Support the journey of pregnancy, birth and beyond
Prepare to work as a registered midwife, giving women the necessary support and care during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period.
Prepare to work as a registered midwife, giving women the necessary support and care during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period.
In this program, you’ll gain a strong understanding of the social, cultural, spiritual, psychological and physical experiences of women to provide quality maternity care. You’ll study holistic assessment in midwifery; the nature of woman-centred midwifery practice; midwifery care across the childbearing continuum; legal and ethical requirements; bioscience and anatomy and physiology; research and evidenced based practice.
In this program you will:
- Learn how to provide woman-centred, evidence-based care to women and their families
- Learn midwifery skills in a simulated environment with state-of-the-art technology
- Gain practical experience through placements at clinics, maternity services, and private midwifery practices
- Engage with 10 women across the continuum of care, from antenatal visits, to labour and birth, and postnatal visits
- Learn from dedicated midwives, educators, and researchers
During the program, in addition to 10 continuity of care experiences, you will complete a minimum of 700 midwifery practice hours. In some cases, additional practice hours may be undertaken to complete all the Midwifery Practice Experiences required for the program.
Students who are Registered Nurses in Australia with a degree in Nursing are eligible to apply for credit to follow the Registered Nurse Pathway. Students who wish to apply for the RN Pathway must submit an application for credit transfer, including their Nursing academic transcript and evidence of current RN registration with AHPRA.
Post-admission requirements
Before undertaking clinical placement, students must obtain and maintain a current first aid and CPR certificate, provide evidence of hepatitis B and a number of other immunisations, undergo a criminal history check and obtain a Blue Card. Refer to clinical placement details for more information.
Career opportunities
- Registered midwife in hospital or community settings, metropolitan, rural and remote locations or private practice midwife, midwifery educator and researcher.
Membership
Australian College of Midwives.
Registration
Graduates are eligible to apply for registration a midwife in Australia with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, which is a Board of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia has a number of registration standards that graduates must demonstrate in order to be eligible for registration. For example, graduates must demonstrate English language skills at IELTS level 7, with 7 in all subtests, or equivalent before being considered for professional registration. For full details of the AHPRA Registration Standards, visit the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia website.
Program structure
Introductory courses (10) 120 units
HLT100 Clinical placement I
HLT103 Special Research Project
HLT121 Anatomy and Physiology
HLT122 Professional Health Communication
HLT123 Midwifery Foundations
HLT131 Developing Midwifery
HLT132 Midwifery Practice 1
LFS103 Practice Principles for Midwifery and Nursing
NUR121 Comprehensive Assessment in Midwifery
NUR131 Introductory Bioscience
Developing and Graduate courses (11) 144 units
HLT201 Health, Culture and Society
HLT202 Research Foundations for Health Practice
HLT203 Therapeutics in Midwifery
HLT301 Midwifery Practice 2Δ
HLT310 Advancing Midwifery
HLT311 Contexts of Practice: Mental Health Care
HLT312 Leadership and Governance in Maternity Care(24 units)
NUR212 Midwifery Practice 3
NUR222 Midwifery Internship
NUR231 Contexts of practice: child, youth and family
NUR332 Health, Law and Ethics
Electives (2) 24 units
Select 2 elective courses (24 units) from:
NUR241 Disease Management and Control
NUR312
NUR322
Δ refer Program notes
Note: Program structures are subject to change. Not all USC courses are available on every USC campus.
Total units: 288
Program requirements and notes
Program requirements
In order to graduate students must:
- Successfully complete 288 units as outlined in the Program Structure
In order to commence clinical placement you must:
- Hold a valid Suitability Card (Blue Card), throughout the duration of your program, which is issued by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian (CCYPCG). You should allow 12 weeks for CCYPCG to issue the card. Note: students who do not possess a valid Blue Card will be unable to complete the clinical practice component of their program and will be unable to meet graduation requirements.
- have a National Criminal History check (by Queensland Police Service or other state/territory authority)
- show evidence of complete Hepatitis B vaccination (3 inoculations over a period of six months)
- hold a current First Aid and CPR certificate from an organisation recognised by the Australian Resuscitation Council
Note: You are required to commence action of the above requirements immediately after enrolling. Hepatitis B immunity can take up to six months to determine and the processing of your USC Blue Card Application Form can take up to 10 weeks. Visit Nursing and Midwifery - Clinical Placement for more information about these requirements before you apply.
Students are expected to:
- travel to attend supernumerary clinical placements and attend the full range of clinical shifts in placement areas
- make time commitment to completing the required clinical requirements including midwifery continuity of care experiences; students are required to complete 10 continuity of care experiences with women and their families, which will mean engagement in the program across the full calendar year and periods of on-call
- incur costs relating to clinical placement such as travel, parking and uniform
- have a level of computer literacy, including word processing and email
- Attend courses offered in Sessions (where applicable
Program notes
- Completing this program within the specified (full-time) duration is based on studying 48 unit points per semester (normally 4 courses) and undertaking some courses in Session 4 (Winter) or Session 8 (Summer) and following the recommended study sequence
- The unit value of all courses is 12 units unless otherwise specified
- It is each students responsibility to enrol correctly according to your course requisites, program rules and requirements and be aware of the academic calendar dates
- Courses within this program are assessed using a variety of assessment methods including, for example, essays, seminar presentations, reports, in-class tests, and examinations
- Refer to the Managing your progression page for help in understanding your program structure, reviewing your progress and planning remaining courses
- The Bachelor of Midwifery program does not support concurrent enrolment with the Bachelor of Nursing Science or Bachelor of Paramedic Science
- Teaching sessions include Semester 1, Semester 2, Session 4 and Session 8
- For Sippy Downs students some courses in this program will be taught at the Sunshine Coast Health Institute