience and therefore three of the students requested an extension to their EXON presentation with only one choosing to present with her post-registration colleagues. As the EXON assessment took place on the Monday of that particular week and Complex Care assessments were running over three days, the student managed to negotiate to undertake her CC assessment on the Friday. The three students were re-scheduled to present later in the year with a number of other midwives who were on extensions or resits.  One of the advantages of choosing to present in January 2014 was that the student was able to choose a topic that she could use both for her learning around EXON and for her extended essay which was due to be completed somewhat later in the academic year. The student was successful in both endeavours as were all the others but at a later date.

Another hurdle students found themselves confronted with, was a lack of opportunity to undertake newborn examinations including a shortage of midwifery mentors who could support the training requirements of the project. Two of the students could not get any of the examinations done in their own trusts. Fortunately for them, the maternity unit and midwifery staff at Poole NHS Trust Hospital were extremely obliging and supported the students to work there which enabled them to complete the practical newborn checks. All four of the students have successfully qualified as midwives and have obtained midwifery posts in the local area. They remain committed EXON and have volunteered to be EXON ‘champions’ within their respective trusts. I am grateful to Jeanette Elliot, Luzie Schroter, Jenna Penhale and Bex Coleman-Moss for their hard work and dedication during the pilot and for their feedback and advice for the next intake.

Demand for places for the second pilot project remained high when the call was put out a short while ago. Unfortunately due to some of the barriers described above it was only feasible to recruit five students again and all of them based in the west. The students have commenced their studies and are enjoying the learning so far. The pilot projects are helping to inform what impact these barriers will have on the training needs for midwifery students within our local maternity units as this year we are introducing EXON theory to all midwifery students on our newly validated curriculum with the caveat that students will obtain the necessary theoretical knowledge but not all with qualify with the required skills. However by ‘fast-tracking’ students onto one of our twice yearly CPD EXON modules which has around 20+ midwives enrolled, by the time the students reach their third year there should be many more midwives qualified in EXON and in place to support our under-graduate students to gain the competencies around newborn examination.  If you require any further information please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler on lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk    

 

Congratulations to PhD student Carol Richardson on getting a paper in The Practising Midwife

 

CMMPH PhD student Carol Richardson just had a paper accepted by the editor of The Practising Midwife.  Carol is a Bournemouth University clinical academic doctoral midwife based in Portsmouth.  She is part of a scheme jointly funded by BU and Portsmouth Hospital NHS trust (PHT).

Carol is also a Supervisor of Midwives, and her first paper ‘Chasing time for reflection’ relates to midwifery supervision.

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health
Bournemouth University

First issue Journal of Asian Midwives

CMMPH would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the newly established Journal of Asian Midwives on publishing its first issue.  Journal of Asian Midwives (JAM) is the first regional online midwifery journal launched by the South Asian Midwifery Alliance (SAMA).   Prof. Rafat Jan based in Pakistan at Aga Khan University’s School of Nursing and Midwifery is the lead editor.  JAM aims to give a voice to midwives, nurses-midwives, women’s health clinicians, and reproductive health professionals as well as social scientists.

CMMPH proudly announces that one of our Bournemouth University PhD students, Ms. Sheetal Sharma, is on the new journal’s Associate Board.  Sheetal’s research is on maternity care in Nepal.

The journal is Open Access and free.  JAM does not charge subscription fees so it is free for readers nor does it charge a submission fee so it is also free for authors!  The journal can be found at: http://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/

 

Edwin van Teijlingen & Vanora Hundley

CMMPH

Latest HSC Midwifery paper in Open Access

Our latest paper in Midwifery ‘Translation and validation of the German version of the Mother-Generated Index and its application during the postnatal period’ is now freely available through Open Access on the Midwifery (Elsevier) webpages.

 

The lead author Susanne Grylka-Baeschlin, together with my colleagues Kathrin Stoll and Mechthild M. Gross, secured funding from COST to make this paper Open Access. The paper was part of Susanne’s M.Sc. project at the Midwifery Research and Education Unit, Hannover Medical School, Germany.

 

We would like to thank the ISCH Cost Action ISO907 (Childbirth Cultures, Concerns, and Consequences: Creating a dynamic EU framework for optimal maternity care) for funding the Open Access.   COST (European Cooperation in Science & Technology) is one of the longest-running European frameworks supporting cooperation among scientists and researchers across Europe. For further information on COST in general see: www.cost.eu.   UCLan lead this particular COST Action and Prof. Soo Downe is the Chair of the Action (www.iresearch4birth.eu).

 

For my colleagues at Bournemouth University please, note there is also funding available for Open Access publishing within the university: http://blogs.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/2014/05/22/money-available-for-open-access-publishing/

 

 

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

Maternity, Midwifery & Baby Conference

A recent free Maternity, Midwifery & Baby Conference held in London offered an ideal opportunity for Bournemouth University to showcase two innovative projects. The first, co-presented by Dr. Sue Way and Sian Ridden, a 2nd year midwifery student, focused on a joint chiropractic and midwifery newborn clinic which was set up with Fusion principles in mind. There are a number of aims of the clinic, of which the main is to optimise women’s opportunities to breastfeed successfully by providing chiropractic care for babies and breastfeeding support and advice to mothers. There are two further important aims, one of which, is to enhance student (undergraduate midwifery students & chiropractic students) learning opportunities and secondly, to provide networking and collaborative opportunities for students and staff in relation to research and dissemination of findings around these particular topics. When it was Sian’s turn to present, she was confident and articulate. She discussed a case study and how her knowledge was enhanced by being part of the clinic. Sian found attending the clinics provided her with a great learning experience and it was empowering that she was able to provide breastfeeding support under the guidance of the experts in the respective fields (Alison Taylor and Dr. Joyce Miller). Preliminary breastfeeding results from the clinic are promising. More details to follow in due course. Finally the seminar concluded by discussing the re-launch of the clinic in September, and to raise awareness of the re-launch, a free local conference (funded by Fusion Funding) for the community will be taking place on the 12th July 2014. For further information on the above clinic or the conference please contact Alison Taylor on ataylor@bournemouth.ac.uk or Dr. Sue Way on sway@bournemouth.ac.uk .

 

The second seminar presentation took place after lunch and it focused on a study which is currently taking place involving five 3rd year midwifery students and the feasibility of incorporating newborn infant physical examination (NIPE) competencies into the pre-registration midwifery programme.  Traditionally these competencies are usually achieved post qualification when midwives have a number of years’ experience under their belt. However BU midwifery students felt differently and Luisa Cescutti-Butler discussed how the study was initiated by Luzie who asked the question: “why couldn’t they learn all the necessary skills in the third year of their programme”? Luzie took to the podium and presented her section like a duck to water. She didn’t shy away from the difficulties from taking this extra study on, but was quite clear that the benefits for women in her care were worth the extra work.  The presentation generated quite a lot of heated discussion with some midwives in the audience quite adamant that students should not be taking on this ‘extended’ skill. However Luzie was able to stand her ground and confidently counter ague as to why students should gain these skills during the undergraduate programme. She received a resounding clap and cheers from the audience.

It takes some courage to stand up in a room full of people and present, and Sian and Luzie were brilliant.  Both students did Bournemouth University and in particular the midwifery team proud. For further information on the above study please contact Luisa Cescutti-Butler on lcbutler@bournemouth.ac.uk