BSc (Hons) Midwifery (Pre-Registration) [Bolton NHS Trust] - Full-time

Modules listed below are a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules as part of the course.

• Principles of Midwifery Practice
• Accountability and Professionalism
• Promoting Health Throughout the Pregnancy Continuum
• Clinical Practice 1
• Wider Approaches to Global Health
• Enhancing Midwifery Skills
• Integrated Healthcare
• Clinical Practice 2
• Embedding Woman Centred Care/Evidence Based Project
• Advanced Midwifery Skills
• Leadership in Midwifery
• Clinical Practice 3

Modern healthcare professionals require a range of skills and values and our practice partners and tutors will help you to gain experience of a range of midwifery care scenarios designed to develop your skills in a safe and supportive environment.

Your studies will be split with 50% dedicated to theory and 50% committed to practice placements at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust; for instance, at the Princess Anne Maternity Unit at Royal Bolton Hospital, the Ingleside Birth and Community Centre in Salford or at home births (please note, considerable travelling may be required). As you progress through the course, we’ll guide and encourage you to draw on your practice placement experience while studying theory, and apply the theory learned to your practice while on placement, so that you can understand how the two complement each other.

The course explores contemporary concepts and approaches to midwifery care throughout the pregnancy and childbirth continuum. You’ll learn about the structure and function of the human body, dysfunction, pathophysiology, immunology and microbiology, focusing particularly on the anatomy and physiology of reproduction and fertility together with the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on the systems of the body. Our expert team will support you to learn about acute and long term physical and mental health conditions and their impact on pregnancy (and vice versa), as well as pharmacology and the therapeutic effects of major drug groups on the body.

To become an expert on pregnancy and childbirth you’ll need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the emotional, physical and psychological processes of pregnancy and birth. We’ll encourage you to gain knowledge of counselling techniques so that you can offer effective support and advice in cases of stillbirth, miscarriage, termination, neonatal death and neonatal abnormalities. We’ll help you to develop skills in multi-agency and collaborative working, and emphasise the importance of safeguarding. Topics such as assessment, care planning, law, ethics, health policy, and the importance of communication with service users, healthcare colleagues and professionals from other agencies are covered. You’ll have the opportunity to learn about the importance of research and how its application in healthcare can transform outcomes for women, newborn infants and families, along with how to access and assess the latest research, and how to incorporate your findings into care plans and intervention strategies.

We’ll work to help you gain key transferable skills including the ability to work independently, adapt to changing circumstances, work in teams and groups, and listen and respond to service users from a diverse population. You’ll also be encouraged to develop planning and time management, rational decision making, critical thinking, physical assessment and communication skills during your studies. We aim for you to develop into a midwife who understands and appreciates the needs of women, babies and their families and carers, who is compassionate, kind and empathetic, and who respects and supports the woman’s privacy, dignity and individuality.

The theory-based modules will be taught using a blended approach that includes lectures, presentations, simulations delivered by tutors, seminar discussions, small group workshops, small group and one-to-one tutorials, and using virtual learning environments (VLE) and e-learning packages. You’ll also need to undertake a significant amount of personal study, including general background reading, preparing for seminar activities, working on assignments and revising for examinations.

To help support your learning, the university also offers additional study skills sessions, such as essay writing, library skills and electronic searching, and numeracy.

A range of assessment methods will be used, including written essays, reflections, workbooks and reports, time-constrained written exams, drug calculation exams, skills exams, oral viva presentation, posters and seminar presentations. The assessment of practice and theory are equally weighted in their contribution to the degree award as a whole.

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up to date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.