都柏林圣三一學院

What is a Midwife and Midwifery?

The term ‘midwife’ means ‘with woman’. As a midwife, you will be helping women and their families at one of the most crucial times of their lives, supporting the woman during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-natal period. Midwives play a vital role in promoting and maintaining health, facilitating normal childbirth and helping women make informed choices about their care. The midwife is the key professional providing continuity of care and promoting choice and control to women in pregnancy and birth, and to women and their babies following birth. The core concepts of the midwifery profession are of:

• Normality – childbirth is viewed as a normal event in the life cycle, a normal healthy event
• Woman-centred – the focus of midwifery practice is pregnant women and their families and delivering care in woman-centred maternity services.
• Respect: midwifery care is delivered in a manner that respects the uniqueness and dignity of each person regardless of culture or religion.
• Partnership – partnership between the woman and the midwife is fundamental to midwifery practice. It is based on mutual trust, support and collaboration, which facilitates informed choice and decision-making and the empowerment of both the woman and the midwife.
• Client first – decisions about an individual midwife’s scope of practice should always be made with the woman’s and her family’s best interests foremost and in the interest of promoting and maintaining best quality maternity services for women and their families.
• Evidence based – midwifery practice is based on the best available evidence.
• Advocacy – midwifery practice involves advocacy for the individual woman and her family.

Midwifery: The course for you?

Midwives often describe their job as ‘privileged’. The role they have in preparing women for the birth of new life makes them a vital presence during all stages of pregnancy, labour and the early postnatal period.

This unique role is demanding and carries plenty of responsibility. However, a career in midwifery involves a great deal of professional and personal satisfaction.

If you want a rewarding and respected career with great employment and travel opportunities, then the professional course in midwifery could be for you.

There are two components to the midwifery degree course; a theoretical component and a midwifery practice component. Like all professional courses in health sciences, midwifery places extra demands on students’ time. It can be demanding, both physically and emotionally, and so you should ensure that you are in a position to fully engage with the course during your time in Trinity.

Midwifery @ Trinity

The School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity is the largest School of Nursing and Midwifery in the country. You will have the opportunity to meet and mix with students from Ireland and abroad and form cohesive bonds throughout your time with us. Midwifery students are taught theory predominantly in the School of Nursing and Midwifery building on D’Olier St, which is a wonderful historic building in the heart of the capital.

Graduate skills and career opportunities

On completion of this course, the student will be eligible to apply for registration as a midwife on the midwives division of the Nurses and Midwives Register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. The course offers an excellent foundation for career advancement in midwifery and further health related studies. It facilitates learning across wide and varied experiences and promotes flexibility for employment within and outside the health services.