Click Here to view current information
Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will learn how to support women and families when physiological complexities arise during pregnancy, labour, and birth. Building on your understanding of normal childbearing, you will explore how complications affect health and wellbeing, and how midwives provide safe and effective care in response. You will examine the role of the midwife in recognising and responding to complex situations, using current evidence, professional guidelines, and referral pathways to guide your practice. The unit focuses on the importance of working in partnership with women and collaborating with other health professionals to support informed decision-making and positive outcomes. Through engagement with the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) National Midwifery Guidelines for Consultation and Referral (2021), you will gain confidence in recognising when consultation or referral is needed and learn how to navigate collaborative care pathways. This will strengthen your clinical reasoning, and support the development of safe, evidence-informed decisions that are responsive to the needs of women experiencing complex care situations.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisites: Normal Childbearing 2 Sociocultural Contexts of Midwifery Care Pharmacology Across the Childbearing Continuum 1 Co-requisite: Professional Midwifery Practice 4
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 2. Oral Examination | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
No previous feedback available
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Interpret the physiological, psychological, and sociocultural factors contributing to complexity across the childbearing continuum, and evaluate their impact on the woman, neonate, and family
- Analyse the care required for a woman experiencing complexity during the childbearing continuum
- Apply the Australian College of Midwives National Midwifery Guidelines for Consultation and Referral to support timely collaboration and decision-making
- Critically analyse contemporary evidence, clinical guidelines, and professional frameworks to support midwifery care for women experiencing complexities during pregnancy, labour, birth, and the postnatal period.
The unit content and learning outcomes will address the following:
The ANMAC Midwifery Accreditation Standards (2021)
Standard 1: Safety of the public
Standard 3: Program of study
The NMBA Midwife Standards for Practice (2018)
Standard 1: Promotes evidence-based maternal health and wellbeing
Standard 2: Engages in respectful partnerships and professional relationships
Standard 3: Demonstrates the capability and accountability for midwifery practice
Standard 4: Undertakes comprehensive assessments
Standard 5: develops a plan for midwifery practice
Standard 6: Provides safe and quality midwifery practice
Standard 7: Evaluates outcomes to improve midwifery practice
The NMBA Code of Conduct for Midwives (2018)
Principle 1: Legal compliance
Principle 2: Woman-centred practice
Principle 3: Cultural practice and respectful relationships
Principle 4: Professional behaviour
Principle 7: Health and wellbeing
The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) International Code of Ethics for Midwives (2014)
1. Midwifery relationships
2. Practice of midwifery
3. The professional responsibilities of midwives
4. Advancement of midwifery knowledge and practice
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (2021)
Clinical governance
Partnering with consumers
Preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infection
Medication safety
Comprehensive care
Communicating for safety
Blood management
Recognising and responding to acute deterioration
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Oral Examination | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | • | ||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |