The Conference in Ormskirk was titled “Investing in Students: The Future of Midwifery” and was billed as the first of its kind. It was terrific to see 140 bright and eager students, together with their lecturers and mentors gathered in the beautiful setting of the Edge Hill Faculty of Health Sciences.

The program had been planned around three guest speakers (myself, Jo Alexander from Bournemouth University and Thelma Sackman, a Health Visitor) with a number of students presenting their work in a variety of areas.

The quality of the student presentations was outstanding. Apart from their very adept use of the technology (very smart Powerpoint presentations that put mine to shame) they covered areas that were of general concern to all: Effective ways of managing early labour at home; student advocacy, the use of partograms, mental health for postnatal women and a lively debate on the topic “That women are able to make an informed choice in childbirth”. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the debate was won by the negative, although the positive case was put persuasively. I think that experience, rather than the quality of the presented arguments, was the deciding factor here.

I came away feeling that if the future of midwifery rests with students of this calibre, then we have little to fear about the future of the profession and much to look forward to. It was a very well run and exciting day.

It’s back to Ireland next - to Drogheda, a place I have visited many times before. I wonder what this visit will reveal? Posted by andrea at June 22, 2005 06:08 PM