Midwifery

These inherent requirements apply to the following course: Bachelor of Midwifery.

Every occupation, including midwifery, has certain characteristics that are integral to their profession. Caring for women and their families during pregnancy, labour and birth can be emotionally challenging as well as physically strenuous. Many of the activities associated with the professional practice of midwifery are time sensitive. The capacity to perform certain activities by students and registered midwives within specified time limits is required to reduce or avoid risks to the safety and wellbeing of women and/or their newborns. The safety and wellbeing of students and others is always of paramount importance. Students are required to undertake placement activities in culturally diverse environments which reflect the Australian health care context. Successfully completing the course enables the student to apply for registration as a registered midwife with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA), which is a partner board of the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Authority (AHPRA).

Prospective and current students who are concerned about their capacities in relation to inherent requirements are strongly encouraged to contact the CDU Access and Inclusion team to discuss possible adjustments or alternative courses.

E: inclusion@cdu.edu.au

These inherent requirements should be read in conjunction with other course information and related material such as the course structure and study plan, as well as Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia publications such as Guidelines for Mandatory Notifications, A Midwife's Guide to Professional Boundaries and Midwife Standards for Practice. 

There are 10 domains of inherent requirements for the Bachelor of Midwifery.

Each domain has five levels: 

1. Introduction
2. Description
3. Justification
4. Adjustments
5. Exemplars 

Acting in ways consistent with the recognised values of society and avoiding activities that do harm.
In the context of inherent requirements, students undertaking a course of study may be governed by practice standards and codes of ethics.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery is a profession governed by standards of practice, codes of ethics, professional conduct and professional boundaries where midwives are both accountable and responsible for ensuring professional behaviour in all contexts.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   The student demonstrates knowledge of and engages in ethical behaviour in practice.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Compliance with the codes, guidelines and policies facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they engage. This ensures the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of the individual is not placed at risk.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must not compromise codes of conduct or result in unethical behaviour.
5. Exemplars:
   • Complying with academic and non-academic misconduct policy
   • Demonstrating appropriate behaviour with confidential information in classroom and practice settings
   • Demonstrating appropriate behaviour when working with women from diverse backgrounds.

The maintenance of conduct that is acceptable and appropriate, according to the recognised norms of society over a given period.

1. Introduction
   Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in a demanding role.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in a diverse and changing academic and practice environment.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in changing and unpredictable environments. Midwifery students will be exposed to a woman's private and emotionally charged pregnancy, labour and birth and post birth period which may include complex and emergency situations. Midwifery students will be required to have behavioural stability to manage these events objectively and professionally.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in both academic and practice settings.
5. Exemplars:
   • Being receptive and responding appropriately to constructive feedback
   • Coping effectively with own emotions and behaviour when working with women and their families during their maternity experience.

Related to the law. In the context of inherent requirements, this refers to the legal requirements of professional bodies relevant to specific courses of study.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery practice is mandated by specific legislation to enable the safe delivery of care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates knowledge and compliance with Australian Law, professional regulations and scope of practice.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Knowledge, understanding, and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements are necessary pre-requisites to clinical practice placements in order to reduce the risk of harm to self and others. Compliance with these professional regulations and the Australian Law ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must be consistent with legislative and regulatory requirements.
5. Exemplars:
   • Complying with relevant child protection and safety legislation
   • Complying with relevant drugs and poisons legislation.

Verbal communication: Conveying messages, ideas, or feelings through speech.

1. Introduction
   Effective and efficient verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement to provide safe delivery of care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • The ability to understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately and in a timely manner
   • The ability to provide clear instructions in the context of the situation
   • The ability to provide timely clear feedback and reporting.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Verbal communication may be the only available means of communication between midwife and women/others. Speed and interactivity of communication may be critical for individual safety or treatment. Timely, accurate and effective delivery of instructions is critical to individual safety, treatment and management.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments for impaired verbal communication must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues to ensure safety and appropriate care.
5. Exemplars:
   • Participating in tutorial, simulation and clinical discussions
   • Responding appropriately to a care request in the practice environment.

Non-verbal communication: Communication other than speech that conveys meaning including gestures and facial expressions, body posture, stance, touch, eye movements, eye contact and distance from the person/s with whom you are communicating. Non-verbal cues can provide significant additional information to the person with whom you are communicating.

