| Giving Birth to Midwives Newsletter March 2012 |
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Greetings!,
Greetings!
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to reach out to you! The AME Board of Directors is looking forward to meeting some of you at the upcoming CPM Symposium! For those of you who cannot attend, you have the opportunity to view the event as it is happening via Livestream (check out the link to the right). Don't miss this exciting event! Our future newsletter themes will evolve directly out of this Symposium.
The theme for this newsletter is The New Midwifery Student. We have some wonderful articles from both faculty and students! We hope you find this newsletter valuable! AME will be sending the Giving Birth to Midwives e-newsletter about four times a year. If you are not already a member I hope you feel inspired to join AME and be a part of our growing community. Our membership fees are very reasonable - a small investment in the future of midwifery education. Click here to join now or read more about membership on our website.
Enjoy (and forward on)!
-Stephanie Safholm, AME Board of Directors
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Letter from the New President of AME
Dear AME members:
Thank you for joining AME. You are a member because you believe, like we do, that helping educate new midwives is the most important way we can contribute to the survival of our profession. Every year we are grateful for the quality of people who have chosen to study midwifery and committed to give them a sound academic curriculum and clinical preparation to best serve their communities.
I appreciate your confidence in selecting me as your new President. Following in Mary Yglesia's footsteps will be a challenge. Mary's leadership brought us from our baby steps 6 years ago to where we are today: annual presenters at the MANA conference for the past 5 years, with a great website, an electronically published newsletter, starting the Peer Review Research Journal, an online vehicle for publishing student research, and co-hosting with NACPM the ambitious CPM Symposium 2012 - CPMs and Midwifery Educators: Contributing to a New Era in Maternity Care, which will take place March 16-19, 2012 at Airlie Center, in Warrenton, VA. I am thankful that Mary will continue to contribute her expertise as Board Secretary.
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Symposium 2012
CPMs and Midwifery Educators: Contributing to a New Era in Maternity Care
March 16-19, 2012 at the Airlie Conference Center, Warrenton, VA
Imagine ... 3 days with colleagues and friends in an idyllic country setting, delving deeply into our professional opportunities and challenges, examining cutting edge thinking about health care and education with experts in public policy, legislation, and business, exploring global and national trends and learning from our peers who are breaking new ground in policy, practice and education. Whether attending in person or by live streaming, participants will be able to earn a total of 11 contact hours of continuing education (1.1 CEUs) through MEAC. To find out more about the Symposium, to register to attend in person or live stream the Symposium at home on your own computer, visit us on the web at: www.cpmsymposium.com.
CPM Symposium 2012 is co-hosted by the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM) and AME. The purpose of this event is to inspire and engage NACPM and AME members as well as other CPMs, midwifery educators and allies to examine the opportunities and challenges facing us as CPMs and educators, today and in the future.
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Learning the Pelvic Exam: A New Student's Perspective
by Eve German
I'll never forget the day I found out I'd been accepted to the midwifery school of my choice: Bastyr University. For two years it had been a goal, a dream. Then one April day (while standing in a public bathroom actually) I got the message that I'd been accepted, and all at once the dream was real. Just five short months later I was through orientation and sitting in my first Well Woman Health and Assessment class.
We were all nervous and excited that day, each of us so eager to prove ourselves, wanting to be accepted by our classmates, and hoping for a sign that everything we had and would yet sacrifice to this would somehow be worth it: that we were doing the right thing with our lives, and that we really were meant to be midwives.
The overall purpose of our well woman class was to teach us 1) the art of client-led interviewing in obtaining a woman's initial history, and 2) learning correct technique and a general flow in performing a physical exam. Our two instructors-Helen Gabel CNM, and Melissa Denmark CPM-worked really hard to teach us didactically, and to alleviate the different challenges, fears, and insecurities that we as new students were facing. We didn't want to hurt the models or make them feel uncomfortable in any way.
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Integrating New Students into your Midwifery Program
By Justine Clegg, MS, LM, CPM
Helping new students succeed in their chosen midwifery program starts long before they show up for the first day of class. Holding recurring community Information Sessions for prospective students helps them to understand the role and responsibility of a midwife and what will be required of them during their clinical training. Someone who is drawn to midwifery after being with a friend or relative when she has her baby may fall in love with the romance and magic of birth but has not considered all the challenges and demands of midwifery. Being on call for births will require a supportive family, a reliable car, a flexible part-time job or the ability to survive financially without having to work while studying midwifery. The student needs the emotional maturity and sensitivity to care for women from many different backgrounds, through all kinds of situations, especially the unforeseen outcomes like emergency management, pregnancy loss, verbal abuse by medical personnel during a transport and potential lawsuits. It's our responsibility as educators to prepare our prospective students as completely as possible for all the challenges of midwifery, just as we prepare our prospective clients for the "what ifs" associated with birthing at home.
Read the full article here >
Resource: Academic Success Document (from the former Miami Dade program) PDF
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Talking it Out: A Preceptor's Reflections on Working with Students
By Ana Vollmar
In October, I spoke with midwife Stephanie Soderblom, CPM, LM, of Nurturing Hearts Birth Services in Mesa, AZ, about her experience incorporating students into her practice and fostering their clinical growth. Stephanie has been attending births since 1995, and is also a certified doula, childbirth educator, and lactation counselor. She has worked with ten students since starting her practice, and usually has two or three apprenticing at any given time.
Read the full article here>
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Sample Resource: Setting the Stage for Professional Electronic Communication for Student Midwives
By Stephanie Safholm, M.Ed.
At first glance, you might feel this article only applies to students in distance based or online midwifery programs. However, all student midwives will be communicating electronically with their school administrators, instructors, preceptors, professional organizations and clients. As an instructor or preceptor, you may have noticed that every year students are more savvy electronically, but that also that e-mail messages often resemble text messages!
At Bastyr University, new midwifery students participate in an online orientation one month before they start their actual courses. The orientation helps them navigate and practice in the online delivery system that they will be using during their courses. But another important aspect of getting them in the online system is to practice communicating with classmates and instructors. Bastyr University has a set of guidelines to better help students understand how to communicate in the academic and professional world.
If you would like to read the full guidelines, please view the PDF below.
Guidelines for Communicating Online at Bastyr (view PDF)
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE
We update our home page with new resources!
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VOLUNTEER WITH AME
AME is always looking for talented individuals to join us. If you are interested
in volunteering for a project or learning more about being on the Board of Directors, contact
Mary Yglesia at myglesia@bastyr.edu.
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Exciting News!
Can't attend the Symposium? It will be broadcasted via Livestream!
CEU's will also be available. Click here to be directed to the Symposium website for more information.
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Upcoming Educational Opportunities
The Applied Research Center is sponsoring two webinars ($35 each)
this spring:
March 15 - Changing the Conversation on Race
April 19 - Taking Real Steps Towards Racial Justice
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Receive the latest in Midwifery Education
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There is strength in sharing!
Consider contributing to our newsletter or resource page! Among us there is a wealth of expertise; sharing is the best way for us to strengthen midwifery education and form strong bonds between educators. Together we truly are greater than the sum of our parts. We would love your articles, resources or suggestions for themes or articles for the future. Contact us here if you have ideas or information to share.
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