This month’s blog I am in unbelievably high spirits because after months of working so hard in the hospital to commence my second year, I am finally back to uni! Because of the need for thorough hands on experience in order to qualify as a midwife I spend more time working with my mentors in the different midwifery areas than I actually do in university studying. Like every other uni student, I still have to attend lectures and seminars and I still have to do coursework, essays and sit exams but unlike other degree courses, I only have to study for about 4 months in the whole academic year. Some might see this as ideal and although I love my time in placement, the major stress and exhaustion of all those 12 and a half hour shifts make coming back to City feel like a holiday!
Being in uni, my timetable is very much the same as all other uni students; I have about 3 main lectures a week for my three modules and then smaller seminar groups where we can discuss the previous lectures’ topics in more detail. At the moment, I am studying a sexual health in midwifery module, a skills module to prepare me for my upcoming OSCEs and a module on the biology of midwifery. For those of you who don’t know what an OSCE is, it’s the type of exam that strikes fear into the heart of any health student. Because so many of the skills needed to be a good midwife cant be taught in a classroom, after a year of spending time in the hospitals and developing our own way of practising, we are then assessed on these skills through a practice examination aka an OCSE. Over the course of the module, our knowledge on the basic practical skills required in midwifery (for example vaginal examinations to assess progress of labour, recognising when a woman’s condition is deteriorating etc.) is consolidated and perfected and we are then tested on 2 random “stations” testing some of these skills. Unlike City nursing students, student midwives don’t do OSCE’s until second year and so this will be the first time I will have ever done an examination like this before! The stress of this, exacerbated by a complex biology exam and a workbook to be completed, mean the next few months are going to be full of hard work. But if I can make it through months of the hustle and bustle of a London maternity unit, I know I can tackle anything.
Having a little more time to myself now I am back at uni is allowing me to get back into the things I love that I have neglected whilst I’ve been on placement. I’m beginning to get back into my yoga classes and have even considered joining the gym (this is how crazy coming back to uni makes me). I have plans to get back involved with the societies I’ve been involved with around campus- the midwifery society (what else) runs loads of events that are really interesting and very helpful for me as a midwifery student so I am keen to get more involved in these and maybe even rejoin one of the sports societies.
The next few weeks for me is going to be full of relaxing laughs with all my cohort now we are back together coupled with a lot of hard work and maybe even a gym workout? I hope this good mood lasts because it’s a great new year for me so far!
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