1. Introduction
   Effective non-verbal communication is fundamental to midwifery and needs to be respectful, clear, attentive, empathetic, honest, and non-judgmental.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • The capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues
   • Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours
   • Sensitivity to individual differences.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic and professional relationships. Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time, boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic and professional relationships. Being sensitive to individual differences displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships. The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues is essential for safe and effective observation of a woman's and/or newborn's symptoms and reactions to facilitate the assessment and treatment of women and/or their newborn.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must enable the recognition, initiation of, or appropriate response to, effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner.
5. Exemplars:
   • Recognising and responding appropriately in classroom situations
   • Recognising and responding appropriately to cues in the practice environment.

Written communication: Communication by written symbols including electronic means, print or handwriting.

1. Introduction
   Effective written communication (in English) is a fundamental midwifery responsibility with professional and legal ramifications.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • Capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances
   • The capacity to use a range of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to complete academic assessment requirements.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Construction of written text-based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards is necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice. Accurate written communication, including record-keeping and women's and newborns' notes, is vital to provide consistent and safe midwifery care.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy, and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and practical settings.
5. Exemplars:
   • Constructing an essay to academic standards
   • Documenting midwifery notes in a woman's maternity record in a timely manner that meets professional standards.

The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through one's thoughts, experience, and senses.

Knowledge and cognitive skills: Acquired skills that reflect an individual's ability to think. Cognitive skills include verbal and spatial abilities, concentration, memory, perception, reasoning, planning and organisation, flexible thinking, and problem solving.

1. Introduction
   Consistent and effective knowledge and cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and competent midwifery care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
   • Ability to process information relevant to practice
   • Integrate and implement knowledge in practice.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Safe and effective delivery of midwifery care is based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded.
5. Exemplars:
   • Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items
   • Applying knowledge of policy and procedures in the practice setting.

Literacy (language): This relates to the ability to acquire, understand, and apply information in a scholarly manner.

1. Introduction
   Competent literacy skills are essential to provide safe and effective delivery of care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • The ability to accurately acquire information and convey appropriate, effective written and verbal messages
   • The ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
   • The capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment, and delivery of care. The ability to read, decode, interpret, and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective delivery of midwifery care.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments to address literacy issues must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply, and communicate accurate information.
5. Exemplars:
   • Demonstrating the ability to convey a spoken message accurately
   • Paraphrasing, summarising, and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic conventions in written assignments
   • Producing accurate, concise, and clear midwifery documentation which meets legal requirements.

Numeracy: This relates to the ability to understand and work with numbers.

1. Introduction
   Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential for safe and effective care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student interprets and correctly applies data, measurements, calculations, and numerical criteria.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Competent application of numeracy skills is essential in midwifery to facilitate the safe and effective delivery of midwifery care.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must enable the demonstration of a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner.
5. Exemplars:
   • Performing accurate drug calculations
   • Demonstrating accurate recording on a fluid balance chart.

Actively listening to someone express their thoughts, feelings or experiences and showing understanding by consciously responding through skills such as paraphrasing, summarising or mirroring.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery practice requires self-awareness and a capacity for reflectivity in order to consider the effect of one's own issues, actions, values and behaviours on practice.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • The ability to accurately reflect on their professional performance
   • The ability to accept feedback on their professional practice and respond constructively. 
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Participation in clinical assessments during and at completion of clinical practice blocks as well as reflective case study assessments are key teaching strategies in midwifery education which requires well developed understanding of oneself in order to appropriately engage in these activities. Working with women while on placement and understanding and responding to them requires well developed understanding of oneself and the ability to effectively manage one's reactions to situations that may arise. The Bachelor of Midwifery is a practice ready qualification which means that there is an emphasis on reflection embedded throughout the curriculum. It is important that students have the capacity and are open to, engaging in reflection to support the transference of theory to practice.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must not compromise the student's ability to demonstrate an acceptable minimum level of capacity in this area.
5. Exemplars:
   • Identifying when a practice issue is outside one's scope or expertise or when one's practice and the care given may be negatively affected by personal experience and/or reactions.

Personal skills required to interact appropriately with others with the aim of building and maintaining healthy, productive relationships. Skills include empathy, trustworthiness, patience, active listening, approachability, and reliability.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery practice requires the ability to make and maintain strong relationships with women, families and communities.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates:
   • The ability to establish and maintain rapport with women, academic staff, facilitators and peers
   • The ability to engage in effective and empathic listening skills
   • Ability to engage and relate appropriately in individual and group clinical supervision and experiential learning groups.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Highly developed relational skills are a cornerstone of active listening that enables effective and safe assessment and care.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must not compromise the student's ability to demonstrate an acceptable level of effective relational skills.
5. Exemplars:
   • Rapidly building rapport with a woman in order to engage them during pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum
   • Effectively using relational and interpersonal skills to manage relationships with women and midwives while on placement.

