Student scenarios

Work through the following scenarios:

Scenario 1

A discussion between student midwife and supervisor - supporting a junior student to learn:

You are supporting Yasmin, a first-year midwifery student to gain the skills of abdominal palpation in a hospital antenatal clinic environment. Yasmin is 3 months into her course and this is her first hospital placement. She has been in a community placement for 6 weeks prior to this.

You have enlisted the help of Mrs Hassan, P0 G1 and 38 weeks gestation, who has come for a routine clinic appointment, and who has already consented to your student performing an abdominal palpation under your supervision.

Think about the following and make notes to guide your discussion with the student midwife:

• What assumptions (if any) will you make about the student’s prior knowledge and experience?
• How would you prepare the student for this learning opportunity?
• How will you proceed with the teaching – how will you manage the learning environment?
• How would you frame the feedback that you give the student on their performance?
• How will you evaluate the learning that has taken place?
• How would you evaluate your own experience and learning?

Scenario 2

A discussion between student midwife and supervisor - Punctuality:

Jeremy is a 2^nd year student midwife who is four weeks into his community midwifery placement in Semester 3. He has been late into work on multiple occasions throughout his placement and gives a variety of reasons for this, not all of which appear plausible. On two separate occasions he has not attended for pre-arranged shifts and has not contacted you to inform you that he is unable to attend. He arrives on time for his shift today, apologises for not contacting you and tells you that one the first occasion he was involved in a car accident and on the second his friend was taken into hospital.

Think about the following and make notes to guide your discussion with the student midwife:

• What assumptions (if any) could you make about the student?
• How would you approach your discussion of this situation with the student? What do you need to address?
• How will you proceed with the teaching and learning on today’s shift? – how will you manage the learning environment?
• How would you frame the feedback that you give the student on their performance?
• What would you do after the meeting?
• How would you evaluate your own experience and learning from this scenario?

Scenario 3

A discussion between student midwife and supervisor – professional appearance:

Claire is a 3^rd year student midwife in her final placement. She is both confident and competent. However, as her Practice Supervisor you have had to speak to her several times about her appearance. She has false nails, long false eye lashes and frequently leaves her hair loose rather than tied up. Despite discussing the need to be more professional in her appearance Claire has not changed her behaviour and says that as some members of the qualified staff also have false nails and eyelashes she is being discriminated against.

Think about the following and make notes to guide your discussion with the student midwife:

• What assumptions (if any) could you make about the student?
• How would you approach your discussion of this situation with the student? What do you need to address?
• How will you manage this situation and support the student in the learning environment?
• How would you frame the feedback that you give the student on their performance?
• What would you do after your discussion? What support do you feel you may need?
• How would you evaluate your own learning in this scenario?

Scenario 4

A discussion between student midwife and supervisor – A challenging student:

Marsha, is a student Midwife on the 21-month shortened midwifery programme. She is now 10 weeks into her programme. Prior to commencing midwifery education, Marsha had a year of experience as a staff nurse in the intensive care unit following qualification as a nurse. She is now 2 weeks into her first placement on the postnatal ward after 6 weeks of working with a community midwife. Marsha is a very confident and very opinionated student.

The Ward Matron has told you today that Marsha has been arranging regular shifts on the labour ward to work with her friend Gillian, a Band 6 midwife. Over the last week you have noticed that she frequently arranges to leave the ward during her shifts with you and gives a variety of reasons. She appears disinterested in postnatal care and has told you it is boring.

Today, she left the ward without discussing this with you and has just returned in tears. She is visibly upset and tells you that she has been ‘told off’ by the Labour Ward Matron for being involved in a serious incident. It appears that Marsha went to visit the labour ward and that a cord prolapse had occurred whilst she was there. Marsha seems to have decided to accompany the woman to the operating theatre with a newly appointed preceptor midwife. She tells you that the baby is very sick and has been admitted to the neonatal unit. She doesn’t understand what the 'Matron’s problem is'.

Think about the following and make notes to guide your discussion with the student midwife:

• What assumptions (if any) will you make about the student?
• What do you need to address?
• How will you approach this scenario and what actions would you take?
• How would you frame the feedback that you give the student?
• How will you evaluate the learning that has taken place?
• How would you evaluate your own facilitation of that learning?

"Take 5" Reflection - 'Must'

Return to your reflection template:

Write your notes in the 'Must' row of your reflective template.

Prompts

• What must I do now to address my learning needs?
• Who must I speak to, to assist me in creating my own learning and development plan?
• What values must I explore in order to become the Practice Supervisor that I wish to become?

Self-declaration

Congratulations! you have now completed Part 1!

Please download, complete a 'self-declaration form' by following the instructions within the form.

Download Self-declaration form (Part 1) [PDF]