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Unit Synopsis
This unit is the fifth in a structured sequence of six Professional Midwifery Practice units within the Bachelor of Midwifery program. It builds on the knowledge gained in Professional Midwifery Practice 1, 2, 3, and 4, and develops your understanding of the midwife’s role in caring for women experiencing complexities across the childbearing continuum. The unit supports the expansion of your clinical midwifery skills and experience in managing complexity, focusing on ethical, safe, and inclusive woman-centred care. You will apply knowledge of complex physiological and psychosocial factors affecting women across the childbearing continuum to inform assessment, planning, provision, and evaluation of care. This unit includes a compulsory five-day residential school, consisting of two days of online learning and three days of face-to-face clinical skills development. Successful completion of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) during the residential school is required to progress to the Midwifery Professional Experience (MPE) placement component. To meet clinical requirements, you must complete a minimum of 240 hours of supervised practicum and maintain documentation of your Continuity of Care Experiences (COCE), demonstrating developing competence and reflective learning across the childbearing continuum.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 12 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.25 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisites: Professional Midwifery Practice 4 Midwifery Practice for First Nations Families Complex Childbearing 1 Co-requisites: Complex Childbearing 2 Psychosocial Contexts of Midwifery Care
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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit 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 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 2. Reflective Practice Assignment | 50% |
| 3. Portfolio | 0% |
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:
- Critically integrate midwifery knowledge, principles of cultural safety and inclusivity, and digital health technologies to deliver evidence-informed care for women experiencing physiological complexities across the childbearing continuum
- Formulate comprehensive, woman-centred care plans that integrate clinical assessment, ethical considerations, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the Australian College of Midwives National Midwifery Guidelines for Consultation and Referral to support women experiencing complexity in the childbearing continuum
- Critically reflect on clinical learning related to Midwifery Professional Experience and Continuity of Care Experiences to enhance midwifery practice
- Demonstrate continued development and consolidation of midwifery competence through the application of knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours consistent with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Midwife Standards for Practice (2018).
The unit content and learning outcomes will meet the following:
The ANMAC Midwife 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 plans 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 5: Teaching, supervising, and assessing
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 standard
Preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infection standard
Medication safety standard
Comprehensive care standard
Communicating for safety standard
Blood management standard
Recognising and responding to acute deterioration standard
The Nursing and Midwifery Digital Health Framework (2020)
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Portfolio | • | • | • | |
| 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 | |