Nina's revalidation story

Nina is a Band 6 midwife working full time in a continuity of care team.

Area of practice

Nina has been a midwife for five years. She’s currently a Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor for student midwives.

“We have regular allocations of student midwives and receive really positive feedback about their experiences working within the team and delivering continuity of care for women, their newborn infants and their families.”

Preparing for revalidation

Next year Nina will revalidate for the second time. She has reflected on what she’s learnt and what she needs to develop.

“I’m really pleased that Domain two of the new Standards of proficiency for midwives is all about continuity of care so that new midwives will at the point of registration get to work in these teams.

“However, there are some skills within the standards that I need to further develop - particularly the full systematic examination of the newborn.”

Practice hours

“As I work full time, I’ve been able to easily meet the practice hours requirement for my revalidation application.

"I’ve just found out I am pregnant, so I will need to make sure that I have enough practice hours to meet the requirements next time I revalidate when I return to work part-time after maternity leave.”

Feedback

“We regularly receive practice evaluations from student midwives so I can see if any refer to me and use those.

“I keep all the lovely ‘thank you’ cards from the women and families I have cared for. Also, recently a colleague sent me an email thanking me for the support I gave her when she was having a challenging time recently."

Continuing professional developing (CPD)

Nina’s reflected on the range of opportunities she’s had to develop her skills and knowledge over the last few years.

“I’ve attended some online conferences over the last two years and have written summaries of what I heard and learned at the conference. I continue to subscribe to a journal and get ‘Midwives’ regularly as a member of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). This keeps me up to date with developments in midwifery and maternity care around the UK and the latest research.

“I’ve also been asked to represent the unit on the local Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) group to ensure that our teams are reflecting the needs, preferences and decisions of women, their partners and families.

"I’ve also completed all the mandatory training requirements online which has been beneficial.”

After receiving an update from the NMC about the Future Midwife standards, Nina thought about the areas she wanted to develop in.

“I've read the standards through and have identified a few areas that I would like some development in, particularly on equality and diversity, identifying signs of unconscious bias, genomics, epigenetics and full systematic physical examination of the newborn infant. I will talk this through with my line manager to see how I can be supported to develop in these areas.

“I’m really excited that we are now having student midwives allocated to the continuity of care team. I must make sure they attend the team meetings so they have a real opportunity to influence how the team develops.”

Reflective accounts

“I seem to have written a mixture of reflections this time for my revalidation.

“Some focus around team working and others on practice events, but communication, sharing information and relationship building are common themes.

“In one I was able to reflect on being involved with a woman and her partner who had a very poor experience during their first birth. They found their birth experience for their second baby a very positive one.

“I also reflected on the emergency transfer of a woman from our midwife-led unit (MLU) to labour ward. All ended well, but it was important to the woman and her partner to debrief after what was for them an unexpected event. I wanted to ensure they understood what had happened and to answer any questions they had honestly and to the best of my ability.”

Reflective discussion

Nina arranged to have her reflective discussion with a colleague she has known for a number of years.

“She has recently completed her Masters degree, so I am sure will be able to talk through the evidence supporting my reflections and give me some ideas of continuing professional development opportunities.”

Confirmation

“The team leader of the continuity of care team is my line manager so she will confirming that all my revalidation requirements are met. We’ve got an appointment in the diary ahead of the revalidation date just in case anything is outstanding.”

Final thoughts

“It has been very straightforward as I’ve been keeping my notes and documents for revalidation up to date over the last three years. I need to just keep a careful record of my hours when I return from maternity leave, so that I meet the revalidation requirements next time too.”