Hello lovely ladies.. Ok, sorry in advance for the novel I am about to write.. I am currently a stay at home Mum with 3 young children, 5yrs, 3.5yrs and 16mths old.. I have been really struggling with what I want to do with my life, as the time has come to either re-join the work force or study.. Ever since having my children though, I have really felt my heart telling me, Midwifery is where I need to be.. I had a huge array of challenges/difficulties with all three pregnancies, births and post-natal care & during that time, I had some amazing Midwives, but I also experienced some absolute shockers, which I think is what has driven me to wanting to be a Midwife.. The amazing Midwives I had really made such a difference to how I was able to handle some situations, the shocking Midwives, well that's another story.. I really want to be able to help Mum's to be & new Mum's with whatever life's challenges may throw their way..
So I guess I would love to hear from any Midwives out there, with pretty much any information you can give me about being/becoming a Midwife.. Some of the more specific questions though I guess are (I live in Queensland as well, so I don't know how each state does things, if it varies or not?)
1. Hours of work, from what I have researched so far, you can choose between 8hr shifts 5 days a week or 12hr shifts 3 days a week? Is this correct?
2. How often are night shifts required on average, say over a one month period? (I understand weekend shifts will be required as well).
3. If I were to study my Bachelor of Midwifery only, can I still become a Clinical Midwife (as I would love to advance myself to become a Clinical Midwife), or do I need to have a Bachelor of Nursing under my belt before I can advance myself from Registered Midwife (I do not have a Bachelor in Nursing, not sure if I wish to study that either as my passion lays within Midwifery fields)?
4. What is I guess the base hourly rate of pay, based on a typical day shift? Or even, what is the starting annual wage for a Midwife?
5. Having a young family, I really want to be able to still spend plenty of time with them, so I guess how family friendly/flexible is Midwifery?
6. Is studying your Bachelor in Midwifery a fairly intense course? Would I be wiser to wait another year or two for my children to be a bit older before taking on the study?
7. I know there are many area's within Midwifery itself (birth suites, maternity ward, antenatal clinic's, home visits care from Midwives, etc). Is there a rotational roster for the different area's or do you choose an area to work in (such as birth suites for example) & that's pretty much where you stay, unless you choose to move (to say antenatal clinics) as an opening become available? ( I hope that makes sense)
Ok, well, that's all I can think of right now, if anyone has more information to give me on area's I have not covered, please feel free to do so..
Thank you so much in advance, I am looking forward to any & all info I get given.. :-)
4 Replies
Not sure how it works it Queensland but in wa you can do either a bachelor of nursing 3yrs thrn go on to do a masters or diploma of midwifery (2yrs or 1yr) ive done my bachelor of nursing and thinking about doing my mid. Here if your already and rn your prac u do for your mid you get paid base rate at level 1.1 which depends on where you work I get paid 29 something and hour. It took me 6 yrs all up to finish my degree I did it part time to be able to still spend time with my daughter I am a sole parent though. It was easier when my daughter was younger to study the older she got the harder it was. As far as Shifts go depends on the hospital, some you can negotiate yours hrs like permanent earlies or nights etc some you have to.do a mix of earlies lates n nights. Hope that the above is helpful
Following :)
Following as I am interested in the same field and have pretty much had the same questions.
I am an RN so in regards to shifts it depends on the facility. Some places do 8 hour day shifts with 10 hour nights and some do all 8 hours and then there are some that do 12 hours. You can google base pay rates through the q health website. As for study I think there are unis that do a dual RN/midwife degree which is what I recommend. Getting nursing jobs aren't as easy as what they once were so having the other option is a good one. It also means when you get sick of shift work ( which so many of us do , but not all) you can do something like child/women health etc in the community. Goodluck!