The future midwifery workforce: A survey of the education experiences of midwifery students in Australia

IF 3.3 3区医学 Q1 NURSING

Nurse Education in Practice Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.nepr.2025.104321

Chanelle Warton , Kirsten Small , Zoe Bradfield , Kathleen Baird , Jennifer Fenwick , Mel Robinson , Joanne Gray , Caroline Homer

{"title":"The future midwifery workforce: A survey of the education experiences of midwifery students in Australia","authors":"Chanelle Warton , Kirsten Small , Zoe Bradfield , Kathleen Baird , Jennifer Fenwick , Mel Robinson , Joanne Gray , Caroline Homer","doi":"10.1016/j.nepr.2025.104321","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Aim</h3><div>To understand students’ views on and experiences of their pre-registration midwifery education in Australia, including continuity of care experiences and clinical practice placements and their preferences for future employment.</div></div><div><h3>Background</h3><div>Increasing the number of midwifery student enrolments and improving student experience are suggested solutions to shortages in the Australian midwifery workforce.</div></div><div><h3>Design</h3><div>An anonymous online survey.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Open to students currently enrolled in an education programme leading to Australian midwifery registration or who had recently completed such a programme but had not yet commenced employment. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests. Frequency counts and inductive content analysis were used to analyse qualitative data. This research was undertaken as part of the national Midwifery Futures project.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A total of 303 eligible responses were received. While most students felt their midwifery education prepared them well for future practice, a third (n = 93/281, 33.1 %) had taken or were considering leave and more than half (n = 161/281, 57.3 %) had considered withdrawing. Continuity of care experiences were highly valued by students as an educational experience. Nearly all students (n = 257/278, 92.4 %) preferred future employment in a clinical midwifery role and most (n = 206/257, 80.2 %) wished to work in midwifery group practice or team midwifery service in a public hospital.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Midwifery students in Australia felt well-prepared by their education programmes to practice midwifery. However, many students also found meeting the requirements of their degree challenging. Further research and efforts are required to support students to complete their midwifery education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48715,"journal":{"name":"Nurse Education in Practice","volume":"84 ","pages":"Article 104321"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nurse Education in Practice","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1471595325000770","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

To understand students’ views on and experiences of their pre-registration midwifery education in Australia, including continuity of care experiences and clinical practice placements and their preferences for future employment.

Background

Increasing the number of midwifery student enrolments and improving student experience are suggested solutions to shortages in the Australian midwifery workforce.

Design

An anonymous online survey.

Methods

Open to students currently enrolled in an education programme leading to Australian midwifery registration or who had recently completed such a programme but had not yet commenced employment. Quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and chi-squared tests. Frequency counts and inductive content analysis were used to analyse qualitative data. This research was undertaken as part of the national Midwifery Futures project.

Results

A total of 303 eligible responses were received. While most students felt their midwifery education prepared them well for future practice, a third (n = 93/281, 33.1 %) had taken or were considering leave and more than half (n = 161/281, 57.3 %) had considered withdrawing. Continuity of care experiences were highly valued by students as an educational experience. Nearly all students (n = 257/278, 92.4 %) preferred future employment in a clinical midwifery role and most (n = 206/257, 80.2 %) wished to work in midwifery group practice or team midwifery service in a public hospital.

Conclusions

Midwifery students in Australia felt well-prepared by their education programmes to practice midwifery. However, many students also found meeting the requirements of their degree challenging. Further research and efforts are required to support students to complete their midwifery education.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nurse Education in Practice NURSING-

CiteScore

5.40

自引率

9.40%

发文量

180

审稿时长

51 days

期刊介绍： Nurse Education in Practice enables lecturers and practitioners to both share and disseminate evidence that demonstrates the actual practice of education as it is experienced in the realities of their respective work environments. It is supportive of new authors and will be at the forefront in publishing individual and collaborative papers that demonstrate the link between education and practice.