Becoming a Midwife
While being a Midwife is more than just delivering babies, witnessing the start of a new life every day is one of its greatest rewards. Midwifery is an exciting and evolving profession in the health care sector and has much to offer as a career choice.
As a Midwife, you will be providing care, education, advice and support to women throughout their pregnancy, during childbirth and into the early weeks after the baby is born. While the majority of women will experience a normal pregnancy and birth, you will be trained to arrange appropriate medical assistance and implement emergency measures when they are needed and will have the skills and knowledge to detect complications that may develop for a mother and her baby. You will work as part of a team, liaising with other healthcare professionals to provide the best care for childbearing women. One of the benefits that you will enjoy as a Midwife is the flexibility of both working independently and as part of a team.
A career in Midwifery could see you working in the community, in birthing units, in hospitals or in women's homes, employed by the NSW health system or working in private health care. As a Midwife, you can pursue further opportunities to become involved in education or hold a management position in a health facility.
While Midwives are as diverse in character as the women and families they care for, they share the common qualities of compassion, tolerance and understanding. As a Midwife, each day will be as unpredictable as the next. It is a demanding career but one where you will experience great satisfaction and fulfillment on a daily basis.
There are two career paths for becoming a Midwife in NSW.
One is by completing a Bachelor of Midwifery at university. You can apply for this course if you are 17 years or over and have completed your HSC with an appropriate Universities Admission Index (UAI) or equivalent. The university undergraduate course incorporates midwifery theory, science and clinical practice. The hands-on practical experience begins within the first few weeks of the course.
Check with the Universities Admissions Centre to see if the university offers a Bachelor of Midwifery degree and for each university's entry prerequisites. Most universities require you to have studied English, Mathematics and at least one Science subject as part of your HSC. In some cases you may also need a First Aid Certificate. For further information on university courses on offer go to www.uac.edu.au
Alternatively, you can become a Registered Nurse then become a Midwife by completing a postgraduate midwifery qualification at university.
