2 minute read
Clinical Midwife Coach – Community Midwifery Service
LESLEY MACLENNAN
Clinical Midwife Coach
ISABELLA G SMART
Community Midwives Midwife Manager
In 2020, Counties Manukau Health created a clinical specialty post of clinical midwife coach to support midwifery staff to develop and maintain their clinical skills and knowledge.
The post is an 18-month fixed-term secondment, in order to provide a ‘proof of concept’ and allow time to evaluate this proposed new role. The role involves supporting newly qualified and new-to-serivce staff in the clincial challenges they face when providing care for women experiencing clinical and social complexity in a community setting.
An initial task of the clinical midwife coach was to develop a Community Midwifery Knowledge and Skills Framework for all new midwifery service staff delivering clinical midwifery care in the community.
The framework provides a self-assessment tool to guide the midwife in her development as a community midwife. In particular, it: • supports the midwife to meet the position description for employed community midwives at Counties Manukau Health
• helps the midwife to self-define her learning and development needs in her new role, and to complete the health board’s Performance Development Review
Programme and Quality and Leadership Programme.
The framework specifies the skills the midwife must develop to be confident and competent in a community-based role. Supported by her associate clinical charge midwife, preceptor and the clinical midwife coach, the midwife will reflect on the competencies and scope of practice set by Te Tatau o Te Whare Kahu Midwifery Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Community Midwifery Knowledge and Skills Framework has been in use since April 2020. It is a living document and has been regularly adapted following user feedback. The framework is now in its 10th revised version, the community midwifery orientation booklet has also been updated to reflect the framework.
Developing clinical resources and providing direct coaching are also part of the clinical midwife coach role, as is assisting all community-based midwifery staff to become familiar with and out into practice any new or revised health board policies, guidelines, procedures and protocols. To this end, the clinical midwife coach has developed quick guides for midwives, providing guides to practice based on accepted guidelines. A new practice noticeboard has also been set up and the clinical midwife coach regularly updates community midwives on matter relating to clinical practice at the monthly staff meetings.
The clinical midwife coach has now supported seven midwives on the CM Health graduate programme during their community midwifery placement. To date, three of the midwives have been interviewed at the end of their placement (in September 2020) to ensure the clinical midwife coach role is working as intended. The framework was also revised based on their feedback. This process will continue with all graduates and new-to-service staff until the end of the secondment in June 2021. We are keen to learn if this new approach to supporting staff is valuable and improves staff confidence, satisfaction and retention in this challenging area of community midwifery care provision.
