well, I definately havent always been supernumary however i don't really think that this impacts on my learning experience in a negative way, quite the opposite, it enhances it!

It means, I am able to develop my confidence with women without feeling like i am being watched all the time. If I need to know anything i will always seek out my mentor who will help and come and check what i need. At the end of the shift i always go home and write down anything that has happened that i didnt understand and will always ask the next time i go in for clarification of anything i am still unsure of.

I know there are some that think this could be unsafe as i am practising unchecked. But i dont see it that way. I have built up a relationship with my main mentor over a year, and she trusts my abilities to deal with 'the normal' and trusts that i will ask when i am not!

I know there are certain periods of time in the year that the unit doesnt have any students in, and i sometimes wish i was a fly on the wall! Midwives are able to care for 3 women at a time usually because they have a student. However, when they dont I just dont understand how the unit runs within safe parameters. It worries me!!

I have really heard both sides of the story as im sure we all have. The mothers complain that the MW's aren't around to help, and the MW's know that they aren't helping and supporting mothers as much as they want to, but can't as they are streched too thin on the ground. It is a viscious never ending cycle that will only be resolved when more money is ploughed into maternity services, or the litigation budget is cut and money not paid out for spurious waste of time cases.

As students although we are not supernumery i dont believe we are unpaid workforce either. We get an NHS bursary which as we all know does not go a long way, and is way below the minimum wage when all is said is done, but we do get paid none the less. I love being part of the workforce and going home each day knowing that i have made a difference to a womans experience of maternity services, and making a difference to the team i am working in that day by lightening the load as much as i can.

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Site Administrator, Student Mentor Scheme Manager

STMW 2nd year - no, really!

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