Educating advanced midwife practitioners: a collaborative venture

Aim To describe the collaborative development of an MSc course preparing Ireland’s first advanced midwife practitioners. Background Ireland has 55 advanced nurse practitioner posts, but, as yet, no advanced midwife practitioners. Methods A consultative, collaborative process involving 38 midwives across Ireland generated the philosophy, aims and content of the course. Results Participants stated that candidates should be committed to the conceptual uniqueness of midwifery; the advanced midwife practitioner role should be clearly defined and supported by the candidate’s sponsors; programme content should emphasize normal midwifery, be practice led, and encourage reflective, evidence-based, women-centred care. Conclusion The collaborative process used to develop this programme ensures that it will meet individual students’ needs, thus enhancing the education of Ireland’s first advanced midwife practitioners. Implications for midwifery management The emphasis on normality rather than specialization is a message that could be assimilated by managers in other countries to the benefit of childbearing women across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Journal of Nursing Management is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)