The way a person recognises external stimuli - through sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.

Visual

1. Introduction
   Adequate visual acuity is required to provide safe and effective midwifery care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates sufficient visual acuity to perform the required range of skills.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient visual acuity is necessary to demonstrate the required range of skills, tasks and assessments to maintain consistent, accurate and safe care to self and others.
   Visual observations, examination and assessment are fundamental to safe and effective midwifery practice.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must address the need to perform the full range of tasks involved in the practice setting. Any strategies to address the effects of vision impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise safety or treatment.
5. Exemplars:
   • Accurately drawing up medication to administer
   • Observing and detecting subtle changes in a newborn's colour.

Auditory

1. Introduction
   Adequate auditory acuity is required to provide safe and effective midwifery care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates sufficient aural function to undertake the required range of skills.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient auditory ability is necessary to monitor, assess and manage a woman and newborn's health needs consistently and accurately. Auditory assessments and observations are fundamental to safe and effective midwifery practice.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must address the need to perform the full range of tasks involved in clinical practice. Any strategies to address the effects of the hearing impairment must be effective, consistent and not compromise treatment or safety.
5. Exemplars:
   • Accurately undertaking a blood pressure measurement by auscultation
   • Detecting the non-verbal sounds made by a woman in labour which may indicate birthing was in progress.

Tactile

1. Introduction
   Sufficient tactile ability is required to perform competent and safe midwifery care.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates sufficient tactile function to undertake the required range of skills and assessments.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient tactile ability is necessary to monitor, assess and detect a woman's physical and pregnancy related characteristics and act on any deviation detected to provide thorough midwifery care. Tactile assessments and observations are fundamental to safe and effective midwifery practice.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must have the capacity to make effective assessments of physical characteristics and abnormalities within safe time frames.
5. Exemplars:
   • Detecting any changes in circulation observations (e.g. temperature and pulse palpation)
   • Conducting an abdominal palpation during labour and detecting deviations from normal (e.g. breech presentation).

Gross motor skills: The use of large muscle groups that coordinate body movements for activities such as walking, lifting, pushing, pulling, and maintaining balance.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery involves physical demands and requires gross motor function.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates the ability to perform gross motor skills to function within scope of practice.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient gross motor skills are necessary to perform, coordinate and prioritise care. Tasks that involve gross motor skills include lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, standing, twisting, and bending. Students must be able to demonstrate and perform these tasks consistently and safely to reduce the risk of harm to self and others.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments should facilitate functional effectiveness, safety of self and others and a capacity to provide appropriate care.
5. Exemplars:
   • Maintaining balance while safely mobilising and transferring women, or newborns or resources
   • Able to safely retrieve and utilise stock and equipment.

Fine motor skills: The ability to undertake precise coordinated movements of the hands for activities such as writing and manipulating small objects.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery is a profession that requires manual dexterity and fine motor skills.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Student demonstrates the ability to use fine motor skills to provide safe effective care.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient fine motor skills are necessary to perform, coordinate and prioritise care. Tasks that involve fine motor skills include being able to grasp, press, push, turn, squeeze and manipulate various objects and individuals. Midwifery students must be able to demonstrate and perform these tasks consistently and safely to reduce the risk of harm to self and others.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments should facilitate functional effectiveness, safety to self and others and a capacity to provide appropriate care.
5. Exemplars:
   • Performing the insertion of a urinary catheter
   • Able to prime, accurately insert and set prescribed rate on an infusion device.

The ability to undertake a task/s over a pre-determined length of time. This could include physical performance such as standing for a length of time, or cognitive (mental) performance such as concentrating for a particular length of time.

1. Introduction
   Midwifery practice requires both physical and mental performance at a consistent and sustained level to meet individual needs over time.
2. Description of inherent requirement
   Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time. The ability to perform repetitive activities with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately. The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time is necessary to provide safe practice.
3. Justification of inherent requirement
   Sufficient physical and mental endurance is an essential requirement needed to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective care.
4. Adjustments
   Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period.
5. Exemplars:
   • Participating in tutorials, lectures and skill development throughout the day
   • Providing consistent care over a negotiated period of time.